Always_Ask_Questions

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  • in reply to: Chofetz Chaim says bless those you don’t love, pray they see moshioch #2249746

    Bava Kama discusses the right height for skilah to make it most comfortable – given the circumstances. so, ahava applies to everyone

    in reply to: what’s the yichus of yichus? #2249744

    > I never made any kiss

    that is not the question, the question is – do you sometimes have second thoughts before pressing a submit button – would your zeidy post that?

    in reply to: Academia #2249718

    > unlikely that the country will remain a good place for Jews,

    there was a poignant letter to NYT recently
    ..My father fled [Germany] in 1939.. My father had passed the German law bar and was taking postgraduate courses to enter the German diplomatic corps. When he fled to the U.S. his German law degree was useless. So he started sweeping floors in a factory .. Eventually he was able to go back to college at night in the U.S., .. He got his bachelor’s degree in economics.
    When I asked him why he didn’t pursue a law degree here as he had in Germany, he said, “If I ever had to flee this country I didn’t want to have another useless law degree.”
    I said, “Dad, you’d never have to flee the U.S.!”
    And he replied, “That’s what I thought in Germany.”

    in reply to: Academia #2249717

    > some “modern” Orthodox do change their personal names and modify their appearance so they won’t look “too” Jewish

    this used to be a norm for most Jewish professionals until lately. Not just out of fear of anti-semites but simply not to impose on professional relationship, especially for public-facing professions, such as politicians, doctors, lawyers. So maybe we should see latest setbacks in the larger context

    in reply to: Anyone else long for when restaurants were simpler #2249715

    > when we had to walk to school uphill, both ways?

    you had to actually get out of the house to log into a class, grandpa?

    in reply to: Beware of Scams!! #2249713

    > owner has long peyos and long beard.

    if someone uses a picture in a black hat, does not mean that it is his photo, of course. He might have another picture in a kefiya for a different scam..

    in reply to: Chris Christie – why can’t Jews rally around him? #2249719

    > Why do Jews vote progressive Democrat?

    If you are not a liberal when you are young, you do not have a heart. So all Jews have a big heart.

    in reply to: what’s the yichus of yichus? #2249690

    common: Two things never impressed me,

    you and rav Yehuda … I think we discussed how he made fun of someone being introduced based on yichus : if he deserves it, no need to mention it, and if he does not, it is worse for him

    I know someone with a great yichus, gradually reducing over generations, and I have a feeling that he would be happier having a different name

    in reply to: If You Were a Goy #2249691

    Menachem> Is this really appropriate from someone who is the purpose of creation and the entire universe is being created for him to behave this way right now?

    Exactly, so you are not going to take advantage of the nonJew in any way, even when it is possible al pi din – say, he makes a mistake.

    in reply to: If You Were a Goy #2249470

    > they were created FOR the perpose

    I wonder how all of these theories affect our behavior. Starting with sefer bereshis, we see avos interacting respectfully with all kind of people. Hopefully, you are following those examples.

    in reply to: Why the Hostage Posters Are So Terrible #2249232

    > If a fellow’s grandfather lit your house on fire, and then his grandson had a change of heart

    in addition to this correction, only a multi-generational Yerushalmi can complain like that. Other anti-Zs came to EY under Z protection.

    in reply to: what’s the yichus of yichus? #2249230

    How it works out in modern social environment. If you see that too many people with yichus turning out to be the most worthy heirs of their fathers, it may be an indication of weakened tradition of merit rather than zechus of yichus,. After all, a teacher in a modern institution may have hundreds of students… if he is a good teacher, it is likely that at least one of that hundred will be better than a son.

    in reply to: what’s the yichus of yichus? #2249196

    R Dessler – it gets you a higher initial position on a sulam Yaakov, but it is up to you whether you’ll go up or down from there.

    in reply to: Academia #2249187

    You will need to show some hard numbers to convince me that things are worse now than before. Commies run humanity departments for many years, and math and engineering departments are not involved in that . One thing that did change is that more people are now going to college, so some who used to get their news and views from pubs, now get them from commie professors.

    in reply to: Why the Hostage Posters Are So Terrible #2249184

    Menachem
    > I would DEFINITELY add extra tefillos for you – regardless of your ideology.

    A good question that people need to confront. I am thinking of those who are adding tehilim but avoid any mention of soldiers. Say, you are jumping into a fire to save someone’s child and the parent says – thank Hashem for saving my child, would you appreciate his deep religiosity, and will Hashem ?

    in reply to: Chris Christie – why can’t Jews rally around him? #2249025

    should be “on her heels”. I think she is running for VP and will be a good one

    in reply to: Joseph vs squeak Nittul Nacht Chess #2249024

    Menachem, thanks, so Lubavitcher shita is to do as locals do … what do shluchim do in Russia or Muslim countries or in EY?

    in reply to: Joseph vs squeak Nittul Nacht Chess #2248969

    It seems that the previous cr psak was to follow orthodox minhag of nittel by Julian calendar as the nittel minhag started there. But I think lately Ukraine decided to decamp from their murderous brothers and join their western cousins under gregorian calendar. So, it may not make sensany more for us to follow old minhag. Not many Yidden lived under Russia proper, and now rov of the pale is under gregorian celebrations. Unless you are lubavich or belorussian litvish.

    in reply to: Joseph vs squeak Nittul Nacht Chess #2248902

    I found an interesting idea in R Soloveichik letter about our relationships with nonjews: if we were more open about Jewish ideas during Hellenism times, then the world would have accepted these ideas from us rather than seen them as Chiddushim of a new religion.

    in reply to: If You Were a Goy #2248634

    You don’t need to convince a nonjew that you are learning kabolah and he doesn’t. Just be a mench. Avraham was respected by neighbors not because of his special relationship with Hashem, but because he did chesed and derech eretz
    If you only talk to them when you need to save a chicken 🐔, you are doing it not like avot did.

    in reply to: If You Were a Goy #2247898

    I once jokingly asked a Chinese restaurateur whether he finds it hard to deal with such clientele. He said – no, it is great, customers do not get into fights and pay their bills …

    But, seriously, hope everyone here behaves so that their non-Jewish neighbors invite their friends to see what real chesed is.

    in reply to: New refrigerator #2247857

    Having a fridge is showing lack of bitachon. Why are you stacking food. Surely, Hashem will provide for you tomorrow. Next, you will start stashing money into a pension fund instead of paying full tuition today. bitachon.

    in reply to: I guess ChaBaD is Zionist now? #2247854

    I understand why people want to get to the higher level quickly, but you may be underestimating prerequisites … people talk about age, knowing halocho, but look at Kiddushin 71: The forty-two-letter name of God may be transmitted only to one who is discreet, and humble, and stands at at least half his life, and does not get angry, and does not get drunk, and does not insist upon his right

    Are you even at minimum level in these middos? Are you saying that your rebbeim figured out shortcuts to skip these? If yes, why are you so interested in taking these shortcuts instead of working on yourself? This is like running a marathon and getting a ride for a part of it.

    in reply to: About Yahya Sinwar #2246991

    Arabic is also right to left, so no inversion.

    in reply to: Reasons for the Dreidel #2246448

    not my idea: we eat oily burned food to show that we are not going to stay in shape to run in Olympic games

    my idea: we are rejecting greek idea of determinism by playing random games. So, dreidel looks like a perfect symmetric polygon that greeks loved so much, but we ten take it for a gut yiddishe spin – in circles – with irrational lengths and, most importantly, into an predictable trajectory destroying the idea of determinism. In the simplest and most visible way.

    It is like Albert – “G-d does not play games” Einstein visits Nils Bohr for Chanuka and Nils, instead of spewing quantum formulas, simply spins the dreidel and asks Albert to predict the letter. Tiuvta Einstein Tiuvta.

    A modern version is low predictability of weather despite all sensors and computers we got.

    in reply to: Joe, I need your help here #2246456

    n0mesorah, thanks for going to the page! I understand Rabbi Meir responding to preceding contradiction – first a long discussion about challenges in many professions and then Rabbi saying that we, as a society, need all jobs, so you are or are not lucky to be born in a family with clean business.

    So, Rabbi Meir says not to worry too much about choosing most earning profession (wall street), just do an easy and clean one and work well (software engineer), and Hashem will provide according to your zechuyot in that job.

    in reply to: About Yahya Sinwar #2246450

    > “Sin” is the word for China

    and WAR is short for Wa-gne-r – disbanded russian militants who probably helped out also

    > SINWAR = Sin + War

    and if you remove capital letters from above, you get iran in atbash.

    in reply to: Reasons for the Dreidel #2246449

    Could Be, I dont think many people had kuntreisim, maybe major rabonim and people around them. Others would go by what they can remember. King Yannai did not own a bencher, for example.

    in reply to: New refrigerator #2246424

    > so you could use it l’chatchilah.

    this is a great goal, but we have to be realistic and balance with conflicting goals. I read about someone asking a shaila of a rav and then expressing concern that the permitting psak is based on b’dieved considerations. The rav sighed, pointed to seforim in his bookshelves and said – all of these are also b’dieved (ie written v oral)

    in reply to: New refrigerator #2246420

    buy two: one for yomei chol with all features and one for shabbos, disable all lights and cut a side entrance to avoid triggering anything and anyone.

    you can also use power fuse to the kitchen as a shabbos mode, powering off all devices you are zoche to own with one switch … fridge should keep at least some food edible if you dont open it too much.

    in reply to: Menorah in your face #2246407

    sechel v common sechel … exciting …
    common asked you a common sense counter-question about your erudition in non-chabad seforim. you seem to ignore that and continue pressing yours. please respect the age!

    in reply to: King Cuomo returns #2246408

    he has both middos and sechel for the job

    middos – like dama b netina, he spent a fortune on a bridge to honor his father – your fortune

    sechel – he adroitly discharged elderly covid patients from hospitals to minimize state future medical expenses and show true kavod hames.

    in reply to: I guess ChaBaD is Zionist now? #2246397

    Is flag such a goyishe idea? Shvatim had flags. We didn’t need flags for a long time that we didn’t have an army so the idea became foreign. Also, we should appreciate tzionim for their position:
    1. Original flag had 7 golden stars for a 7 hour work day… at least not 7 work days … I guess they couldn’t agree on number of work hours, so then they grasped for talles colors
    2. Compare with bundists who were as non religious sans EY
    Their flag was half red, half black, a bilbul of communists and anarchists

    in reply to: Menorah in your face #2245598

    Common, where were you when the mishna was written down?
    Or when Rambam wrote mishne torah and the guide? Or at least when mussar and bais Yaakov started..

    in reply to: Joe, I need your help here #2245543

    Being in business is great, but there are a lot of nisyanos. It is much easier to be in a business as a doctor, an engineer, a lawyer. Much harder to run an honest and profitable business selling online what everyone else is selling or having medicaid pay low rates for cheapest service provided to poor and elderly. I am not saying it is impossible but it is hard to compete honestly and provide quality work that you can be proud of when you are in industries that are full of fraud, illegal workers and untaxed payments. But you would know this if you learnt Kiddushin.

    in reply to: Joe, I need your help here #2245541

    Last year, BMG, maybe look up other opinions at the end and also middle of Kiddushin – what jobs are problematic and difference between a trade and a business. Trades in our days may or may not require college degree

    in reply to: Joe, I need your help here #2245540

    Average income mixes up different populations and income sources. Maybe compare government payments, including to single mothers, free lunches, title 1, etc

    in reply to: Reasons for the Dreidel #2245539

    > Yidden quickly hid their Seforim and took out their dreidels

    that might make them pasul leedut. My ancestors simply got out their geometry (gimatria) books out.

    in reply to: Menorah in your face #2245538

    Lighting in your home is supposed to be done in a public way, right? that should at least cover cars with menorahs, not that I have one. In general, if this will help to wake up some Yidden, this should be done. If it is going to annoy locals then not. So, yes in Manhattan, no in Alabama and ask your local rav in between

    in reply to: RFK’s second wife #2245537

    > RFK was a Mormon?!

    sounds like RFK is getting some traction in a the polygamy community.

    I looked at recent polls that confirmed my guesses – 94% of Ts voters are for him, but only 85% of Bs are. Unfortunately, poll did not what they switched to. Maybe this is just pro-Hamas voters that will come back.

    in reply to: Joe, I need your help here #2244996

    Follow, we need to be more specific what we mean by college. 1950s – something rich and aspiring people go to. 2020s: a way to get a middle class job. If you live on a goyishe campus, then impacts are similar and this may be a justifiable source for opposition, and other reasons are brought to avoid this direct path to assimilation and intermarriage. If you avoid it – live at home, in a Jewish college, online, etc, then discussion will be different.

    in reply to: Tal Umotor Reminder #2244992

    Maybe computations do not work out because Gregorian years are approximate – with a leap day in 4 years, so half of 25% is close to your 14%

    in reply to: Tal Umotor Reminder #2244993

    most important: kavanot for this year. Tal umatar should flood Hamas tunnels and keep Russian tanks stuck in the mud.

    in reply to: Joe, I need your help here #2244692

    “R Nehorai” at the end of Kiddushin needs to be read in the context. There is a long discussion there about what jobs are good or (mostly) bad. Worth looking up for this discussion. Of course, the sugya seems to be put at the siyum of the Seder Nashim for R Nehorai’s praise of Torah, but his statement seems poetic and aspirational. He is not trying to dispute all good points all other Chachamim are making regarding serious consideration when selecting a profession.

    In general, I have hard time understanding how one can analyze a sugya by bringing only opinions that support your view and not reviewing all the material. This borders on perversion of Torah that is Emes and not an “opinion”.

    in reply to: I guess ChaBaD is Zionist now? #2244676

    Menachem, because he cares about you and is concerned if he thinks you are doing something fundamentally wrong and he tries to understand related halachik concepts. As Chabad seems to care about other Yidden and wants them to learn and care about other Yidden – mission accomplished.

    in reply to: I guess ChaBaD is Zionist now? #2244678

    Qwerty – on multiplicity of position by T’Ch. A good point.. At some point, there was a Sanhedrin that resolved differences. Later on, Jews were dispersed and each community had their own approach. So, you would ask _your_ Rav as, usually, there were no other available. You can see several cases in Tannaim and Amoraim that deviations created problems even then.
    Rabbi Yehuda is not happy of R Meir’s students like Sumkus who quote their rebbe.
    Rav Yehuda who learned by both Rav & Shmuel points to R Nachman everything he is doing wrong according to his teacher Shmuel ….

    So, in our times, many people are naturally exposed to multiple views. Some go to one shul during ther week, another on shabbos … So, they are now enabled to effectively choose (aka vote) between different T’Ch. So, it is possible to choose one shitah and then berate others for “not following T’Ch” where the notion of T’Ch is defined by the speaker. Even if we might not solve this problem here, we should at least acknowledge the situation and be more humble about the issue.

    Sorry, your interpretations of how following daas torah works does not qualify as a ‘situation that should be acknowledged.’

    in reply to: I guess ChaBaD is Zionist now? #2244394

    Mod > I wrote a disclaimer, instead of deleting,

    Thanks, appreciate it! I think you are concerned that I propose a straight vote by amei haaretz, I did not mean that. I meant that we, as a community, need to deal with these issues, without really going into the mechansims, whether it is a Moetzes, a Sanhedrin or a Knesset that will decide. If you feel that “lay people” should not concern themselves with overall direction of the community at all, I don’t think this makes any sense or this is what Hashem wants from Am Isroel.

    As to direct participation in the direction of the nation, we have, for example, Yidden coming to Shmuel demanding a melech, and both Hashem and Shmuel reluctantly acquiesce.

    They approached their rav, and received a psak. Exactly.

    in reply to: Joe, I need your help here #2244402

    Btw, R Miller himself I think attended a public school (in Baltimore) and Talmud Torah in the evening, and taught later by a Lubavicher who somehow was not paid, and was an English Literature major at YU/RIETS/ R Moshe Soloveichik before going to Slabodka.

    in reply to: Joe, I need your help here #2244401

    I found this from R Miller: TAPE # 58 (March 1975)
    Q: Should I discourage my son from going to Yeshiva University? 

    A: It depends. It depends where else he wants to go; what other places are under consideration. If he wants to go to a worse place, then don’t discourage him from going to Yeshiva University. But if he wants to go to the Mirrer Yeshiva then by all means you should discourage him from going to Yeshiva University

    in reply to: Joe, I need your help here #2244400

    Rav Moshe addresses this. He says that one does not need to pursue very high standard of living, but he can earn average income without going to college. That was, remind you, at the time when 3% were going to college, and there were local stores and small businesses everywhere.

Viewing 50 posts - 951 through 1,000 (of 7,287 total)