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Wolf, kol hakavod. We are not doing yevamos any more as we are not sure we are doing it “for the mitzva”. I am not sure I know people who drink “for the mitzva” also … Given what is going on in our society, not drinking is probably the right thing to do. Even if you personally think you can do it right, you are encouraging others and who knows where they stand.
The question is – what do you do with 4 cups on Pesach? This is a more restricted environment, so my objections above do not hold.
Baby > I see this as a waiting game
Yes, maybe more than just being a passive observer. Most of Tanach is about Jews fighting with each other for this thing or another, I don’t think there ever was an expectation that we should only live on EY and be brothers with other Jews only when everything is according to our favorite hashgoho. Even our most revered Kings were appointed after Shmuel castigated the Jews for their desire to appoint one.
> Israel has a world-class military, world-class firepower, and world-class trained soldiers. The Palestinians have old kalashnikovs, poorly trained fighters, and very little resources. No, it is not a neis nigleh that Israelis can trounce them.
Maybe the fact Israel has a world-class miitary is a neis nigleh?
“halacha was given with galus in mind, ” – where did it have in mind polar circle or southern hemisphere where seasons are upside down?
so, if we are supposed to do hishtadlus for frei yidden, then we probably should meet them where they are – and half of them are in Medinat Israel. Not sure then what “supporting medinah” mean v. other activities? None of us are voting in UN … many gedolim support voting for various reasons …
does working and paying business count as “supporting”? Maybe you consider paying taxes to “medinah” an aveira and prefer to avoid those, or allow taking their money because you will be a better judge of how to use it? I don’t see how this is different from getting into a business partnership with some frei Yidden – I presume you should respect common interest and be an honest partner, while still protecting your keeping shabbos and all. Do you have classical sources how to behave in such partnership?
Gittin 62 from another thread discusses minimizing saying shalom to non-Jews who work in EY during shemitah, maybe that can give some support to your position.
Seems like Gittin 62 revolves around this question – Rav Huna and Rav Ḥisda decide not to stand up for this Rav, who is BT, but still a baal machlokes, but then ask questions and listen to his divrei Torah.
Is it often that Resh Lakish would argue with R Yohanan on the basis of mesorah?
Seemingly, R Lakish has his mesorah _from_ R Yohanan, so he might argue based on his knowledge of how swords are made. Of course, one might read his story as he was a TC before becoming a gangster.
Also, note that R Yohanan “seduced” RL with the offer of his sister as a wife – and RL took him on the offer. Presumably, they waited for the chasaneh until RL showed that he is serious in his learning, so his learning did not diminish his interest in RY’s sister …
Of course, the simplest application of text learning is do the mod job. If the mods were to send me an archive of the posts they rejected, it should be possible to train a mod bot for at least some of that hard work.
Halakha adapted to a lot of things. We have so much of Torah relating to B’M, and we now live without it. Does it mean we need to strive to live on a planet with 7 moons? No, but if we end up there, we will figure out what to do. Maybe do rosh hodesh for each of the moons.
it makes sense to have 12 months by shvatim, but why is BHM the shortest? Let’s have 32 days in February
Re: Rambam and the oaths. I don’t think this has the weight you imply. This is a letter to a subjugated community under duress, and he is trying to stop them from a rebellion that will surely lead to their full destruction. How would Rambam react to a viable Jewish state in EY remains unresolved from that, I think.
We might infer Rambam’s view on desirability of modern Israel in EY here: he asks you to consider the world to be balanced in mitzvos and aveiros and yours to be a deciding factor, so presumably he would just sum up mitzvos v. aveiros in EY to make a decision. I don’t know how to calculate this precisely, but it seems that proportion of Jews keeping shabbat, yomim tovim, kashrut, marrying Jews is way higher than in US or Ukraine for the lst 100 years.
> US makes it a lot easier to be a kolel family than israel does, with limitless opportunities for the women to work, and with better government programs.
Some of the Israeli social programs, as I understand, are directly supporting charedi communities due to their participation in politics, while US programs are geared towards supporting poor who are not able to find work, so they are not available for erliche yiden.
> i will aay that they take from us more than what they give. They are unauthorized to take taxes, yet they do.
there is such a thing as contract. People living together as one country agree on a government system that is entitled to govern within the norms. You are usually free to leave and join some other country if you wish so, but cheating while pretending to “contribute more” will not gain you many friends here or elsewhere. Even if you feel victimized, remember R Huna who refused to pay workers who already “helped himself” is shown to be wrong both min hashamayim and by other Talmidei Chachomim.
> Didn’t chazal cancel mitzvos in order to not do aveiros, like lulav and esrog on shabbos, because maybe, maybe one yiddeleh would carry?
Avira is seeing the light finally and starting to advocate for rescinding the chumros that lead some to see the rest of us as baalei aveira?
Avram, I am not insisting on ranking, just trying to understand the difference. To get to this –
are there TCim that are not ben Torah? learning well, but sometimes reads newspapers?
are there BT that are not TChim? guided by the Torah but not so good at learning it?ok, there is actually bar Torah in Gemora:
Brochos 11 Shmuel to Rav’s son, looks like this is a reference to his father’s sayings.
Sukka 43 – same thing reference to father’s statementOther references (only one in Gemora not to refer to someone’s actual father) seem to assume, like the posters here, that everyone know what this term means, even as it is pretty rare:
Gittin 62 has a Bar Torah Geneva (??) that Rashi explains as “ben Torah” who seems to like to argue – and has no (R) in front of his name.
More Nevuhim mentions that BT understands that even punishment from Hashem is not “bad”
Mishna Berurah uses the term in passing.Avram, I did not know it ended already! seriously, help me with the definition of “ben Torah” – what is the origin and definition of current usage? Gemora is full of discussions about Talmid Chacham should behave, but what do people say in shidduchim when the question is “is he ben Torah”? And is “bat Torah” a too modern term, or a BY graduate qualifies?
Even with TC, there are some ambiguities – Torah supposed to be founded upon middos and affect them and prescribes behavior standards, but there are Gemoras that imply that one can be an imperfect TC not living up to those standards – se Pesachim 49 – TC glutton, Shabbat 63 – nasty like snake, Taanit 4- angry.
CDc learnt shev v’al ta’aseh?! Do they also send out reminders to say “Oseh Maaseh Breishis”?
>real Ben Torah with a smartphone
> what do you think he does with it?I would first need to know who is BT? (dubious acronym, that I need to clarify with even more dubious: Ben Torah, NOT Baal Teshuva, to which Gerer Rebbe would answer – “why NOT”). I see multiple references to BT – from R Feinstein to R Lamm, but I do not see a clear definition. I am guessing this is a slightly lower level than Talmid Chacham: TC someone who strives to be a full Chacham, but is humble to call himself the one – and BT is someone who seems to claim that his behavior is fully guided by Torah, but not ambitious to become a Chacham? Sort of a Talmid who is on non-degree path?
So, if we were to talk about TC, halakha is clear: you presume the best. So, I would think that his wife is expecting or/and his mother is not feeling well, so he needs a call. Or he is a doctor or a real estate broker and the phone is part of his parnosa, or he is learning off YUTorah site (or is this l’gnai?). Of course, none of this releases him from other halochos – greeting people first, not bumping into them while walking or driving.
So, if BT is a lower level than TC, I am not sure whether we have to give hum same benefit of doubt. Possibly, we give it to TC because he is constantly reviewing his behavior (do not question him in the morning about aveira he did yesterday night, as he surely did teshuva). If BT is not doing that, then he may not deserve the benefit, and if he does – then he is TC!
This article has 3 references to Haaretz out of 282, and they are more anti-Polish than anti-Jewish, so this is not a problem for this article at least.
Possibly this article have changed but current Wiki article on Holocaust in Poland looks reasonable (and you can see that many carefully worded phrases probably resulted from long discussions, as Wiki is supposed to work). See below a couple of references to Communist Jews that indeed reflect Stalin’s policy of appointing Jews and other minorities as fronts of his regime exploiting and increasing the tension. We know similar things from our internal strives in 19th century, when Misnagdim and Chasidim in Vilno appealed to new Russian occupiers for support and were ultimately used by Russia to weaken the communities, or even going back to Pompeii invited to solve fighting between brothers. Hopefully, all these fight focus on real criminals – Nazis and Soviets, rather than creating fight between Jews and Poles who were both the victims.
Antisemitism …
Joseph Stalin’s occupation of terror in eastern Poland in 1939 brought what Jan Gross calls “the institutionalization of resentment”,[169] whereby the Soviets used privileges and punishments to accommodate and encourage ethnic and religious differences between Jews and Poles. There was an upsurge in the anti-Semitic stereotype of Jews as Communist traitors; it erupted into mass murder when Nazi Germany invaded Soviet eastern Poland in the summer of 1941Local people had witnessed the repressions against their own compatriots, and mass deportations to Siberia,[228][229] conducted by the Soviet NKVD, with some local Jews forming militias, taking over key administrative posts,[230] and collaborating with the NKVD. Other locals assumed that, driven by vengeance, Jewish communists had been prominent in betraying the ethnically Polish and other non-Jewish victims.[231]
Of course, Jews knew Karen first – she is one of the 4 types of Nezek, the aggressive one. If Karen tries to pay only half of her damage, she needs to prove that her mother is Jewish. In this case, she is called Karen bas Karen (like mother, like daughter)
Ben Torah had to worry about consequences. It is called Moris atn
CTL, thanks for a free consultation. I am ready to sign up as your client!
Are you getting a subsidized ACA plan as you are “cash poor”? That seems like a undesirable feature.
If ACA gives you a reasonable non-subsidized plan, essentially giving you a group-plan option without having a large employer, that would be a good feature. It would be even better if government enables private plans to provide unrestricted plans, possibly directly subsidizing those who need it.CTL, while you have a point about the need of insurance, still:
1) DR P is correct about prevention. I think 2 largest medical expenses are end of life (that you wrote about) and chronic diseases – many of the latter are lifestyle-based.
2) you should notice a seeming paradox – a well-off person like you can not afford medical care. Someone is paying for it, right? Is it that the most filthy-rich pay so much taxes that they pay for insurance for all of us, including you? Probably, not (at least according to people claiming that rich are not paying their share). The other option is that your own taxes are paying for it. Say, you earn modest $300K/year (in current year money) for last 40 years. So, you paid income tax $80K*40 = $3.2mln i just federal taxes. This is not counting 3% medicare tax, $400K, FICA 15% = $1.8 mln, + social security + cap gains + CT tax + medical insurance that you were paying … It is way possible that if the government were to give you a modest discount on your generous donations, you would be able to afford your own healthcare. Instead, government made you (somewhat) poor and then comes to help you.
I am less familiar with Israeli demonstrators, but in the US context, wherever there is a group complaining about double standards from police – they might be right, but they should not have been doing what they were doing in the first place.
Coffee – because I am familiar with the technology and how it is tested.
Can someone ask the GPT:
– do we pasken like Beis Shammai or Beis Hillel?
– do we pasken like Rav or like Shmuel?
– do we pasken like Avira or like AAQ?
– what did Chofetz Chaim said about Rav Kook?
– what did Chofetz Chaim said about Rav Kook ZT’L?ChatGPT, welcome to CR. You will fit in well here.
> That is just the environment that is most conducive to do so and just happens to be in the public eye.
there is no invasion of privacy here, all you see is black hats and dark-colored dresses, almost impossible to know who that is! The only people to recognize would be parents (who should not be there) and friends (who are on their own dates at the same time)
> until the shidduch is signed-off on by the shadchan,
if this were the requirement, Yaakov Avinu would still be an older single … I actually saw a sefer referring a certain gadol who would refuse a shidduch unless thru a shadchan. At the same time, private advice I am getting from Rabonim with successful shiduch experiences if double-digits kenehora is …. “shadchanim did not work out for us”. Don’t know who to believe – a sefer or my own ears.
> One such obligatory cause is giving people to continue living how they are accustomed to.
Load the animal “with him”… if a person is not doing his part, I do not think there is an obligation. Please check if this is discussed in the footnotes to your favorite halachik source and let us know what the answer is.
Rocky > I agree that the ideal would be to give to family that I know personably and can attest to their genuine need. However, I would guess that most donors are not in that position…It should not be too difficult in many (not all cases) for an organization to contact a reputable Rav
One way is for you personally to ask someone who you consider a reputable Talmid Chochom and who lives modestly, not involved in official fund collection, to distribute your funds. One Rav I know collects funds in US, calls his personal friend in Yerushalaim, who distributes amount he is told the same day.
Every time you give to organization, whether it is CJP, shul, school, you empower that institution. I would do this only when 100% aligned with the organization.
When Avraham Avinu was confronted with this problem, he answered simply “my sister”.
n0 > what do both bring to the table?
right, I think this the right question.
YV is definitely better at producing large families and large number of cheder teachers, and keeping young people away from trouble. MO is better at producing people with balanced lifestyle that integrate Torah into normal life, being able to apply Torah concepts to finding time to learn, doing business and paying taxes, and relating to the world knowledge.
In terms of best Teachers in the higher sense of this world, then I find people who combine both approaches are the most successful. This include either more “modern” Rabbis, like R Soloveichik [who actually says that Jewish community is organized around a Teacher, not around political party], who at the same time have solid learning, or more traditional Rabbis who to some degree interacted with the modern world, such as Lubavitcher Rebbe. I find similar characteristics in Teachers I meet personally – they are either Modern with solid yeshivish background or Yeshivish who experienced modern world in some way.
when asking openGPT shailos, don’t forget to specify what your nusach is.
uniq, I agree re: market distortion in healthcare, and I also mentioned transparency regulations by Trump. The answer to that is improving the markets as much as possible – publishing prices, enabling competition.
I did not study healthcare, but I studied defense industry under Reagan – who introduced competition by partitioning weapon development into R&D and production, and bidding them separately, with government fully acquiring R&D results of the bidder after Phase 1 and making them available to all competing companies. During Phase 2, several companies get part of production, and deciding on one contractor after a couple of years of competition.
coffee,
hevrusa could also get some savlonus, and they could learn on the phone. And what kind of tzaduk does not have a mishna with him or can’t learn by heart?! I think there is an attitude problem.coffee,
I don’t think I saw a response to my suggestion – simply wait them out, while learning. Maybe google for kulos in this predicament.Another option – direct the women to where the kiddush is.
jackk > The insurance companies are part of our capitalistic system. There is nothing stopping them from raising premiums and lowering coverage. All this was happening before Obama. Individual Americans have no recourse. The insurance company lobby will destroy all dissent.
jackk, do you have your degree from Havana University? Competition is the “thing” that typically stops suppliers from raising prices. Econ 101. It is harder in some industries than others, but it works better if you increase fair competition by providing markets (midrash says this is what Yaakov did, forgot exact citation). Excessive regulation and government intervention limits competition and allows near-monopolies to raise prices indeed. This way, it seems that the progressives are sneaking in their market-destroying policies in order to then tell people – see, the markets do not work. I think freedom, like education, are expensive – but cheaper than slavery/ignorance.
> My grandfather’s yeshiva town was one such place, until the last few years when the children joined hashomer hatzair and left Torah.
Right. And when you rightly say that a lot of MO now going OTD, you might ponder why people in a small shtetl on the banks of Neumunas “suddenly” went to Shomer Hatzair. Maybe, their “yeshivish” education did not prepare them sufficiently to the onslaught of modernity? I am not saying it as an accusation, but as consideration that maybe the “ideal” past was not ideal for the new circumstances and both “modern yeshivish” (this seems like a right term) as well as “modern O” are different reactions to modernity, trying to keep Yiddishkeit going, and given both are still searching for an answer, we should look what both bring to the table, rather than fighting.
This is like two people on a sinking boat, arguing whether to sail to the shore or to try to close the hole. Try both and see what works.
Rocky > would be to have a larger tzedka organization weed out the Reuvens from the Shimons with investigations as to who is who
this probably worked when communities were stable and many people knew each other for many years. Now, we do not often know what “large organizations” are doing, and it creates a field for abuse or at least for lack of urgency. You might do better by prioritizing people you know personally or those for whom people you know personally can vouch for.
It may be worth reading R Pliskin’s books earlier on.
> Poor people are just as obligated in getting married as anyone else
I am guessing, he was not disparaging poor people in general, but he meant that the hatan needs first to make an effort to earn a living,
there are 2 questions here:
1) why healthcare is so expensive
2) how to pay for itfor one, US spends more than others, but not astronomically (I recall 17% of GP v 12% for other OECD countries). This is not that bad. And other than Torah learning and defense, what else should country spend on? Even if some of that is waste, still it is an indicator that the country throws money at people’s health.
2) You can’t convince me that a fully socialized medicine does not create moral hazard – for not taking care of themselves and not working to cover expenses. When we show kids dental bills – they start brushing more often for a week or two. So, covering catastrophic cases and showing chesed – yes, but making it free-for-all – no. One less explored direction is to make capitalism work rather than trying to socialize it –
allow insurances compete across state lines
transparent pricing rather than secret bargaining between large groups. Under Trump, there was a new rule requiring hospitals to post their prices. I believe it went into affect at the early months of Biden, and that was the last time I heard about it. Not sure what happened.besslel > Eddiee: you wrote: With regard to Shemen Akum, it is still assur. they were only matir it for that year.
who are you to attack people’s chumros and burn down someone’s parnosa of selling shemen yisruel. But if you are on the sugya – could you please clarify the turn of events and what was the reasoning and any commentary on that so that we can analyze how halocha changes (or not).
> desantis as Trump without a lot of baggage
on the other hand, DeSantis and some others are talking like Trump but do not have same experience and track record. DeSantis is doing something with education, and I am interested in seeing results, but not much that. He might be a great candidate or Sec of Education or something. There are others, like Pence and Pompeo, that have better credentials even if they do not speak like Trump but more like him in their achievements. Pence in particular, I hope learned some real-life tricks from Trump and might not be as square as before.
> If you can’t afford a chasunah, you should not be in shidduchim.
why not ask the question – why can’t they afford?
if parents and chatan are working and still can’t afford – then, it is the problem with the price that needs to be controlled.
if parents and hatan chose not to work, then it is the problem of whoever wants to provide chesed for them, not the community.
on care for environment:
I recall reading about R Kamenetsky encountering some insect. Someone suggesting stepping on it. Rav inquired whether the insect is dangerous. When told that it is creepy but not dangerous, he stepped over it. I hope I got the details right.But, then, R Kamenetsky would not authorize driving around a bus, so I know many do not hold by his shitos.
Avira > global level theoretical ideas which even if proven, are outside our purview. We have no mitzvah to investigate them, and if we’re made aware of them, we should say it’s up to Hashem.
I agree that there is a moment where speculation starts and pseudo-scientists misuse it.
But, still, purviews are different. Probably, easiest to see in medicine. Should we still recommend bloodletting for most diseases, or is it OK to use MRI to diagnose and then treat accordingly? Is MRI going into something that is up to Hashem? don’t know your opinion, but most people seem to accept such things, even when they have no idea what it does. Now, many of these instruments are not 100% correct and predictive, but, on average, they are helpful.
Avira,
you might notice that there are several people, coming from different perspectives, who have hard time believing that your disparaging attitude towards any group that disagrees with you does not translate into how you are teaching kids and that you are transparent with parents about it. I do think it is possible that you limit yourself. I myself have no problem talking to anti-modern people in person, and usually do not point out their hashkafic problems to them. And if I were in a position to teach, say, math or history in a chasidishe school, I’d probably also sneak some of my hashkofas here and there and make them realize that not knowing where Mitzraim is on the map is silly, and working for a living is how most Talmidei Chachomim spent their lives.I don’t know what Orach Chaim says about girls learning Gemora or having unfiltered phones (not that I fully disagree), but I would have half of shas at my disposal discussing all kind of business and work issues.