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How was it a miracle? The Allied forces had superior air power, superior numbers, more highly motivated soldiers, not to mention the ability to read virtually all secret communications sent to and from the German military (at least ones sent by radio). Now, if the Warsaw Ghetto uprising had managed to bring down Hitler and end the war – that would be a miracle.
Of course, the Religious Zionists have somewhat lowered the “bar” for what is considered a miracle, since they attribute the Israeli victories over the Arabs to “miracles” . The secular Israelis, the Hareidim, i.e. the Satmar Rebbe, and most of the world attribute the Israeli victories to having better trained, better led and better armed soldiers.
A miracle is something the happens that violates the laws of nature. The creation of the world was a miracle. The splitting of the sea is a miracle.
popa_bar_abba: In many if not most states, if you have a ceremonial marriage without a marriage license (or civil ceremony), your marriage is quite valid and you need a divorce to legally marry anyone else (though the clergy conducting the wedding may have to pay a fine for not checking on the license). People who have a frum wedding and act as if they aren’t married when dealing with the government could be prosecuted for fraud (if in doing so they avoid taxes and claim benefits)- though for most frum people they are better off with the married benefits.
An important characteristic of the frum areas of Brooklyn is that rich and poor live in the same neighborhood (even if the rich have better houses). Staten Island doesn’t offer the same possibility since much of it is zoned for a more burgeois class of resident than Brooklyn.
First cousin marriages are hardly unheard of, though they are illegal in some jurisdictions (since they were prohibited by canon law, which carried over into some state legal systems).
If there is a recessive trait in one’s family, marrying a relative is a bad idea, though genetic screening can verify whether it isn’t a problem (in most situations, asuming you know what to look for). If you are marry for a healthy genome rather than things such as midos, love, money, etc., best to marry someone totally unrelated, such as a convert from a region that had no contact with Jews before you met them – but that’s a bit extreme and one doesn’t breed people like livestock.
You need something long enough so you won’t get burned. This probably involves a long stick, but sticks are not very good as matches, so you wrap something flamable at the end of the stick, thereby giving you a torch with which to safely light the bonfire.
Also note that you want the first to start quicky and look impressive – ruling out the rational and safe way (e.g. as taught by Boy Scouts) which starts a small fire and gradually lets it get bigger.
TO gavra_at_work who said “Please prove to me that you are NOT in the Matrix (since you brought it up).”
We have a kaballah to rely on for proof that HaShem created the world and isn’t just playing tricks on us. The goyim (including those Jews who reject kaballah) have to rely on blind faith (which may be why they get confused a lot)
zahavasdad: Actually the teaching and administrative staff in both American and Israeli universities are well paid (at least compared to the teaching and administrative staff in yeshivos). Of course, zionist society considers the Bnei Yeshiva to be unemployed, yet if you compare them to someone studying Talmud or Bible in a non-frum institution, the work is very similar.
mild edit
Some times it is mitsvah to be be-simcha even if we don’t feel like it.
1. In most countries, the people who complain about such and such group being on welfare, are usually motivated by bigotry towards the group. Racism and prejudice is the issue, and most bigots are hypocrites (as well know very well).
2. A serious problem develops in society’s with a liberal “welfare” state in that many individuals are content to live off their “entitlements”. This is becoming a very serious problem in Europe.
3. If you defined “employment” the way it is done in America, there would be almost no unemployment among Israeli hareidim. In the US if someone is part of a university community, and is receiving more than merely a waiver of tuition plus room and board, the person is considered to be an employee. By this standards, most members of kollels, even if they have no teaching or administrative responsibilities, would be considered to be employed.
A large number of goyim are probably Yidden. Whether through girls going off the derekh, or girls getting captured, Jewish genes have been well distributed through the western world (which includes the Middle East).
Good argument against hiring a Shabbos Goy unless he’s from an area that never had a Jewish community until recently.
Is it not possible the entire world doesn’t exist. You are stuck in a virtual reality controlled by alien psychology undergraduates. You are the lab rat.
Actually, such ideas date back to antiquity. I believe the ancient philosophers came up with the idea, shortly after the discovery of substances that in modern times get you arrested when driving under their influence.
We always had the choice: give up (or at least compromise)on frumkeit or face persecution. A Jew not wanting to be tolerate persecution need only to give up on Yiddishkeit. There is strong evidence that many did decide to give up on Torah and Mitsvos in order to reap the benefits of being part of mainstream society. For the most part if we “knew our place”, we were allowed to be as frum as we wanted. If the Israelis adopted the same policy as the goyim did, there wouldn’t be an issue. In return for accepting second class status, we were allowed self-government and complete autonomy in such matters as law, education, welfare, etc. Kashrut and Bris Milah were never an issue. Our status was not all that different than that of African Americans prior to the Civil Rights Acts in the last century – except that we always had a choice, and our ancestors made the decision to give up on parnassah and civil rights in order to be free to be frum.
Given the 1929 was in the zionist period, with evidence that the British and Zionists were involved (contemporary accounts indicate that both had prior knowledge of the pogrom, making one suspect the Brits were involved as agents provacateurs), that shouldn’t count. Shabatai Zevi also shouldn’t count since he was trying to seize Eretz Yisrael by force. I seriously doubt anyone fled Tach v’Tat (1648) by moving to Eretz Yisrael given the distances involved – people fled to the nearest territory controlled by the Poles or Hapsburgs, which were around the corner.
There are discussions in our tradition of sentient non-humans, as well as of additional worlds (or universes, which could be parallel universes). The question as to whether a non-human could convert has never been addressed since we have yet to meet a sentient non-human (outside of science fiction literature). Those goyim (the so-called “fundamentalists”) who hold that the “King James Version” of Taanach is the absolute and only truth and must be understood without reference to any external sources, get freaked out over the possibility of life on other worlds – but that shouldn’t be an issue for any of us since we hold by Torah she baal peh.
If there were Jews from the missing shevatim in the area of Iran and Afghanistan, they would have joined the Jews who arrived in that area (as is well documented) after the destruction of Bayis Rishon. We are talking about only a century of so – not a long time. One should never expect to find “ten lost tribes” in an area with well documented Jewish settlments, since they wouldn’t have stayed lost once the exiles from the destrucition of Bayis Rishon moved into their neighborhood.
Jews do not honor the dead with military ceremonies. We do not stand at attention or play sirens or bugles or drums. We do not wear military uniforms or display weapons or stand in formation. Those are methods that goyim use to honor their dead. By imitating the way the goyim’s armies honor their dead, the zionists are emphasizing that the fallen soldiers fell fighting to establish a goyish state in Eretz Yisrael.
Jews honor the dead by learning mishnayos, davening, giving tsadaka, etc. That the Israelis do not, for the most part, engage in such behaviors is what is dishonoring the dead soldiers.
1. Luck has nothing to do with it.
2. People should remember that there is no requirement that one takes the AP course in a school. Anyone (at least, of high school age) can study on their own and take the tests.
If someone wanted to annoy both the zionists and the anti-zionists, you could observe the Israeli memorial day (for those who were killed in the zionist wars) by learning mishnayos (the traditional Jewish way honoring the dead). They would greatly annoy the zionists, who prefer more western style militaristic methods of observance, and also the anti-zionists, who prefer to ignore the zionists.
We are all related. The leading hilonim leaders are cousins of the leading hareidim.
1. Not everyone goes to Israel. There are plenty of non-Israel options.
2. Israel is more fun than going to a local yeshiva. Kids that age in almost all cultures like to get away from home. It has nothing to do with being more mature.
3. Israel is typically cheaper than going to non-Israeli student and staying in a dorm.
4. Eretz Yisrael is our homeland, and is a great place to visit (as long as you ignore its somehwat annoying government and rowdy neighbors)
As they are Aryans (Indo-Europeans) that is highly unlikely. Some Jews, not necessarily for the “ten lost tribes”, have lived in the region since ancient times (Afghanistan and Pakistan are adjacent to Iran/Persia, and for much of history were culturally or politically under Persian control). But to claim that a group is descended from Jews is a bit of a stretch, though most people in that region (as indeed, in most of the Middle East and Europe) have some Jewish ancestry and have had long term exposure to Jewish culture.
A hasid would point out that only occurs among misnagdim and only on Hol ha-Moed (not on Rosh Hodesh or Hanukah), and is due to the fact that deep in their hearts the misnagdim know they weren’t really supposed to be putting on tefillin on Hol ha-Moed to begin with. :–)
One should also remember that Ukraine had been part of Russia for virtually its entire history. One should also remember that it was the Russians who defeated the Nazis (if you look at casulties on both sides, arguably the Anglo-American western front was a “side show” compared to the Eastern front), and that the Ukrainians were among the most notorious as collaborators. That the “liberal” Ukrainian coalition includes some groups that are clearly fascist, and includes others with a solid history of corruption and incompetence (which is how Ukraine fell behind Russia in the 20 years they have been separate countries).
While the United States for reasons of geopolitics should probably be supporting Ukraine, from a Jewish perspective, Jewish neutrality is probably the best policy.
In New York City one can survive without a car. In most of the country, inability to drive guarantees unemployment and rules out most education.
The hilonim are not “self hating”. They love being secular western persons of Jewish descent. It is the hareidim that they hate. If the “moderate” (“modern”) orthodox can not convince the hilonim to end their current “war” against hareidim, both in America and Israel, then it more or less proves that the “fanatic” hareidim (e.g. Neturei Karta) have been right all along.
The original was probably a “th”, and the evolution into “T” (among Sefardi) and “S” (among Ashkenazim) occured well before modern times. The dialect spoken in Eretz Yisrael evolved naturally and combines all the mistakes of the leading dialects, which is logical since most languages evolve that way (that Israel Hebrew fails to distinguish between Aleph/Ayin, Saf/Taf, Daled/Thaled, Gimmel/Jimmel, kawmatz/patach, non-use of the thrid person future feminine, use of direct word order, etc.). Spoken languages tend to simplify over time (e.g. English having lost almost all use of gender, subjunctive, and the loss of its gutterals).
This is a fascinating subject for linguists, but of no theological importance.
How is “Chareidi” a negative word? It certainly beats “ultra-orthodox” or “feverently orthodox” or “fundamentalist” (which is highly insulting, since by definition a fundamentalist rejects anything other than “bible” meaning they reject Torah she be’al peh).
People who hate Torah and hate Ha-Shem will obviously hate hareidim, just as people who hate the New York Yankees hate Jeter and Ellsbury – hareidim are the all stars of the Torah team.
Some yeshivish types are modern orthodox. Some hasidim are definitely zionists. Sefardim are all over the board in terms of the issues that define “hareidi.”
Hareidim can be hasidische, yeshivish, or Sefardi. What defines hareidi isn’t agreed on, but it clearly isn’t clothing,nusach, style of davening or parnassah. It probably includes non-recognition of the Israeli government (following the views of the original Satmar Rebbe, and rejecting the views of people such as Herzl, R. Kook, or the state rabbinate of Israel), or at least holding that the Israeli government has no halachic legitimacy (though it might be afforded the same respect under halacha as was afforded the British and Ottoman Empires).
While there are correlations with clothing, style of davening, and strictness or creativity in interpreting halacha — these are correlations rather than defining characterisitics (i.e. if someone is wearing some form of frock coat rather than a short suit, the person is more likely to be hareidi than “modern” in terms of haskafa, but not inevitably so– you have many hareidim wearing modern clothes and some religious zionists wearing the sorts of long suits that have been unpopular for the last 90 year, since King George stopped wearing them). Parnassah isn’t a good way to define since there are hareidim who earns lots of money working with or selling things to goyim, and many religious zionists who learn Torah all day.
Note also that turtles have no teeth, and therefore never have a cavity, a root canal, an extraction or an implant. And some tutrles do go to college (at the University of Maryland, where they are famous for their drinking skills).
Its the old style “oogat matza” that largely died out since they tend to go hametzdik (that’s probably where the minhag of gebrokts came from), though some Sefardi communities keep them, and every year some people try to revive the custom among Ashkenazim (usually as the “koolah” of the year). It’s unlikely to catch on for the same reason it disappeared in the past – the current way of making matza is easier and cheaper, produces matzos with less risk of becoming hametzed, and are easily to transport and sell.
BMHEE: Family size counts best if there are multiple undergraduates (including college age yeshiva and seminary students), but it still counts. Even a public schools, but especially at private schools, the FAFSA’s EFC is the starting point. One needs to haggle. Unless you are a super-rich legacy admission, or poor enough to get an EFC of zero (living off of tsadaka), you need to haggle.
Also remember that the more overqualified you are the better your chance of a merit scholarship. The person who would be full tuition at Columbia or NYU, would warrant a merit scholarship at a lesser school (they need good students to boost their ratings). Also remember that the elite schools come close to or meet the EFC figures (meaning they give aid to cover everything beyond the EFC, something not true of lesser schools). Unfortunately, YU (which is going bankrupt) is a lesser school in this respect.
For most mitsvos it is easy to exceed a shiur, which makes the shiur largely irrelevant. For example, one is required to eat a kazais of hallah in the sukkah but unless you have some serious medical problem, that’s no big deal. Eating a kazais of matsa and marror can be a problem except for those of us who love to eat dry crackers and hot horse raddish, in which case the seder cuisine is quite unchallenging.
shebbesonian: Are you considering Stafford loans, and other subsidized Federal loans , or the Hope Tax Credit (which covers about a third of the tuition at most public universities)?
There is a lot more to Federal aid than Pell grants
If you aren’t from the US, you should consider going to your home country for college. The US is somewhat on the miserly side in terms of paying for college. Most feel that going to a university in a foreign country is a luxury.
yeshivaguy45: If you are too concerned about what the goyim wear, the United States is not a good place. During the summer, except for formal dress, the goyim tend to cut back on clothes. To avoid them, you are largely confined to small isolated frum colonies, at least during the summer. Forget about shopping at non-frum stores, using public transit, or really going out in public. In general, baseball fans, especially at night games (as are most professional games), are no more immodest than what one will find on the public streets.
Matza is low fat, high fiber (especially whole wheat matza). It’s everything else that is a problem.
The question one has to ask is amount of tuition minus amount of aid, adjusted by whether the aid is in the form of loans or grants (work study counts as a grant). If you will be commuting, and that affects ability to hold a part time job near your home, that needs to be figured into the equation.
If you don’t qualify for federal aid (including Stafford loans, income tax credits, etc.), you are filthy rich. In general, you have to be an only child with a both parents having six figure incomes to be inelligible for aid at a private school.
As sports go, baseball raises the fewest issues. For starters everyone is properly dressed. Even in women’s softball game they aren’t allowed to dress immodestly (by goysha standards). And there are no cheerleaders in baseball. There is a problem if they have a woman sing the national anthem(s), but that’s about it. The game is largely incomprehensible if you never played it. Of all sports (other than chess), baseball poses the fewest issues from frum Jews who want to participate in it – and participating in a sport ties in with watching it at a professional or collegiate level.
Compared to what? An amusement park? A museum? A concert?
Instead of: Learning all day? Playing baseball or some other sport?
His conservatism with its support for ethnic minorities will help politically, and the nativists (who by definition are Protestants) will still prefer him to the danger of eight more years of far left control over the White House (and a guarantee of the Supreme Court moving radically to the left). Especially if by 2016, Obama’s foreign policy is a proven failure (which depends on what happens in places such as Iraq, Afhanistan, and Ukraine, as well as the Middle East), being a “Bush” won’t be so bad. Romney always was into “big government” and was famous for having constantly changed positions – not so Bush. One should look at 2014 to observe if many of the “far right” Republicans are pushing extreme non-electable candidates, or are supporting candidates with mainstream backgrounds who are likely to be elected. Bush can also listen to the “radicals” and cherry pick ideas without losing his main street base.
Of course, if in 2016, foreign affairs is going strong (Afghanistan and Iraq have democratic government opposed to Al Queda, what’s left of Ukraine is joining the EU and NATO, the Middle East hasn’t exploded), the economy is no worse than it is now, and most people decide they are no worse off with Obamacare, the Democrats should have little trouble winning no matter what the Republicans do.
Any competent hacker can trace your postings. A teenage yeshiva kid, maybe not. But anyone working for a serious law enforcement or intelligence agency, not to mention a criminal, wouldn’t even be seriously challenged. If you want privacy, don’t use the internet.
Don’t post anything you don’t want your kids to read. Even with allegedly anonymous posts, any competent hacker knows who you are.
The United States (and the other western powers) are desperate for Arab-Israeli peace. Not merely for the end of hostilities, but for the Arabs and Israelis to become friends. Russia and Iran and troublesome for the rest, and an Arab-Israeli alliance (or at least, block of friends) would be a serious counterpoint to the Iranians and the Russians, but would not be a threat to the west.
However very few Arabs or Israelis support the idea of Arab-Israeli peace. Most non-hareidi Israelis are aghast are the prospect of having to become part of the Middle East (consider the codes of dress and sexual behavior in the Middle East, and imagine Tel Aviv having to avoid insulting the Muslims. Most leaders in the Middle East are concerned that peace could lead to democracy, and if you are a dictator a foreign war is always preferable to a free election. The west desperately wants to believe in a “peace process” even if most Israelis and Arabs prefer the current status quo of a low level conflict.
There is a positive command to remove all hametz. Gebroks is just going out of your way to do so. It’s like wearing a really nice set of clothes on Shabbos (one only has to wear one’s best clothes, and they have to be respectable – going out of the way to own a really fancy Shabbos suit is a hiddur, not a humrah).
If it was a humrah, such as kitniyos, it would be prohibited on the 8th day.
The traditional explanation is that one needs to make clear this is a optional hiddur mitzvah, not a halacha. One chooses to do a mitsvah in the best way, even though one is compelled to do it only in the most minimal way.
Quinoa bread would be a she ha-kol (whether during the year or on Pesach).
Back to the original question:
The only colleges that offer Torah learning are Touro and Yeshiva University. Both are quite expensive. Yeshiva University is a reputable second tier university (places such as NYU and Columbia are top tier), Touro is accredited by much less respected.
Every yeshiva is near colleges. America has a system in which colleges abound. Arranging a learning seder while going college can be a problem but is possible.
If you goal is to continue learning in a regular way while getting an academic degree, focus on distance education.
Don’t look at “going to college” as a path to parnassah. Pick a parnassah, and then pick a college to get there.
UTAH: Maryland’s University College is largely online, though you can take classes at any other accredited colleges for subject you prefer not to do online. It is part of the University of Maryland, and the degree says “University of Maryland”.
Not to mention that one can get a fully accredited degree from any of several distance education programs run by public universities (University College at University of Maryland, Empire State College in New York, etc.).
Living languages evolve constantly, and in a place such as New York with massive worldwide connections, they evolve quickly. If you want to hear someone talking like people did a century ago, either use a time machine or watch old movies.
If you don’t hold by kitniyuos to begin with, you aren’t part of the discussion. For you, quinoia, maize (corn), rice and beans are all acceptable on Pesach. The debate isn’t whether one may eat quinoa per se (since it clearly is not hametz), or whether one may eat kitniyos (that’s a different issue), but whether qinoia is kitniyos?
cherrybim: If being “new” is the deciding factor, do you eat maize (American corn) which also was introduced to Jews after the initial bans on kitniyos.
zahavasdad: The people’s in the Andes considered it a grain and used it in a grain-like manner. Not so much as beets or spinach, but much like rice or maize (which we do consider to be kitniyos).
If you allow quinoa, it will have to come up with a justification to ban rice and maize (American corn). Thus the “bottom line” of the dispute is going to end up being not whether quinoa is kitniyos, but whether rice and maize are, and ultimately, should the prohibition of kitniyos be honored.
Based on biology and what Bubbie and Zaidie ate (okay, your ancestors prior to the 16th century), maize (American corn) should be permitted. So the dispute of quinoa is really more a fundamental debate on kitniyos in general.