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1. The people saying it was “murder” have a reputation of “crying wolf” (e.g. the Duke Lacrosse team “rape” case, which ended with the prosecutor being disbarred for falsifying evidence). Note that the broadcast network making the charges was caught editing the “911” tape which as broadcast made it appear that Zimmerman was foaming through the mouth racist, but in the original version before editing makes him appear to be someone under attack who discussed race only when the police asked for a description.
2. The overwhelming tendenacy of the leading Democrats to regard urban crime as a non-issue, while they tend to live in comfortable suburbs or buidlings with private security. The liberal media are indifferent to urban crime – which has been a problem for many people who follow YWN.
3. Under American law, Zimmerman is supposed to be assume to be innocent, meaning under the poltically incorrect version of law in the American constitution, the prosecutor needs to prove he wasn’t attacked (assume he pleads self-defense). Given the fact that it was Zimmerman who contacted the police (something very few criminals do — usually its the victim who calls 911), there appears to be some substance to Zimmerman’s defense.
Our community is growing. All the cute little babies from 1980 are now parents, or even grandparents(or as economists would call them, consumers). So of course there are more products available.
Since good kashruth puts bad kashruth out of business (it doesn’t cost all that much more to do kosher properly, and you get a bigger market), of course the standards are rising. Why make imitation hametz out of matza crumbs when you can make it out of potato starch, probably for the same or less cost, and increase your market share.
America is a democracy. We tax ourselves. If public opinion favored closing down government services and abolishing taxes, it would come to pass. The fact that most people favor high services but without the taxes to pay for them is an interesting problem, and potential crisis. Note the absence of people demanding they pay more taxes, as well as the absence of people demanding fewer services and benefits.
Torah is not a democracy. Torah states much of what we as a community must provide, and gives a framework for raising the money. Given the needs of supporting the poor, educating all children and supporting a high level of scholarship, there is a problem that needs always exceed income. So we rely on Ha-Shem and since we’ve survived this long, we must be doing something right.
Those who hold that smoking is mutar (and especially, allowed on yuntuf) are relying on various Ahronim who 400-500 years ago approved of smoking after being told that smoking was healthy (they know about the high from nicotine, but not the side effects). I doubt one can rely on a pasak halacha that was clearly based on a specific scientific premise (“since we have been told by our doctors that smoking is good for you, it is allowed”) that has since been rejected.
OF course we CAN eat hametz on Pesach. We CHOOSE not to do so since it is a mitzvah not to do so. Most of us are so attached to the mitzvah we even avoid anything that resembles hametz, such as foods made with a little grain mixed in, or even non-grains that look like and can be cooked in a manner similar to grains. But if we COULD NOT eat hametz on Pesach, where would be the zechus in refusing to do so.
Since Erev Pesach largely has the din of Hol ha-Moed, wouldn’t it depend on whether the post is relevant to a discussion that is relevant over the Moed (such as, “should I go to the Yankee-Orioles game on Hol ha-Moed”, rather than “what would happen if neither New York not Boston is in the playoffs”), or alternatively, if it relates to something that would be a financial loss (e.g. “should I short the Euro for next week”, as opposed to “which value stocks should I buy not to fund my retirement in ten years?).
The modern English equivalent is “Samuel” which is a common English name. “Sam” is a common abbreviation. The name is found in their translations of Taanach so it isn’t “strange” sounding to them.
Names such as Sherman and Seymour or Sigfried are non-Jewish names with different meanings that are adopted in order to obscure your Jewishness. The different meanings can be a problem (“Sherman” is actually a family name that is popular in America since it was the name of a great general who liberated much of the south during the civil war – making him a hero to northern whites and southern blacks, but not to many southern whites who didn’t quite see it the same way). Shmuel is slightly problematic for English speakers since the initial consonant combination is unknown in English, as is the vowels combination in the end.
Of course one can always use the Jewish name “Shmuel” on official documents, and use “Sam” as a nickname when going among the goyim.
The only facts not in disupte are that Zimmerman shot an unarmed person, after phoning the police, and that the Democrats have decided this is an issue to mobilize their African American base.
It could turn out that Zimmerman freaked out and fired needlessly,or it could turn out this is like Duke “rape” (ended with the DA getting disbarred) or some of Al Sharpton’s previous fanatasies.
It shouldn’t be a big problem. Remember what our kids do in high school is the same materials, and at a higher level, than what the goyim’s universities do in graduate school (e.g. classical materials in original language, with medieval texts in the original). If he’s a good learner, it means he can prepare on his own as needed for whatever subject he’s interested in, even a hard major such as ones requiring serious math such as the sciences, engineering or economics. All it takes is brains and hard work, and if he did well learning Torah, college will be piece of cake.
Of course “easy” schools like Touro are fine if you are rich, but if he’s smart he probably can get a scholarship for a much better school. And of course, there is always the option of distance education or a public university.
The French did a pretty good job. Before the attack on the Jews, they thought they were dealing a right-wing racist. They have the guy captured with a good chance of getting him alive. The French claim they already thwarted an attack planned for today, and capturing him alive would give some indication whether he is a lone “nut job”, or whether the next attack might someplace else (such as Brooklyn).
The French haven’t lost a war for 50 years, and have been very active in the war against Muslim fanatics, not only in Afghanistan, but in many countries in Africa where the USA doesn’t have the resources or skills to operate.
Our continued existence is a refutation of the core beliefs of Christiantiy and Islam. We were there. We are the only independent witnesses. And we say the New Testament and the Koran aren’t true by the very fact we refuse to convert.
Other than Christians and Muslims, we get along fine with the goyim.
HaShem made them. Who are we to complain.
But depending on the animal, some are useful friendly, or tasty.
HaShem must have has a good reason for making mosquitoes and viruses, but that’s beyond me.
Some would say it is actually about politics and economics during the turn of the century, though that was watered down in the movie.
I don’t think halacha would rely on such a definition, which would be a humrah. It would tend to pasul everything.
It was the American military to promote its own internal communications, and scientific research. Al Gore, then a Senator, along with the of the Congress voted to authorize the military to open it up to civilian use, though since it was used to communicate with civilian scientists it had been somewhat demilitarized already.
THe World Wide Web was invented by some Swiss scientists looking for a better way to use the “internet”. Previously (and if you don’t use a graphic brower, even today), the internet was largely for text email and sending files (the ftp system).
Arguably the origin of the internet was the telegraph invented in the early 19th century (which at the time caused complaints about its social impact not unlike those heard about the internet today, e.g. female telegraph operators “chatting” with male telegraph operators).
The transliterations are not a function of religion or ideology but of language. Different letters have different sounds in each language. If the Roman script language you are used to is English, for example, the sound the ? makes is “sh” but if you are used to French that sound is “ch”. How to transcribe a ? also varies with different languages using c, k or q. What Indo-European (Aryan) speakers due to ? is highly problematic. The ? has been pronounced at various times as a “th”, a “s” and a “t” – and in fact some Jews use each, and to complicate matters,while the “th” sound is in English, it wasn’t in Latin, so there is no single letter for it in English.
Linguistics is fsacinating, but it isn’t a function of frumkeit. A Hareidi Jews who is used to French, or one who was used to German (as was the case in Europe), and based their transliterated (romanized) spellings according, will write things differently than someone whose prefered goyish language is English.
Most Gedolim tend to be in poor health. That is because most Gedolim tend to be advanced in age, and human who are advanced in age tend to be in poor health, relative to younger people.
An analogy. In the near future (based on life expectancy for someone her age), Queen Elizabeth will become ill and die. It is quite predictable (even if once upon a time it was considered treason to speculate about the monarch’s mortality). However her subjects will make a big thing out of being concerned and mourning her, not because it is shocking, but because that is part of respect.
Everyone knows that almost all Gedolim are going to expire in the foreseeable future. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make a big fuss. They are our royalty, and we should act appropriately.
Nutrition has always been a part of conventional medicine, and “establishment” health care providers are trained in nutrition. However it appears that most doctors are cynical of patients willingness to consider it. Rather than tell a patient with Type-2 diabetes to undergo serious changes in diet and to get substantial amounts of exercise (since most patients would have done that already if they were so inclined), doctors prescribe medicines. If you tell your doctor you are nervous about drugs or surgeries and want to try changes in lifestyle, the doctor only needs to be convinced you are serious. By analogy, if a Ben Torah asks a shailoh of a Gadol,he’s quite likely to get, as an answer, a reference to the gemara or the Shulhan Arukh, since a Ben Torah really likes to know the real source of the answer to his problem. If a Baal ha-Bayis asks the question, he’ll get a “yes-no” answer since the Rav thinks him incapable of doing more. IF a doctor thinks you incapable of lifestyle changes, he’ll prescribe what he thinks you are capable of (having things done to you).
All medicines are natural. Antibiotics started out as moldy bread. Apsirin is from tree bark. What “Big Pharm” does it find a way of making it more cheaply. What many alternate medicine people do is advocate drugs that have already been tested and been found wanting.
Most of been thoroughly studied and found to be ineffective at best, and harmful at worst. Those that were found effective, are introduced into mainstream medicine (meaning regular companies find safe and cheap ways to produce them, patent the process, and charge accordingly).
If you don’t want invasive procedures, just say so. If you have a private physician (as opposed to some place such as the army or a prison), they need your permission. They might say, “you know you might die if I don’t check for cancer or the like”, and you reply that you have great faith in Ha-Shem, and great feat of getting things stuck into you.
Among goyim, divorced people are more likely to get married than single people the same age who have never been married. I suspect that is the same among us. It would be interesting if someone figured out a way to do statistics.
No one, regardless of other issues, consider Quinoa to be a grain.
Some argue it is analagous to corn (maize as its called elsewhere), meaning it would be kitniyot. Other argues it is similar halachically to potatoes, which everyone considers to be non-kitniyot. The definition of kitniyot is very vague, but basically kitniyout on non-grains that are sufficiently similar to grains that there might be confusion. The “new world” products, introduced to Europe in the 1500s, have no ancient tradition, but we’ve settled that corn is, and potatoes aren’t, even though both can be used to make a grain-like product. Quinoa were only introducted to us recently.
In practice, the Beis Din always had discretion to do what is necessary based on the situation. Someone who says that such and such happened “always” or “automatically” is ignoring how a Beis Din works. They are dayanim (judges), not clerks.
isaac1554:
and she was really a frum woman who intended to be married “K’daas Moshe v’Yisrael”?????? if not, it would likely be held she was at most a pilegesh, and the issue of mamzerus is avoidable
As long as the man isn’t a mamzer himself (which would be very rare) there is no problem unless the woman was married to someone else. He’s violating a good many Jewish (and American) laws, but the man’s marital status is irrelevant. There wouldn’t be a reason to ask a shailoh, and given the man’s disreputable behavior, he wouldn’t want to be anywhere’s need someone to ask the shailoh to.
If the woman was married had been married to someone else, then there are complex issues.
1. The “mitsva” is not to be able to tell the difference between Mordechai and Haman. Some have suggested that falling asleep is the best way to accomplish this.
2. Many have theorized that many Jews are genetically incapable of staying awake while intoxicated, and this is an evolutionary adapation common among all peoples who ancestors were among the first to discover good stuff to drink. Those individuals who spend the day drunk tended to run into things, fall off things or crash into things.
3. If you can drink beer without crashing (so much for the theory of an anti-alcohol gene), and also get sick from grape juice (you mentioned Pesach) that suggests some sort of allergy to grade products, so you might want to talk to a a doctor who can deal with such things.
It depends on, in part, if they are coming from a country where they can argue they are persecuted (and it certainly helps if they are currently stateless), what profession they are in and what sort of job they have lined up or how much money they are prepared to invest, and what relatives they already have in the USA.
Normally one should just ask one’s posek.
The interesting question has to deal with medicines that are of questionable utility or are designed to take the place of foods (vitamins). The heterim to take treff substances for medicinal purposes certainly wouldn’t apply to a placebo, or perhaps not to a medicine that might not be really all that useful. Guaifenesin, the leading ingredient in non-prescription cough medicines, hasn’t done all that well in studies, and red syrups have to be watched closely (since insect bits are sometimes used as coloring). Tylenol (acetominophen) doesn’t really cure anything, so would there be a heter to take a treff version. Similarly, an antibiotic taken for a virus is worthless. Is there ever a heter to take a vitamin without a hecksher? And if there is a hecksher, does that make it food in terms of brachas and being able to not to have to worry about shailohs an Shabbos.
1. A methodlogical problem is how to deal with the fact that many frum people receive de facto income in ways that minimize tax liability, but are hard to count. A large percentage of frum families get all or part of their parnassah from frum institutional jobs, and are paid in part with tuition discounts from their institution and “parsonage” deductions (a tax procedure to allow religious institutions to give tax free housing allowances).
2. Many frum families receive tsadakkah. Most frum families qualify for various sorts of government welfare benefits, including the obvious ones such as WIC, Section 8 housing, CHIPS, etc., as well as programs such as financial aid for universities (which is rigged in favor of large families – a frum family in the “1%” would probably qualify).
3. “Make ends meet” is very controversial. Does it include “kosher” brands when there are general brands with good hecksherim? What about large weddings (the rabbanim advise against, and are generally ignored)? Overnight camp? Seminary in Israel for the girls? Boarding school for students in cities that have adequate Torah institutions to learn in? An automobile in a metropolitian area that has public transit?
Frei Jews tend to do well since they go to schools that “teach for the test”. It’s hard to estimate for frum Jews since many don’t take the test. The test measures how well the student has learned the math and language skills as taught in the secular schools, so obviously kids who speak a dialect at home (Yeshivish mixed with Brooklynese) tend to be at a disadvantage.
oomis1105 (et al.) – The assumption is that Streicher understood that the highlight of Purim was the mass hanging of the enemies of the Jewish people (remember it was all the leading war criminals being executed at the same time in 1946). He might have made the connection that the Jewish people had no (direct, this worldly) influence on the trials or executions (carried out by Ahasuerus and the Allies, quite of their own volition).
No comparison. Our animals are much better behaived. When’s the last time you saw the cats and dogs …
It will be exciting. We nukes a few of their cities. They nuke a few of our’s (remember, the Pakis have lots of nukes). Maybe someone can release some “improved” versions of Variola or Yersinia pestis – it will be just like the good old days. Maybe we can have a world wide pogrom by and against Muslims and Jews. Oh for joy.
Maybe we can have some good old fashioned ???? ?????.
Or maybe the matter can be dealt with without starting a massive war.
How about men having to marry women? Oops, they aren’t copying that anymore.
Get a job with a company that offers family health insurance. Often this results in lower income. Often one spouse works for the insurance and the other has the job for parnassah.
With Obamacare you should have less trouble getting insurance, but it might cost a lot.
Remember that braces are in most cases a luxury that only the best insurance covers. If the family is beyond childbearing years (i.e. mother well past 40), and no one has a serious problem, high deductible policies might be cheaper (for most families the only big ticket item is childbirth). One can also go uninsured (at least until Obamacare kicks in) and try to wrangle cheaper prices for doctors who get paid in full up front (rather than the doctors having to do their own wrangling with insurance companies). With no insurance or a high deductible policy, health savings accounts become practical. Rigging a flexible savings account can also cut the costs by about a third (if you live in a high tax state).
One hundred years ago in America only a handful of Jews even attempted to be frum. Milk was a problem (the heterim for Stam Halav only apply after the government started regulating milk – back then it was sold “by quality” based on how it was dilluted and with what). Being frum always meant be desperately poor, and knowing that to become affluent meant giving up Torah. Life in eneral wasn’t so great either – remember this is before air conditioning, before refrigerators, before anti-biotics. In the English speaking countries violent anti-semitism wasn’t a problem.
Go back 200 or more years the poverty was still a problem, but almost no one had indoor plumbing. Life expectancy was horrific by our standards (no sanitation, no serious surgery other than amputations since there were no pain killers stronger than whiskey or opium, most children didn’t live to adulthood, and complications of pregnancy and childbirth were the leading causes of death for women). Before trains and steamships, a city forty miles away meant an overnight trip – and forget about travelling further unless you were making it a very long voyage.
You go back 500 years, books were a rarity. A humash was something owned by a shul or a rich person. A sidur was an heirloom. A complete Talmud was something you would rarely encounter.
The truth of the matter, is now is a very good time to be alive.
The minimum wage in the United States is roughly $15000 a year, of which at least 7% goes to taxes. This comes to about $300/week. Once you get a family, various “entitlements” kick in.
Of course, if one’s interest in learning Torah requires a lifestyle more fitting of the legendary “one percent”, you are probably in the wrong line of work.
If he likes computer science. If he looks at an advanced textbook, or a complex program, is he attracted or repulsed? Does he continually try to “improve” on how his computers work? Does he try to fix things himself?
If you pick a field of intellectual endeavor that you don’t like, you likely to be wasting your time.
Based on the Wall Street Journal and Wikipedia, it was a site specializing in supporting distributed of “pirated” copyrighten materials. The owner apparently had a history of white collar crimes in multiple countries. Also the principal owner, a German, was living in a tremendous mansion in New Zealand when he was arrested by the New Zealand’s police. Apparently, it was a very profitable business.
There have been very few presidents who would pass for saints. Until a few years ago, the minhag was not to discuss such matters in public – which doesn’t mean “nothing ever happened” only that polite people thought it was none of your business. Remember that you are hiring the guy to get a job done, not to marry your daughter to him.
“ruling Republicans” – someone said above – actually, the Democrats control the Federal government
Romney is clearly dull and boring, though arguably that might be an attraction. Many people are tired of all the excitement of the last ten years and would prefer a period of dull and boring, peace and prosperity.
Santorum is focused on social issues, which not only have nothing to do with the office of the President (e.g. abortion, which is entirely a matter for the Congress and the courts), and his only economic credential was being a well know earmarker.
Gingrich’s personal life is weird (he’s on his third marriage, the first two failed because of his misbehavior), and he keeps changing his views. Romney has been fairly consistent, especially on issues pertaining to the presidency. His shifts on abortion and gays were fairly slight – note that he’s hardly being embraced by left wing types.
Economically, Romney is closer to the “tea party” than Santorum or Gingrich.
He might be clever enough to argue that America wants a boring president who gets the job done, and Romney could probably embrace most of the other Republicans platforms and saying that he’s the one to get them enacted.
The real issue is that there are two competing, and mutually exclusive paradigms pertaining to the Jewish community of Eretz Yisrael. One is based on a “Torah and Mitsvos” idea of what it means to be Jewish, the other is a secular, ethnic and nationalistic one. They can’t coexist indefinitely. One will eventually force out the other, and thus conflict is inevitable.
1. He is a nice guy (no argument there).
2. While “Private equity” had nothing to do with the causing the current recession (his business was to buy bankrupt companies cheap, salvage what they could, and sell it for a profit), it might be better if someone more unlike Wall Street were the candidate for the Republicans (ignoring the fact that Wall Street tends to be Democratic). The only Republicans who ran this year with real world careers other than being a politicians were Herman Cain (IT professional who switched to ran restaurants) and Ron Paul (who was a physician, a long time ago).
3. Romney’s views on most issues, whether economic or social, are very mainstream Republican. He has shown a willingness to work with Democrats, which might be necessary if as president he wishes to get legislation passed by the Congress. If you read his book, there really isn’t anything for conservatives to worry about.
4. In all fairness, anti-Mormon prejudice is a real factor in the right and left wing opposition to his candidacy. While the Mormons’ theology is even nuttier than the mainstream Christians, we’re used to having leaders with ridiculous religious beliefs – in fact we’ve never had leaders we can identify with religiously. Based on their conduct, the Mormons are a lot less objectionable from a halachic perspective, than groups such as the mainline Portestants or Reform Jews.
None work perfectly, and anyone with moderate computer skills can evade them. If you set the standards too high, you’ll end up blocking things you might want to access. At work, they have filters but they have to tell people how to go around them when needed. However they cleverly have told everyone that someone high up and see what you are doing every minute on your computer, so don’t do anything you aren’t supposed to. So if you are worried about your kid looking at “naughty” sites, make sure the kid is afraid of Ha-Shem (even if he regards you as harmless).
A “nasty experience with customs” is no hiddush, anywhere in the world. Customs agents are in a class with parking police and tax collectors (in general). This just shows that Israel is a national like all other nations in this regard, which is the zionists’ goal, isn’t it.
Those aren’t “government” regulations, those are school rules. Meaning you don’t need to talk to the legislature if you don’t like, you merely need to talk to whomever is in charge of the school. Of course, if it is a public school, their school rules may be enforceable in court, meaning the Board of Trustees would have to follow the administrative procedure law to make a change.
If one wants something out of the ordinary it pays to decide on it before going to the school, and get them to say they’ll allow it before you even apply. Normally, for degrees, they want you to have paid two sets of tuition. THe school catalogue sets the rules. Most schools expect you to complete the final year or two at their insititution to give you a degree.
If there are separate schools (e.g. a secular university and a yeshiva licensed to give a B.A.) each school has its own policies.
Also if you want some courses and the school doesn’t offer it, you can usually get permission to take it elsewhere and transfer the credits, as long as you ask in advance.
Schools make rules, states don’t. Most colleges require a lot more for a second bachelors (usually a minimum of two years extra work). For example, if you already have a B.A. in History, and want to get one in Political Science (or more likely, a B.S.N in Nursing, and a B.S. in Biology). If you are earning them simulaneously from the same school, they usually give the higher degree, with a double major.
If you are earning credits from two different colleges (or a college and a yeshiva that is structured to give credits), it is up to each school. Typically the university doesn’t recognize credits that count for someone else’s degree, and usually restrict the number of credits that can be transferred – and rarely accept credits at a different school taken after you started at the first school unless you asked permission in advance and had a good reason not to take the course at the first school.
Their point is that the zionist movement that began in the 1880s is a “dead end”. A Jewish entity in Eretz Yisrael that wants the trappings of a goyish state will not be compatible with Torah, and anything “Jewish” that isn’t based on Torah will eventually disappear. Either it will give up the trappings of a sovereign state or it will give up any pretense of being “Jewish”. Medinat Yisrael as well know is probably doomed in the long run.
If the growth of the yishuv had occured under Orthodox leadership, even “Modern” or “Mizrahi” leadership, they would have focused on sufficient autonomy to allow Jews in Eretz Yisrael to peacefully live a frum lifestyle, rather than starting a fight with the goyim by demanding political control (meaning non-Jews reduced to “second class” status, something that Arab racist pride will never accept) combined with building a western (Euro-American style) and secular (meaning anti-Islamic as well as anti-Torah) state.
Has R. Yosef Hayyim Sonnenfeld, probably assisted by Dr. Jacob De Haan (rather than David Ben Gurion) been the dominant figure in the politics of Eretz Yisrael in the first part of the 20th century, Eretz Yisrael would today probably have a Jewish majority but would be part of a much larger Arab/Islamic state (probably a great Syria led by the current King Abdullah II). While we would be “second class” citizens politically (something Orthodox Jews never had a problem with), we’ll have the economic and communal autonomy that would allow Orthodox Jews to flourish without being forced to fight “tooth and nail” for the right to follow a Torah based lifestyle. And in this “alternative history” and interest side effect is that at worst, Hitler would be remembered for expelling Jews from Europe, since the Brits would have had no reason to close their Empire to Jewish refugees (especially since the frum ones would have preferred to join the large and secure Jewish community in the Arab state that almost was established in the post-World War I period).
It’s the current style. Style’s change over time.
Not all frum Jews wear black hats. Many people prefer a fur hat, and some prefer just a yarmulke. Of those wearing black hats, fedoras are currently the most popular though it is not uncommon to see other styles (homburgs).
Jews have a tradition of dressing up for Shabbos, which probably goes back to ancient times. American goyim had similar customs of wearing their best clothes on Sunday until the mid-20th century, and some still dress up (African Americans in particular). However we dress up in our “interview suits” (well, HaShem is the Boss, isn’t he?).
Jews have always prefered modest and solemn styles, so even in centuries where men wore highly colorful outfits and women wore outfits designed to show up the parts that are normally covered, Jews tended to prefer more somber clothes. This in part reflects mourning for the destruction of Jerusalem.
It’s interesting the frum kids trying to being “rebels” currently dress up in colorful shirts without jackets and ties (the “in style” of 20 years ago), whereas the “cool” goyim are now preferring suits and ties, often with white shirts, and some are beginning to wear hats again. However, in general we tend to be late in imitating goyish styles. Note the late adapation of long pants by frum Jews, and the survival of fur hats, or how double-breasted suits survived longer among us than among the goyim — often we haven’t given up a style that the goyim long gave up on, and it comes back among the goyim.
To: PoPa Bar Abba
And what do you think the guys who wrote the treatises read?
You do realize that the Shulhan Arukh is mere a “restatement” based on the case law, designed for those lacking the competence to read the originals. In a system based on “common law” (meaning cases, as opposed to decrees and codes – which include both Jewish and common law), all law goes back to previous decisions. Note that in “code” systems such as Roman law, you read the code and decide for yourself what it means today based on original intent and your understanding – past practice counts for little.
IF the secular (frei,hiloni, Reform, whatever) actually knew the history of Chanukah they would not want to observe it. They think it is about eating latkes and giving gifts, and when they become frum enough to know better, they wouldn’t want to abolish it since they understand the holiday was about the Hareidi winning bigtime over the Misyavanim (secular, free, hiloni, Reform, whatever).