Always_Ask_Questions

Syag, look at what a “metaphor” is. I am just thinking for myself.

As an analogy, I was driving on a road where my car was kicking stones to the side, and there is a sidewalk below the highway that I can not see. So, I don’t know whether I killed anyone, but newspapers say that there are people killed by those stones every day, and I can compute probability of my stones killing someone. I would not be able to sleep at night, or continue driving that road, or say “funny, I do not know anyone hit”. And if other people can, I do not understand why.

bk613 > You should read up on the topic a bit mor

people often make sincere arguments without knowing that they are not right. There are 2 issues here:

1) need to know basics of sciences. R Avraham Twersky Z’L suggests learning physiology to appreciate the beauty of Hashem’s creation

2) how do we operate in the environment where our knowledge is incomplete:
how do we evaluate our (lack of) chochma; what authority we trust and how do we evaluate quality and biases; how do we treat cases of safek; how do we make sure not to create danger to others and hillul Hashem by our incomplete knowledge.

In theory, Gemora and halakha education should prepare people to answer such questions. I once attempted to repeat one of the Kanneman/Twersky experiments on biases due to anchoring (one questions leads person to think a certain way, and this affects an answer to a second question which has a totally objective measure). From a small sample, it looked like people who learned Gemora had smaller bias than professors, software engineers, and undergrads. But I realized later, those learners were pre-selected from a group I interacted with, not average learners.

And as we see in some cases, the result might be opposite: we feel that after resolving macholkes bein Abaye and Rava, we can decide medical and public health issues without Biology 101 or bothering to look up statistical sources. See Maharal Netivos Olam on Bavli as we discussed some time ago for explanation of this unfortunate phenomenon.

Syag > Or a retraction of calling people murderers

According to all statistical information I have so far, people who were not careful lead to extra deaths. I acknowledge that I owe you a more specific analysis.

I also did not see any scientific argument that proves that it was safe to behave that way except anecdotal references that nobody died on this or that shul. Most of the proponents of this theory usually resort to “your argument is incomplete”, “why do we trust XXX”, etc.

A chareidi Rav I know, when asked by married people, recommends to go first on a solo trip, arrange for parnasa and place to learn, and only then move the family

Syag, the Rav made a logical argument, not a halacha miMoshe mSinai, so I can try to use logic to further his statement. This is a normal thing to do. I clearly give a source and, separately, my thoughts. Everyone here can point that my logic is faulty, I will listen with interest. I suggest you ask your halakhic authority whether it is preferable to rebuke people from discussing rabbinical statements. None of the rabbis I know get offended if I suggest a collolary to their statement.

Greater Lita, if you wish – from Latvia – Riga (more Yakkish) and Zhagori on Lithuanian border, as well as Minsk gubernia.

That elderly gentleman was, I think, either from Moldova or from Western Ukraine. You tell me which dialect it is, but he did say “buru”. I can’t forget this moment.

>> is that they all hate the Frumme.
Health,
while there are some groups in the government that it is right to oppose, there is something wrong with the picture that you feel opposed by Bennett, who represents shomer-shabbat Jews who are riskign their lives for Eretz Israel, and Liberman, who represents survivors of Soviet and Nazi occupations that were miraculously saved at the last step before total annihilation and assimilation. If Hashem had your attitude, he would end up leaving us in Mitzraim with all the despicable habits we picked up there, and just started a new nation with Moshe.

philosopher, DNA/RNA/ARR – we clearly do not know what we are talking about. Let’s just acknowledge a legit fear of unknown. There is a lot to feat – there is a plot of COVID R0 rate – gradually growing from < 2 for the original Wuhan, to 2_ for Alpha and 4+ for Delta and would be expected to grow while there are billions of untreated people available for experiments. Plus, what if some lab will decide to experiment further. It is much easier to improve existing thing than create a new one.

I agree w/ kollelman on despicable delay of reporting vaccine trials. There were already a lot of indications that things are going well, but nobody could believe that it will that successful. I don’t know whether Phizer CEO is (completely) at fault. Maybe FDA insiders forced him or changed the rules. Hard to argue with the government.

by 99. I mean people who passed away, unfortunately. I know I owe you a detailed analysis. Sorry, end of an online school year is tough on parents.

kollelman has some interesting ideas, but he can not be 100% right because he is mis-interpreting 1-2% numbers in Lancet article paragraph 2. Paragraph 3 explains that ARR = 1% means that vaccinating 100 people will prevent one case of COVID _during_ the study period. ARR for the same vaccine is higher when virus is prevalent and lower when it is not, and real benefits continue well past the time of the study. When you understand these numbers, you just need to weigh risks of COVID v. risk of vaccine. Both are approximately known, not precisely, but to the order of magnitude. I did this analysis on this site several weeks ago. I would welcome your comments.

ADHD, I admit that chess is addictive! I was .. then, I grew up, and used skills that I developed there for other things. I understand what you are saying how computer games work for you. You just need to pre-plan your divergence so that it is doing something productive for yourself and others. for example, chess worked for me as a kid – it develops logical thinking, teaches you to evaluate your capabilities objectively (if you don’t, your opponents will, and it is hard). So, if catching monsters or flipping geometric figures is useful for you in some way, then play those. Or, find a game that will be help to you and kids. there are, for example, typing games with letters falling off the ceiling, use it to teach yourself and kids to type with 10 fingers blind. Then, same in Hebrew. Make up problem for kids – Find all cities that start with A in atlas, or count all “es” in the Humash until”yere es Elokim” … One of my kids took a test in response to school chachamim’ “concerns” – he first was asked to repeat numbers and he did below average, then he was asked to repeat numbers backwards – and he was at 98% range … so challenge yourself and kids the right way and enjoy it

just as a factual reference: Israeli GDP per person was 100% of OECD during Bibi’s first term – 1996-99. Then, went into a free fall in 2000-2008 to 80%, and started increasing back when Bibi became prime-minister again in 2009 at average rate of 1% per year, now being at 91% of OECD.

Unemployment rate was 9%, 2% over OECD in 2005, reached OECD in 2008, and is by 1.5% better than OECD from 2010 till now (3.8% in 2019).

In 2009, 20% of Israeli and OECD unemployed were “long term”. In 2019, it is 6% in Israel, 26% in OECD. 40% in France. 57% in Italy. 19% in US (after reaching 30% in 2010). So, Israel does not have long-term unemployment. At least according to official stats …

Average wages, though, are lower and again correlate strongly with Bibi’s reign:
increasing from 82 (or 77, a suspicious number in OECD stats) to 86% of OECD from 1996 to 2001, falling to 76% in 2004, up to 78% in 2007, down to 73% in 2010, then almost straight up to 81% in 2019, 1% per year increase.

To summarize, Israelis work as Americans and live like Italians.

>> So our productivity and ability to connect is through the roof, but it also has created a generation of very mentally stressed out people.

this is indeed true. So, we now have a potential, so it is silly to complaint to Hashem that there is no water in the desert – just open waze and see directions to the store. If we can’t reach that potential, it is our problem. Maybe, when we daven, we need to focus more on “honen hadaas” to be able to use what we have than on asking for parnasa and other things directly.

a technical note on software: my father O”H, a chemical engineer, said that it will take time for computer tech to become easy to use – it took chemists several centuries to figure out most convenient vessels for each type of chemicals. So, wait a little (or help make it better). But software does illustrate what is happening with society in general: for now, most are using extra resources not always to do more, but to do it cheaper or to extract more money from customers.
Many tools take 1000x time more spaces than they did 20 years ago and do basic functions worse.

akuperma, I am not sure whether current coalition agreement would allow Bennett to change his coalition unilaterally without Lapid’s agreement. Anyone read thru the fine print.

but we know one bet: it is reported that Bibi is staying in his residency for a couple of weeks. Probably, this is how long he thinks the coalition will last, and does not want to bother going back and forth!

ADHD, do not try to be like the others. It will depress you … One possible explanation of ADHD is that neural signals fire at multiple places instead of one. That non-ADHD people will be happy doing an assigned task, whether it makes sense or not, an ADHD person will insist on doing something more interesting. There are (unfortunately?) enough people who will do dull routine activities, memories pages by heart. You don’t have to do the same. Contribute what your personality gives. As mentioned above, find what is stimulating in learning, family, just direct it towards the good things. Say, instead of video games, play something more educational or good for their brain, play with alefbeis, chess, bring challenging questions, not sure how old your kids are. You don’t have to do “kamatz-alef” with them, just do what is exciting to you and kids.
In your learning, take a topic that connects multiple issues together and try to resolve them, instead of going systematically through all items. Look at books by Edward Hallowell, I think latest is ADHD 2.0, I found his approach very reasonable.

IYK, I am not sure why you think a professional job does not pay expenses for a family. In my experience it did, And you do not have to be a slave. Get some experience or an experience partner/advisor and start your own business. I did.

I understand that we all can find reasons to complain and worry about future –
but note that each of us is richer than the King of England two hundreds years ago in terms of ability to travel, communicate remotely, access information, even eat exotic food from far away locations. We all have millions of slaves, literal who pack the food for us, and golems that keep lights and heat on. when you do work, you have computers, internet, Amazon Marketplace all designed to make you ore efficient. We are even for now far away from tyrannical regimes of the past – Crusaders, Tzars, Nazis, Commies. If this generation complains …

Obviously, difference between yekkes and chasidim reflet the differences between host namtions. Primo Levi, an Italian Jew, writes about a difference between German Lagers and Russian command that he also exzperienced. When Germans say “tomorrow”, it means at 9am tomorrow, there will be signs everywhere about what exactly is going to happen. When Russians say “tomorrow” it means – in the near future, possibly.

> It is in the Arab world’s best interests to have Israel without a government that can rule.

Jewish people survived “without the government” for centuries during time of shoftim, as well as the last several years. Fastest vaccination campaign in the world “without the government”. Several peace agreements.

to answer the original question: It well may be that such a strange government, united only by the desire to keep the government” will lead to some healthy dialog. Israeli governments are often simply separate groups trying to tax the other guy and get something to themselves. This is not advancing society at all. So now, it is hard to imagine that each individual minister will succeed doing something that others disagree with. They’ll try and there will be a lot of drama. Maybe Bennett will be able to advance some right-wing policies relying on Knesset opposition support for them. Maybe other factions will join and there will be 119 member faction, agreeing only on excluding Bibi.

R Feinstein played chess, but at a wises age of 9, realized that it takes too much time from his learning and quit. Yehuda Halevi and Bin Ezra played it
I think, Samuel Reshevsky of Monsey came from Gerrer Rebbe’s family

going to sleep is influenced by biological clock – when you feel tired. Getting up is driven by social restrictions – school and work openings. Thus, those in Eastern part of the time zone go to sleep earlier (in clock time) and sleep more than those in the Western. There is research taking pair of US cities one in the western part of their time zone, others – on the eastern in the next time zones – and the Easterners have higher average IQs and incomes.

Avira,
ok, seems we do not disagree much. I would like to mention one point though – your usage of Reform, etc as a warning. We need to maneuver carefully when encountering threats – Hellenism, Islam, Haskala, Communism … On one hand, the approach of keeping away from the threat worked many times at the time of encounter On the other hand, long-term we need not to get carried away and modify Yehadut in opposition to the threats long-gone. We are not stopping learning Humash because of Tzdukim … but we did stop reading ten commandments …
If Reform abused tikun olam, does not mean that we should ignore bein adam l’havero and push and shove each other on the way to a “mitzvah”. Secular studies were strongly associated with non-religious lifestyle at some point, and this now prevents people from getting honorable professions. Maybe Rambam’s/Aristotle’s halakhot deot applies here: community, as a person, needs to generally keep a middle path, but should deviate to compensate for a trend. As with a skidding car or a stable inflation rate, applying such controls inappropriately may end up in a ditch on a left or on a right side (or inflation/deflation), thus a need to see big picture where we are and which way we are moving. Maybe second derivative also.

As to learning psak v. meta-learning, my Lakewood Teacher explained 1/3 humash/mishna/gemora as applying to total learning, so at some point one needs to learn more of the gemora (reasoning behind laws, rather than just laws) as it is a much bigger field. Hate to bring covid here, but it aptly demonstrates that modern life brings new issues very fast comparing with cneturies ago where drastic changes were relative rare. So, ability of the community to adapt is even more important.

>> Knowing random words from the rambam without gemara-context or psak is arguably not aisek, nor yedias hatorah

The way I (imperfectly) understand Rambam, he directly contradicts you and suggests reading him without sources. Luckily I can resolve this machlokes between CR and Rambam – maybe Rambam directed this just to balabosim like me.

As to calling “rationality” as “haskala”, I asked a deep Chabad scholar about some Rambam shita and Muslim philosophy and responded “Rambam was not afraid of admitting truth from any source”.

MosheKapoyer, admittedly, a lot of Talmidei Chachamim felt same way when Daf yomi was starting, so AviraDeArah is in a good company. If you ask me .. It is interesting, but takes time away from Torah learning :). At least with mussar, famous R Salanter’s answer was to spend available hour on Mussar and not Gemorah, as it will lead you to finding more time to learn Gemorah. I do not yet feel same effect from the Daf, maybe I need to finish it first …

Re: Rav Soloveichik.
>> is the unique stand taken by many of our Jews on matters of Law and tradition. We have reached a stage at which party lines and political ideologies influence our halakhic thinking

I see how you read “our Jews”. At the same time, next sentence mentions “halakhic thinking”. It can be read in a different ways. I also agree that 50s might have been a hotter time than now, but it did last quite some time. So that you get a taste of the tension, here is a quote from a notorious letter in 1984:
With this we are publicly protesting against those who call themselves ‘‘great sages’’ and ‘‘heads of yeshivas’’ in the United States, who give obsequious praise to the known ‘‘uprooter of Israel,’’ the tyrant from Boston, product of the cursed Berlin Haskalah, and poisoner of the hearts of the Children of Israel through his venomous and ugly opinions, as is well known. That the aforementioned (sages) issued their letters of mischief on the occasion of the eightieth birthday of the Boston Sadducee borne on the pages of the ‘‘sledgehammer’’ that carries the title ‘‘honorable Rabbi.’’

This was directed to Rav Feinstein, Rav Gifter, Rav Ruderman writing things like this:
I come with this to send my blessing to the editors of this festschrift that the students of the great genius, our master Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik shlit”a arranged in his honor, as he reaches the age of strength [eighty]. And also to offer my prayer that God lengthen the days and years of my dear, great friend, in old age, full of sap and richness [Ps. 92:15], and that he continue to spread Torah in public and to engage in public matters, in honor of God and His Torah, and as an honor to our families. With friendship and appreciation, Moshe Feinstein

CTL, I mean the software protocol, not the business structure. www is accessible to everyone. You don’t need a company like facebook to access postings. Search engine can index them. If one search engine downgrades sites, you can switch to another search engine. If ywn is too restrictive, you can create your own website and post there. In contrast, fbook and twitter own the data itself. People volunteer to post on the private property, so “we the people” are at fault for losing freedom of speech.

Somehow millions of people were following Trump on twitter. They could as well read his blog, but it appears too hard for many ..