Always_Ask_Questions

Here is a frum feminist for you:
Devorah says that her going with Barak to a battle will be an insult to him. Why? Because Devorah was teaching Torah and, thus, as we all know, was exempt from mitzvos unless there was no one else to perform them. Thus, if she is seen going with Barak it is clear that she is not there to support, but she is doing it because the battle will not be won without her. And that is why she is singing the song, to show that she is there for a reason, and did not abandon her Torah learning for no reason. I’ll leave kol isha for another time.

YYA> Torah and Mitzvos are the ONLY real תכלית החיים

Thanks for the clarification. You seem to be decoupling mitzvos from real life. So, giving maaser is a mitzva, but spending time protecting fellow Yidden is not? I understand from, for example, Ramban’s naval b’rshus Torah is that you can apply your mitzva approach to other areas that are not necessarily defined explicitly, at least in bein adam l’havero. And all gemoras and sifrei mussar, are you dsicarding them all also? In truth, I don’t think you personally hold by that, but I agree that this became a “party line”. It is clear why – because the anti-religious groups are highlighting and perverting those values and you want to oppose the chazerim.

YYA, I see. I think you are posing this false choice between bitachon and having an Army – maybe based on all the problems you describe with IDF. I am not certain to what degree these problems present themselves but I am sure they are there. So, I understand your emotional attitude.

I am only pointing out that a country requires an army, as much as it requires a police force and a tax authority, as much as a person requires a doctor and a hairdresser. You are not allowed to live in a city without a doctor. Similarly, it will be madness to live in a country without an army.

Doctors are often, and were often, not religious. There were also great doctors like in Taanis. “You go to the war with the army you have” (tm Rumsfeld). Jews had to serve in many armies in the world that are way worse than IDF. Yet, it is very zionist of you to demand more from a Jewish army than the Czar’s army, and I do not disagree.

But you do demonstrate that zionists were right in one aspect – you argue from the fact that Jews did not have an army for a long time. But were we ever in a situation where it was practical to have an army? There was, for example, a Jewish state in Yemen at some point – do you think it did not have an army? Take Khazar – did Kuzari advise him to discharge his army? when did we join Quakers and I missed that?

well, maybe kahal can hire their own nurses who graduated Touro and Landers.

for a change, a Torah question: which arithmetic operation is meduaraita?

YYA< a great summary of the debate. I am not sure why this is such a special topic, and not the issue of combining hishtadlus with relying on Hashem. Maybe an extreme one, but still not different.

Do you hesitate every time you need to go to a doctor – whether it is appropriate to address the issue or it is Hashem’s punishment for the crude words you posted in CR? Every time you run out of milk, do you hesitate going to the store because maybe it is because Zionists misinterpret eretz zavat halav udvash?

Why is there a contradiction between having a functioning military. Every Jewish king had, competitive to all neighbors – you focus on churban that happened every 400+ years. Do you realize that the army was required to keep BM operating for those 400 years?

Specifically, for Roman times – having a strong army did not work for many nations that were conquered by Roman. As the policy of the empire was to scare everyone from a rebellion while improving their economic life, they would be disproportionally cruel to occasional rebels: strong Judean army just caused for more legions to be collected from other parts of the empire. Presumably, Rabbonim understood that and advised against rebelling – not because they preferred Roman power or were pacificists, like you propose here, but because of Realpolitik: it was just not possible to rebel against such a strong empire.

Many Rabbis, in person and in writing, actually wondered – why operating machinery requires a license, but parenting does not …

similarly, answers to the question to parents with a newborn – when can they start learning about parenting – “you are at least 9 months late”.

To the question of government-required courses: if the courses have useful material about safety, medicine, building codes, basic middos, there should not be problem with that. If there is spiritual/psychological component – it should be evaluated. This is probably similar to public schools that Jews were at time mandated or pressured to go to: you mitigate what is wrong. Possibly, we could develop our own courses and have government approve them as a substitute. In fact, I am not sure why Jews are not leading on this. Great idea!

YYA> there is no היתר to sacrifice Jewish lives בוודאי because of a ספק that maybe the Goyim will then be happy.

le derech shalom? The nations can make Jewish life miserable if we do not along with them, so you got to take their opinions into account. And it was always done.

YYA> Chofetz Chaim is quoted by Rav Elchonon in Kovetz Maamarim

could you expand on that? Are these direct quotes? while Chofetz Chaim was still alive? I think most of it is after … Unless there are similar direct quotes from Chofetz Chaim, I would call this source R Elchonon, not Chofetz Chaim …

YYA, I have to agree with your refutation of my occam razor (so it was too sharp for me) – there are more of those who condemned R Goren than those who simply disagreed with other non-charedim. some things/decisions that I heard of do raise questions .. at the same time, I heard from talmidei chachomim who considered him same … and these are T’Ch who are capable of calling out someone who is not. Would it be fair to summarize that he took upon controversial topics and might have ended up wrong. I don’t think this is such a bad thing. If a person has kelim and tries to reach emes and is not afraid to put his opinions out, then he might get something wrong, it is still better than those who do not have skills or integrity or bravery.

The situation itself is indeed unclear, both sensational reports and whitewashing explanations can be fake. Hopefully, facts will be clarified later on. Savlanut.

I presume those who live there know what the general situation is and can discuss, and I presume that OP knows things first-hand. My suggestions below are not based on facts, just on basic economics, so please correct me when I am off-base.

I suggest that the original problem is social and will not be fully fixed by heksherim or gov supervision. If parents do not have enough money to pay for adequate supervision, it will not happen. Caregivers will have no certification not only because of cost of certification and required limits on number of kids, fire safety standards, etc. Certification probably also means that wages have to be reported, taxed, and benefits reduced, that wages have to be according to some minimal standards, maybe even insurances.

So, one great idea: parents need to get more funds – hopefully, by acquiring skills and getting good jobs. Possibly part-time so that they can learn like Hillel and others.

Another – accept life of poverty, there is nothing wrong with that, but take responsibility for safety of children: grandparents, older siblings, local BYs can all do chesed. Fathers can learn from home with books and zoom calls while keeping an eye on children while showing them an example of Torah learning – or even teaching these children Torah.

I quoted several times already a story of Mitteler Rebbe learning without paying attention to his crying baby that rebetzin asked him to watch (another future Chabad Rebbe). His father, Alter Rebbe heard the cries from his apartment upstairs and came to reprimand his son for not watching his grandson. Interestingly, Alter Rebbe did not offer babysitting services, maybe he considered his own finishing Tanya more important, or he was not on his daughter-in-law’s approved babysitting list. Anyway, get your parents into the same building and go for it.

The original poster demonstrate what happens when you “know” the problem but can not quote it in full.

In fact, it is proven that it is enough to make one false statement, say, 1=2, then you can prove any false statement or something like that!

Sheker, sheker tirchok.

YYA> Most of the Maskilim and Zionists in the 5600s (1840-1939) fitted that definition.

this is an interesting dating … like an era changed … we had imagination (avoda zara AND naviut) leaving with BM1 destruction … maybe controversies of 5600s changed with the churban the same way? We now don’t have the passion of anti-religious groups (communists and such) but also the passion of Chofetz Chaim …

YYA> that way are just copy-pasting Goyish kefirah ideas into a pseudo-Jewish context to ape the secular Zionists they hold dear

I partially agree with you here, and that is why we need to review all kind of claims. R Soloveitchik was unhappy when RCA distributed Mizrachi ideas about new holidays and such, saying that Rabbis are responsible for that, and political organizations should not be in the business of guiding observance. I think this is the same sentiment as you express.

I would note that Judaism reacted to non-Jewish ideas and pressure in various ways in history – sometimes copy-pasting, sometimes opposing. Would you suggest any correlation between R Gershom ban on polygamy to Europeans not liking it, while Sephardi Jews had no problem with it? Rambam borrowing greek and arab philosophy and science. Overall, developing of Spanish Jewish philosophy in response to xian attacks and persuasion. One could say that Yidden don’t need no philosophy. Or, as R Soloveitchik remarks – if such philosophy was developed during Greek/Roman times and Jewish ideas would be fully absorbed, then non-Jews could have had a better religion than what they got by trying to adapt Judaism on their own.

Shimon> There are more Halachically and technically viable solutions now than there ever were, which could be applied nationwide

great that this is happening. You can also probably remotely control the grid – one Yid in US and one in Australia might cover the whole shabbos.

There is a story that when Chofetz Chaim was stuck in early USSR, he came to the local (Jewish) commissar and said to him – I don’t think I can move you to the teshuva, but when you’ll get to Olam Habo, you will be called to answer for your aveiros, and you will respond – I lived in a town where Chofetz Chaim lived, but he never gave me tochacha, maybe I would have done teshuva if he were to come. So, I came to take this excuse from you.

I presume this was taki an attempt to get some feelings out of this man.

YYA> ad hoc vigilante committee to go get the pitchforks

what is the source of this, maybe I missed it above? Chacham einav b’rosho. We just saw tragically 2 years ago what happens if IDF slips in just one part of the border. Where will your vigilante get F-35s on a short notice – and pilots to fly them. This is actually what Zionists did early in flying european planes acquired any way they could.

ZSK, you are leading an interesting question: when/if charedim become a majority or a significant minority of voters – would they demand all, or most, electricity to be shut off for shabbat? Or going to the original question, would they require police chasing car thieves on bicycles? I think you quoted RZ teshuvos, are there charedi teshuvos on this issue? Even if they are not currently involved in running a state, a charedi policeman could ask such a shailah.

ZSK> I never said those Rabbonim had no integrity or yiras shamayim. What I said is that no one immune from biases, not even highly esteemed Rabbonim.

and this is a good example how information flows … imagine that ZSK is a well-known talmid chochom (and maybe he is) and a gadol will ask his close student Yankel about ZSK, ending with ZSK put in cherem. So, Yankel will tell his teacher what he said here. Would it be gadol’s fault that he listened to Yankel?

YYA> Let’s focus on the core issue. Secular Zionism was a highly organized and targeted campaign to destroy Judaism and replace it with a secular national identity.

First, this does not contradict my ramblings. I am not fully condemning the separation that Chazon Ish created (nor I am saying it was the only way to go). It lead to a lot of successes in preserving and expanding observant community. I am just calling to understand what the negatives are. I am not sure Chazon Ish would disagree – he used the word “midbar”. He knew that wandering in midbar is not for your guf and neshomoh. He just did not see other choice. So, logically, by now, 80 years later – 2x more than Hashem’s measure – it is even less healthy. You don’t even have great-grandparents who remember life outside the desert. As an example, when Soviet Jews were coming in 1970s – they had no memory of Jewish life after 60 years of communist erasure, except Jews coming from Lithuania and such – who had “only” 30 years – and they still remembered.

So, I am calling for honest diagnosis of accumulated problems leading to treatment. That’s all.

ZSK> As for starting a solar panel business in Israel, the IEC will work with people who want to install solar panels to reduce their power bills (and maybe charge batteries for use over Shabbos

right, but this sends electricity back into the same grid. I think you should be able to use your own solar panels or connect them between nearby houses to be totally “off the grid”. Meah solar panels over Meah shaarim.

Shimon> Don’t tell me stories about “protecting Jews”. There are plenty of Jews protected by the US Army (including those in Israel…)

So, Jews – and non-Jews – serving in the American army deserve their level of respect. How does this contradict the fact that IDF protects Jews in Israel? I did not read this whole long thread, so I may be not following this. Are you in the camp of “Jews could have lived in other places”? This is not true historically – before WW2 and after WW2, there was no place in US or UK for all Jews of Europe. Same for Sephardi and Soviet Jews, majority of whom found a save place in Israel. Undoubtedly, early zionists and state of Israel saved Jewish lives. Furthermore, in terms of assimilation, Israeli Jews are fairing much better than those who settled elsewhere. Even those who are not religious, have a high chance of marrying someone Jewish.

Shimon > Actually, secular Zionism began as a response to the non-Jewish nations refusal to ALLOW the Jews to escape their identity.

I think there was an argument in non-Jewish world about it. Napoleon wanted to assimilate Jews (his question to his Sanhedrin: are you our brothers? willl you let us marry your sisters?), Marx initial impulse was to blame Jews for capitalism and “assimilate world from Jews” in response to someone else who wanted to “assimilate Jews”.

A question on Taanis: so the good doctor gets 7x visits from yeshiva shel maaleh over Abaye.

First, why such unusual “yeshivish” distinction – not Eliyahu talking to him, or golden table in olam habo. I guess this also means that he is not an Am Haaertz DESPITE (tm YYA) being a doctor.
Why are they visiting? do they ask him questions? do they teach him? do they have a pleasere talking to a doctor with middos?

And one more: surely in the shamaim they are aware that bloodletting is not as helpful as advertised, so they good doctor might have killed a number of patients – and they still respect him “for the effort”. Or maybe they were coming so often – to warn him not to do bad medicine and save his zechus from the gehinom that was awaiting other doctors!?

Shimon> what their ‘success rate’ is.

I agree it is not about success rate. Specifically, for chabad more than for others, there are people who end up not in a good place, some OTD or OTD children or very frum but still crazy. The question to ask – what would happen with that person without the intervention. He would probably still be drinking just non-kosher… there might be a detrimental effect on the community, but a particular individual almost always benefits. I don’t think I know baalei teshuva who took a worse path than the one they were following to begin with. Well, maybe some who in an attempt to feel frummer sent their children learning at a low level instead of college/profession, but this is a different story and not only chabad fault.