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“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 “ืื ืืืจืื ืืืื ื”. 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.
1. Much European hair in the past came from nuns who sold the hair to finance themselves. Was it a problem?
2. If the hair is sold for financial reasons (with the money donated to the Avodah Zarah charities), as opposed to the act of cutting the hair being part of the avodah, is it still a problem.
3. Are the people opposed to the sheitels also opposed sheitels in general?
“Arenโt we raising a generation of poor, barely employable generation by sending them to schools that barely, if at all, teach English, math and how to write?” — Well, that is a problem with American schools (not just Jewish ones). At least in the frum schools they get a good introduction to language (learning a foreign language gives you a much better perspective on thiings such as grammar and syntax, I never understood what a direct object was until I learned about ืืช) – most Americans are infamously monolingual. More importantly, our schools at least train students (without them realizing it, which is feature) to work independently or with a fellow student which is a very useful skill, unlike American kids who need to be “spoon fed” by the teacher and can’t learn otherwise.
Only a non-parent would ask such a question (or at least someone who hasn’t held a baby for many years).
Babies are holding on to you for fear of falling. They are investigating the newest thing to come their way.
1. Trump is not an idiot or a fool, no matter what the liberal media claim. North Korea is at most an annoyance to the US, even if it is a real threat to South Korea and Japan. Killing tens of millions people is not something one does without thinking, especially if there are less messy ways to accomplish the same result.
2. Anything bigger than a tactical nuclear weapon would seriously endanger the South Koreans and the Japanese due to radication. Much of the US arsenal designed for “end of the world” situations is not useable.
3. The South Koreans want to take over North Korea with its population and economy intact. That is the best solution from an American perspective as well.
4. One should remember that unlike Japan and Germany in World War II, whose decision to go to war was made by leaders they elected, North Korea never had a free election. The only crime of the North Korean people is they got conquered by Kim and his family. No one elected him. Hitler, on the other hand, was a democratically chosen leader, as were the Japanese and Italian leaders in World War II.
“Nuclear winter”
A full scale war would involve thousands of nuclear devices, each one being perhaps hundreds of times more powerful than what were used in World War II. There is no way to model what would happen but the realization that the losing side could simply fire all its weapons and destroy the world (and in effect, prevent the winner from occupying the loser’s territory) was what made “mutually assured destruction” so effective.
There other ways to induce such a “winter”, weather as a means of deliberate destruction, or a misguided attempt to reverse global warming. Please note that in the past, “warm” has generally been good (probably since the longer growing season is good for food supply).
Humans do affect climate/weather, and that is beyond doubt since it can be observed without needing to fudge data (e.g. compare the temperatures in Lakewood and Monsey to Manhattan and Philadelphia – cites are warmer, which is people of all types prefer to “go away to the country”).
The issue is how much of climate variability is natural and how much is due to humans (and in particular, due to industrialization). The climate alarmists like to assume that the 1600-1700s were normal, but there is strong evidence that was one of the coldest periods in human history (sort of like looking at February and freaking out since it is warmed in August). While thermometers were invented only a few centuries ago, there are records of what rivers frozen and when, and what crops grew where – and these suggest the medieval period (time of the Rishonim) was even warmer than today. Similarly the “classical age” (period of Bayis Sheini) was warmer than the period that followed.
If the goyim’s scientists are to be believed, Long Island Sound used to be dry land, and it used to be possible to walk from England to France, or from Siberia to Alaska, without getting your feet wet – and all those changes did not involve humans messing with the climate.
So the question isn’t so much “do you believe in global warming” but rather do you believe that the primary cause is human activities, since if not, there is nothing the government can or could do about it. This doesn’t address the question as to whether global warming is good or bad, though given the large number of climate refugees fleeing to Florida every winter, I tend to think that warmer would a good thing.
Chabad has a good attitude towards use of media and public relations, and therefore gets better press than its numbers would suggest.
All Ashkenazi and Sefardi clothing with a few exceptions are copies from the goyim. We have are own fashion sense, but it is largely based on the goyim’s. We take what meets our needs. No one today dresses like people did 500 or 1000 years ago. Even such “Jewish fashions” as a streimel, or a black fedora, or a white shirts, are goyish fashion items that we co-opted for our needs.
The only exception is the tallis, and there is every indication that our tallesim look just like those of our ancestors (though they wore it a bit differently, especially when goyim wore cloaks all day, and we wore our tallesim which were our cloaks – but cloaks dropped out of style a long time ago).
The statistics are in need of closer examination. Since frum Jews (almost) never live together without being married, whereas other Americans (non-frum Jews and non-Jews) often do, the comparative divorce rate also has to take into account the rate of permanent “living together” relationships ending. Also, since for all purposes there are no Orthodox “gays” (adopting such a lifestyle requires one to leave the frum community), whereas such lifestyles, and relationships are common among non-frum Jews and non-Jews, one needs to make a statistical adjustment.
A more useful statistic should focus on families that include minor children.
The term has many meanings, depending on context, cf. Nuclear families as well as Nuclear weapons.
#2- unless she’s off the derekh
People elected a reality TV star. They wanted to have a government that worked like a semi-scripted TV show. Perhaps after a while they’ll get bored and vote in a dull boring president who puts everyone to sleep. People got fed up with snide and condescending politicians who ignored public opinion and held most of the country to be “deplorables” whose opinions weren’t worth noting.
I don’t think anyone is claiming that there is a halachic prohibition of unmarried women having long hair. The issue is whether the school’s grooming and dress code is permittable by halacha (probably yes, schools of all ideologies and religion do such things), and whether the manner of carrying it out is acceptable by Jewish standards (a different question). As long as it doesn’t violate halacha, Jewish school can make rules (even arbitrary and capricious ones) , just like all other private schools – even if such rules are not required by halacha.
It is an issue where the electric utilities are owned by non-frum Jews and hire Jewish workers to run them. That is an issue in Eretz Yisrael since if you make use of the government’s electric supplier, you are in effect hiring Jews to do malacha for you on Shabbos.
An alternative is not to use electricity on Shabbos (note that no gedolim used electricity on Shabbos prior to the late 19th century or early 20th century), or to use only batteries and one’s own generator (if it can run safely without human involvement), or to have one’s own generator and hire a non-Jew to run it.
Hurricanes have been around for as long as anyone knows. They apparently were so bad several hundred years that the American Indians didn’t live on the coast (which is why the first Europeans underestimated their population) and ships had to avoid transatlantic crossings during hurricane season. Hurricanes are not “news”.
Some people prefer paying for medical care or groceries rather than buying life insurance. If you can afford, say “Baruch ha-Shem”.
If he did they would have either thrown him some rope to climb out, or would have retrieved the body for a proper burial. Thus whatever happen, it was not a “sinkhole”. Plus, sinkholes tend to occur in areas other than deserts.