akuperma

1. The theme of the story has strong Christian overtones, with Harry being the “messianic” character.

2. If you were writing a Jewish equivalent, it would end up being radically different. There’s no one to one equivalence between the Christian/ British concepts and Jewish ones.

3. An important aspect, and probably the one frum kids relate to, is that the wizarding sub-culture is a small sub-culture largely hidden from the mainstream and existing with its own values, while be regarded by the mainstream as being somewhat deviant.

If you are speaking American English, “race” is a function of skin color, and believing one race to be superior to another verges on being an apikores since you are throwing into doubt the ikar in Humash that HaShem created everyone quite recently (Yaakov Aveinu was aquainted with the son of the common ancestor of all people). That’s make you very close to the “multiple creations” idea embraced by some goyim which is clearly apikorsis. If we are descended from a common ancestor who lives only 150 generations ago, all humans should be genetically close to identical (which, BTW, is what DNA analysis suggests).

If you are speaking British English, “race” is just a function of ethnicity and culture, and at most regarding other “races” (Americans would say ethnic groups) as annoying is quite rude in mixed company.

Does anyone want to argue that Denielle Steele or Sir Arthur Clarke or Alice Walker could write a frum novel if they tried? An author can only write about what they understand. Most frum authors no matter how competent are alien from the goyish world, and vice versa.

1. I did some random word counts, and whereas the Babli is perhaps 70% Aramaic, the Yerusalami is at least 70% Hebrew (including Aramaic cognates).

3. The commercial language of the region was Aramaic and many when two languages are used together, words get borrowed (cf. Yiddish and Hebrew in Jewish Brooklynese)

Siddurim have only been printed for the last few centuries. Before that they were handwritten and very expensive. Indeed, prior to the invention of typesetters and pulp paper, all sefarim were very expensive. From records of early printers, it appears that books that were heavily used frequently have no surviving copies (and with pre-1500, even fewer existed).

If there is a record of someone introducing a tefilah, that answers your question. If it suddenly appears, that allows you to date it. Consider dating the origin of the prayers for the Israeli government and the IDF.

Do the temanim say “Modeh ani”? Does anyone not say it? In what early siddurim is it absent? Is it attributed by contemporaries to an author (as would be the case if it is recent, meaning the last 1500 years).

1. It isn’t a “hiddush” about waking up being compared to reviving from the “near death” of sleep. The idea appears in many cultures.

2. The way to date a tefilah isn’t necessarily by looking for the oldest “siddur” that has it, but to see whose siddurim don’t have and seeing when they split. If both Ashkenazi and Sefardi sidduring have something, it probably dates back at least to the period that the Talmuds were being written (before the Ashkenazi/Sefardi split). Physical sidduring don’t last very long since they are heavily used and wear out, whereas a nusach will survive and leave its trace on future siddurim.

There is no secular basis for Halloween (a.k.a. All Saints Eve). It’s unlike holidays such as Thanksgiving which is arguably secular (the government declares it), and much closer to Dec. 25. Whether seen in its pre-Christian/pagan original, or in the slightly repurposed form of modern Christians (as “All Saints Eve”) it is clearly Avodah Zarah and the way of doing this Avodah Zarah, and giving candy is part of the Avodah Zarah (not unlike the Jewish custom of giving out candy on Purim, which is clearly a religious obligation regardless of any secular connotations).

DNA testing would indicate.

In response to: “Akuperma: You’re still being silly. Why wouldn’t the proper pronunciation be part of the Mesorah just like vowels are? “

The proof is that diverse groups of frum Jews pronounce Hebrew differently. If the pronounication of the letters and nekudos were part of the mesorah, we would not have distinct accents among frum Jews, i.e. a Sefardi would sound like a Hasid (southeastern dialect), and a Teimani would sound like a Litvak (northeastern Europe dialect). This proves that the diversity of pronounciations is either a tolerable thing or a good thing, but definitely not a bad thing. It also shows that those that want to establish their pronounciation (according to their family’s or community’s traditions) as the “official” or “correct” one, are seriously misguided. Ha-Shem made it clear there is one Torah – but did not make it clear there is one way pronounce the last letter of our alphabet.

And I’m not discussing the Israeli/Zionist dialect, which is merely a combination of the obvious “mistakes” of all the dialects (not distinguishing Aleph and Ayin, or Daled and Thaled, or Saf and Taf, or Patach and Kametz, etc.), and actually demonstrates a well known rule that living languages tend to simplify over time.

It is unknowable even how people such as George Washington or Robert E. Lee, sounded. The only way to guess at past speech was from mistakes people made, or parodies, or attempts at transliteration into different languages – and that’s all really guessing. No one can possibly know what Moshe Rabeinu sounded like (though he probably had an Egyptian accent since he grew up among Egyptians), or what Avraham Aveinu sounded like (though compated to his children, grandchildren and great-children, he probably sounded like someone from Mesopotamia), and Kal v-Homer no one could know what Ha-Shem sounds like (and yes I know that ever Litvak thinks he has a Vilna accent, and every Hasid is sure thinks he prounces “oo” and “e”, and “kametz” as “oh”).

In response to: “Did he do anything illegal? “

Under existing law (and yes, they had public international law at the time) it was widely debated whether the Europeans had the “right” to go into America and conquering people and stealing their land (as well as going into Africa to kidnap people for slaves). In general the lawyers said “NO”, most governments instructed their agents to behaive themselves, and the people “on the ground” in America decided that there weren’t any lawyers for thousands of miles and most governments would not be too upset when the cash rolled in.

The Bnei Yisrael conquered Canaan only because Ha-Shem told them to. The Europeans never claimed that had a divine mandate to engage in slavery or conquest (the closest is the American idea of “manifest destiny”, and not really). Unless Ha-Shem tells you to do so, theft and murder are not allowed, even for goyim.

What is the correct pronounciation of “come” or “light”? You do know the “e” at the end of “come” is pronounced (just ask Chaucer – it’s written for a reason). You do know that “gh” is pronounced similar to the “ch” (the ? ) in Chanukah.

Languages evolve. Even the accepted international standard for English, how the Queen speaks, evolves (as has her accent if one compares her speech in the 1930s and 1940s to how she speaks in public today). The correct prounciation of American English was largely determined at Appomattox in 1865 – Ohio rather than Boston or Richmond – though most of the English speaking world considers American English to be in error.

If you are Ashkenazi, the correct pronounciation of ? is like an English “s”. If you are Israeli sefardi, it is probably like a “t”, and while it was probably a “th” in ancient times, only a handful of Jews (e.g. Temanim) pronounce it that way.

But if you still pronounce “come” and “kom-eh” and “knights” as “k-nicht” (“ch” as a gutteral), feel free to try to speak Hebrew that way some anthropological linguisists think it might have been pronounced in the past. However living languages change over time, and Hebrew has always been a living language (no matter what the secular fanatics claim).

If the woman involved in an invalid “get” has children by another man, the child is a putative mamzer. The reason for saying “putative” is that in practice most batei dinim tend to “bend over backwards” to avoid deciding that someone is a mamzer, so unless a “get” is clearly invalid by at opinons, the likelihood was/is/will be that the child will eventually be held to be a non-mamzer (either by validating the “get” or otherwise, such as by finding the marriage to have been invalid). In this area the “theory” as to what halacha is tends to vary from what most rabbanim end up deciding in actual cases involving the children of the woman with a dubious “get.”

If you don’t believe, do an empirical study of shaiolohs and tseuvahs.

Possums are an Australian animal that resemble the American Oppossums but a totally different species (though both are marsupials). The American ones can be a health pest (they apparently carry serious diseases that they are immune to but can spread, such as rabies), so I suggest calling a professional exterminator or local wildlife control agency.

flyer: Stick to areas near Park Heights Avenue (local shuls include Glen Avenue (German), Agudah (Litvish), Sternhell’s and Taub’s (Hasidic), Goldberger (modern Hasidische) not to mention many others). Avoid anywhere in the county unless you want to pay for the privilege of sending your kids to good public schools. There are plenty of young families with little kids near the main shuls which are all near Park Heights Avenue and clearly within the city limits. While the city has a higher tax rate, it has lower assessments meaning the taxes are similar in city and county. A semi-detached will be around $100K (more if it is brand new) but most of the housing is mid-20th century, though there are still some brand new overpriced homes available. You are a short drive to both the Baltimore subway and light rail, and about 15 minutes from a MARC (which is the commuter train to Washington). Some people also commute to Wilmington. If you are more “modern” there are also many zionist shuls and one zionist school (Beth Tefilah) in the city. Remember that DC (Silver Springs) and Baltimore are in a relationship similar to Brooklyn and Manhattan – they are a single metropolitan area regardless of the political boundaries.

Were any of them really Jewish (as in Shomer Shabbos, Shomer kashrus, etc.). From the pictures, they look like goyim.

When Jews go off the derekh, they keep many Jewish attitudes towards academics, which serve them when in western countries – however that doesn’t make them “Jewish” and is not a matter for pride. If anything, it is just an advertisement of how going off the derekh is a good idea from an economic perspective (which shows how much frum Jews are moser nefesh by staying frum).

Sam2: Indo-European refers to a language family (a.k.a. Aryan) and is not something that can be determined by genetics. For example, most American Jews speak an Indo-European language (English), but have nothing to do genetically with the people of the British Isles.

The DNA suggests that Ashekanzi Jews are much more likely to be of Middle Eastern descent than the goyim we live among, that with a few weird exceptions most Jews are more closely related to each other than to the goyim, and that we have had only negligible numbers of converts since ancient time. Oh, and most Kohanim seem to have a more middle eastern profile than most other Jews. But as with most DNA “evidence” all it does is show that the historical record isn’t a forgery, which isn’t surprising. THe only “surprises” from DNA evidence have been to discover that all the revisionist theories are wishful thinking by nutcases.

“Lost” Jewish communities frequently pop up in strange places, and the more so since DNA testing can shed light on the matter. There is no indication that any of them are connected to the ten shevatim that “disappeared” after the Assyrians trashed Eretz Yisrael. In all fairness, any of them who were so inclined could have linked up with the large Jewish community in Bavel the came into existence shortly afterwards, and lasted until the mid-20th century. You can’t be “lost” when there were well established Jewish communities in the neighborhood.

All Muslims follow many Jewish minhagim since they copied them from us. Any virtually everyone is a “mash up” of DNAs so you really can’t connect anyone from today to someone to 2000 years ago based solely on genetics. The Pahtuns have all sorts of dubious legends, but clearly appear to be Aryan (not Semitic) linguistically, with strong connection to Iran and the Indian subcontinent.

Outsider: In the old days, there were no restaurants. Restaurants are a mid-19th century creation. Taverns in the past were similar to restaurants today. And until the 19th century, non-alcoholic drinks tended to be fatal (this is pre-pasteurization). Safe drinking water and soft drinks (which are made from water) only came about in the late 19th century or 20th century (and in some countries, have yet to occur). In the USA, drinks such as low alcohol beer and slightly alcoholic cider were common.

jewishfeminist02: A journalist taking a source to a bar to get them drunk, or to have a clandestine meeting, is NOT a reputable business meeting. A meeting typically involves multiple people, which requires a table, and once you have a table (as opposed to bar stools), it’s a restaurant, meaning your question becomes, how to act in a treiff (non-kosher) restaurant.

Systems that lead to a “rich man’s war and a poor’s man fight” usually end badly. Historically Jews paid a special tax to be exempt from military service (this wasn’t optional, we had to pay the tax, and weren’t allowed to bear arms). In country’s where the population support the war, rich people go to the military (cf. George Bush the first using his father’s clout to become the youngest pilot in combat (he was below the minimum age), John Kennedy using his family’s clout and what probably was some fraud to become a combat office when he should have been at most a “jobnik” since he was clearly physically unfit for duty). The both the frum elites and many of the secular elites in Israel avoid military service suggests the country probably is doomed in the long run.

Added complications in Isarel are a significant minority of hareidim opposed to the war since they consider the zionist attack on the Arabs to have been contrary to halacha, plus the majority of zionists believe they can use the army to convince most hareidim to become less religious. These are not issues anyone is likely to compromise on. Draft evasion by secular elites in Israel is also common, and is serious since they tend to have skills sets the military needs (unlike yeshiva students).

It all depends on definitions. Some consider “Hareidi” (i.e. “Ultra-Orthodox”, ro “fanatic”) to mean wearing a yarmulke in public, with married women covering their hair, etc. — and “normal” Orthodox (especiallyas defined 60 years ago, e.g. people such as former Senator Lieberman or Treasury Secretary Lew) to include anyone who belongs to an Orthodox synagogue — then the numbers might be correct.

If you count as hareidi only someone who is so much into yiras shemayim that they never think of doing an aveirah (never speak lashon hora, certainly never look at news sites such as this which are full of lashon horah) then the numbers are quite different.

Then don’t vote for them. The USA is a democracy. The leaders are chosen by the people.

In response to: “do law schools really let you reschedule classes and where do these people live if they arent married and is there a frum community at all these schools. (Obviosly NYU and Columbia) “

There is probably a frum community at every major university in America. In general, the lines become blurred between “modern” and “hareidi”. It won’t kill you daven at a minyan with people who disagree with you about Israeli politics (which is the major difference between the two camps). If you go away from home, you will probably want to rent an apartment near the frum community, rather than live on campus. Commuting has its own issues. Anyone who thinks college is for partying will have dropped out long before graduate school. If someone wants to go off the derekh, there are a lot easier and cheaper ways to do do than to go to Harvard. If you are going to school and living with your parents or spouse, the extent of Jewish life on campus is laregly irrelevant since as is the case with most commuters, you remain a part of your home community. If you go to a place with a small community, you’ll find that the smaller the community the friendlier they are and the less importance is attached to modern/hareidi issues. In all fairness, there are virtually no universities worth going to in cities that lack a kosher shul and a mikva.

Rescheduling exams is protected by law and custom. For classes you sometimes can get a record, or can borrow notes – few teachers take attendance, and in many ways the only importance of class at that level is to know the teacher’s opinions on the subject matter. Missing a few classes is hardly an issue. There are many minoritity groups in universities, and American universities have a strong tradition (going back over 50 years) of being accommodating to all minorities. Even when elite universities had Jewish quotas (meaning before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, though most school had already abolished them before they became illegal), rescheduling exams for religious holidays wasn’t a serious problem (as opposed to getting admitted).

Why should either party compromise. The Republicans (probably correctly) feel that Obamacare will seriously undermine the economy and undermine individual’s autonomy over their health care. The Democrats believe that Obamacare will significant improve the lives of most Americans and is a key to the future welfare of the country. Only a hypocrite would do something that believe will cripple the nation in return for a short term political gain.

And it shows the strength of our separation of powers, withs its checks and balances. This is how the system should work. If you prefer something smoother – try North Korea. No shutdowns there.

Distance education from a government sponsored university (e.g. Empire State College, University of Maryland University College, Western Governors, etc.). If you want something medical, you’ll need a bricks and mortar school.