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Out of curiosity, those who mentioned Ponzi scheme – is this your own idea, and if not, where did you read this?
It seems that Milton Friedman mentioned this in a 1999 article (once in a NYT headline, that might not be his, and once “opponents call it a ponzi scheme”) – so more like a rhetorical device, and there are several articles in 2024 claiming it again and referring to Milton Friedman. The accusation is relevant so far as it refers to popular misconception that it is a pension plan and Algore’s “lockbox”. As a real thing, it is a program that pays elderly poor and collects a tax. Both payments and tax are structured in a way that middle class gets something, so they are not protesting this as a program for poor people the way medicaid is. I myself is for limited, especially federal, government, as I posted before. Here we are talking simply that a democracy has a way to determine laws and you either agree to the whole system or denounce your citizenship and move to another place. As I also mentioned, ideally there will be very limited federal government, and then you can simply move from Illinois to Indiana to get different social policies. As I think most here would agree, if they think soberly for a minute, that US is generally good to the population, Jews included. R Moshe Feinstein and numerous others hold same opinion. R Feinstein had what to compare with – he lived in Czarist and then Soviet Russia before coming to US.
yankel, quotiong others > They used it to take countless yehudim away from the torah.
Is it really so? Did Zionists take shomer shabbos youngsters and lured them to kibbutzim? I don’t think this was a major trend – most non-religious zionists came from already assimilated Jews. If they were not to become zionists, they would be bundists, socialists, or communists. So, among such public, those who became Zionists – moved to Israel, their grandchildren are most likely to be Jewish, and some became observant or traditional. Those who went for other -isms, ended up niftar in Stalin’s and Hitler’s camps, or at best their grandchildren most likely assimilated and intermarried in Europe, Russia, and America.
Religious zionists indeed attracted observant Jews, but they did not take them away from Torah.
AAQ> “This is something that will be paid back with reasonable assurance.”
Neville > No, THIS is silly. If you only got back exactly what you paid in, it wouldn’t be enough for anyone to live on rendering SS uselesSS does not have to be a ponzi scheme – one generation pays, another receives. Payout can be compatible (on average) with what the other generation paid in. Ponzi scheme presumes that payouts in early phases are way above normal and can be only paid by sucking more suckers in. The main problem SS might be low on funds right now is that, B’H people live longer and thus receive SS for longer time than previous generation. This is not true any more, unfortunately, lately with several years same or even lower life expectancy. The next problem is that people are not having enough children.
Neville > “Is each of us allowed to decide what is “fair” and what is “devastating” and not pay extra?”
We should be. That’s his point. You’ve been trained to think it’s crazy, but it’s not.I am not sure what is your theory, maybe I missed it in your previous points. Are you suggesting a charity system to substitute for any tax? Or only for taxes that you think are unfair, like US double-taxation? I can assure you that every revenue source has someone objecting to it. So, we all can participate in a democracy and influence the policy, but can we simply cheat to avoid paying? I’d like to see a halachik source for that. There are plenty of sources saying that one should pay taxes in a medina shel chesed (Igros Moshe)
I hope you do it very carefully. I tried going on a sidewalk when roads are bad but my minivan gets stuck at turns.
Gemora allows walking on the private property along the road during the mud season and even looks down
at a person who jumps over potholes for being “holier than thou”Novardok was into dressing poorly, Slabodka was into respectful dress, although not uniform, I believe. Similarly/later, Lublin provided respectful room & board.
JR87, thanx for the idea!
yankel > I cannot see the ‘heresy’ you per force read into Zionism You are right that the overwhelming majority of Zionists were heretics.
I agree with what you wrote about religious zionism and that is the main topic here.
but, as you mentioned, those non-religious Zs: they were not part of some shmad operation upon frum yidden in EY … they mostly came from Europe and Russia non-religious. Actually, those non-religious Jews who were not Zs became worse – bundists and communists – and also mostly ended up worse both being killed by commies and Nazis, assimilating, intermarrying, etc … So, you can even say that non-religious Z saved a lot of Jewish souls from the worse.
Chaim on Biden, I generally agree. I don’t think Biden was naive – his only experience is politics and he understands what is happening politically. He was (1) politics first – it is reported that he was always sympathetic to Israel, but would do what he had to do to placate various factions he depended on. Other politicians do that too, but he seems to be very good at that. (2) he, and his team, were limited by their presumptions and lack of leadership experience. They never tried to actively manage problems and conflicts, always following administrative rules, always afraid of something happening that will blame them. Basically, he/they were way over their heads.
phil, thanks for clarifying your position. I went too far in interpreting your words
> The government has no right to tax people simply any amount they decide to. Taxes have to be fair, they should not have a devastating financial effect on people and their families. A government demanding heavy taxes is stealing from its citizens.I may want to government tax us less, but we live in a democracy where voters make certain decisions in a generally fair way. Is each of us allowed to decide what is “fair” and what is “devastating” and not pay extra? There are a lot of suboptimal, and sometimes simply silly, decisions by the government in how they tax and distribute funds. For example, FAFSA recently (quietly) changed (by Biden admin) from “family index” to “student index”, which means that family income is considered for every college student in the family instead of being divided by number of current students in college (this is while forgiving loans to those who work in non-profits, mostly democrats). So, we are paying way more than planned. Am I justified to fudge my income to correspond to the “fair” value?!
In the particular case of SS tax, even this seems not to work – government forces you to pay into a program that has a reasonable chance to benefit you in the future and that, presumably, your parents and grandparents are/were beneficiaries of. The case of income tax, this seems like a really heavy burden to pay it in both in a local high-tax country (Israel or EU) and in USA – is this actually happening? can someone clarify please.
somejew > There are a ton of sefraim pro zionsim some written by previous anti zionsts” – If any of these were written by undisputed Gedolai Torah, please let us know.
I brought before the example: R Soloveitchik and did not see your answer. There are many who disagreed with his positions, but I believe everyone accepts him as a gadol bTorah. To clarify what his position is: despite his enthusiasm for early Yishuv and later Medinah, he was very disparaging about various statements by non-religious zionists and also generally supportive, but often criticizing religious zionists. For example, when RCA (rabbinical organization) sent out some Mafdal materials related to celebrating yom haatzmaut, he is absolutely against it – saying that only Rabbis should decide on what and how is celebrated, and sending materials on behalf of a political party creates an impression that the party can establish religious rites.
If you are looking for halachik sources, maybe look at commentaries to Sanhedrin 50.
There is discussion about Yoav touching on relevant issues:
1) do you listen to a King (David) when he urgently need to raise an army against rebels, but would-be soldiers are learning? apparently, you let them finish a masechet.
I did not look deeper, but I guess this could go in different directions:
– learning exempts from the army even if the government orders it
– you do go to the army after you finish masechet … (what if your learning does not end?)
– you do go to the army if you are not currently on a masechet ..2) David and Yoav were successful by mutually assisting each other:
– David is learning and doing justice
– Yoav running the armyagain, it may mean:
– do not touch those who are involved in learning & mishpat, they are doing their part
– we need unity of purpose and mutual respect for the army and learners, or more precise – judges who make internal peace. This is relevant to the judicial reform and other machlokets in the countryYS, for some reasons, counties around DC are among the richest in the country … I am guessing you live in the area, so you might be partial to the good living your neighbors are having … A funny story: I was taking an uber from a DC airport to a meeting with the government. The driver looked like a smart guy and his car was a Tesla .. wow, I thought, being an uber driver in dc really pays. We were talking about low traffic in DC post-covid and I mentioned that this is because all gov workers are WFH under no supervision. He gave me a look: “be careful, you might be talking to one”. I kind of concluded, without solid proof, that this gov worker was double-billing by driving uber during office hours. No wonder he cold afford a tesla,
but more importantly – not only the gov people are often not efficient (this is business 101 from lack of competition and accountability), they are actually making decisions that affect all of us. I am not saying that Musk always knows better. I am just saying that he is making decisions in place of those people who were not good at making decisions. And they were doing them for decades. So, Americans collectively decided to see if things can be done in a different way.
And there are multiple recourses:
there will be elections in less than 2 years;
your state can pick up the services Musk is going to cancel;
you can take Musk’s offer of 8 months free salary – and hope to get it back after Musk is gone.
you can move to Israel or Canada or UK or Mexico;
Musk himself suggested a feedback loop: rescind all regulations and then see which ones were really needed
some Trump observers think that he is highly sensitive to feedback and that he quickly came to agreement with Mexico/Canada based on 2% market drop.at the end, your concern is about how much power we want to give to an executive so that he achieves something and how much freedom we’ll lose
See Shmuel’s gripes when he anoints a melech
See Roman republic that had all-powerful dictators with one year non-renewable termNeville> To be fair, however, if you’re now going full 180 and saying white shirts negatively affect people, therefore there’s a maalah in colored shirts, then your colored shirt is actually causing you to have more gaavah than a white one would and serving the opposite of its purpose.
Daas> This is a good point, and then they don’t even get the maaleh of a white shirt! (The association with the oilam hayehivos)
Both good points 🙂 The answer is in my previous post – it seems that you can’t wear anything or make any decision that is correct because it shows gaavah. This is unless you engage in mussar that leads you to have the right attitude. Conclusion: if you don’t learn mussar, you can’t wear any shirt.
Neville > The derech goes back to Slobodka
I was thinking recently about Slabodka having respectful clothing for their poor students to bolster their self esteem and how it relates to current situation, where (in my humble opinion) the dress often leads to underserved gaavah. There are two changes between Slabodka and now:
1) those students were mostly genuinely poor and the clothes hopefully took their self esteem from low to average. now sometimes clothes look more exclusive than others in the community and students are not necessarily poor
2) Slabodka was heavy on mussar. There are lots of stories about Alter miSlabodka on how he checked his own character, such as: when he did not want to go greet a certain visitor, he walked to the hotel, and then thought a little, and went back home. He wanted to make sure that he is not justifying his decision by simple laziness or desire to save time. A lot of people now who dress Slabodka-way are engaging in self-serving behaviors, finding the derech that just happens to be comfortable for themselves in totally non-Slabodka way.
Yserbius,
this seems like a collective version of the following effect: you earn $100, you remember it for a minute. You lose $100 and you are upset about it. Same here: we have 1,000s of unelected people spending billions of dollars and you are OK with that. Suddenly someone comes and cuts some of that spending and you are worrying. Did you worry before about what was done (or not done) under previous administrations? I’ve seen sometimes how they make these decisions, and it is a draw of luck: some are reasonable, and some are totally crazy, based on very limited thinking from one particular person, based on political leanings, etc. Just to make you feel a little more comfortable, I saw a quote from Musk that his madness has a system: he suggested to rescind regulations wholesale – and then see if some of them were actually useful, they’ll put them back.Chaim, interesting, could you quote more from that psak?
phil > Talking about social security
Phil, I think that your attitude that you don’t need to follow the laws that you don’t find convenient is a bigger issue than what will happen with social security. In a democracy, voters will come to some consensus how to spend money and how to support old people. And you will be able to express your opinion. And please consider any offense you perceive society perpetrated against you in the context of all the good that you enjoy daily. Sorry for sounding like Obama “you didnt build that”, but this goes back to, I think, Ben Azzai who wondered in morning brochos how many people had to work that day to make all the things he will be using.
anIsraeliYid, the argument about SS payments looks especially silly. This is something that will be paid back with reasonable assurance. OK, it may be not the most efficient vehicle and it may be on top of your Israeli withholdings, but at the end it is the same investment paid by any US citizen and you’ll get the benefit the same way as them. “Unaffordable” is “just” a cash flow problem. If you do other investments, you can reduce them as SS is an investment, or you can even borrow against that investment … anyway, this is not a direct loss at all.
If you treat SS as simply payment to current retirees in exchange to a vague promise of future generations paying for you later – then, maybe SS becomes a payment to the people who build all the life and peace you enjoyed as a kid, growing in US (and frankly not in the US also); or as a charity to support old people.
But what about income tax – I thought that paying income tax on all world income is the biggest issue with US system of taxing all income?
I also wonder whether non-US taxes are a bigger burden and maybe having a US corp can help minimize overall tax burden. But maybe Israel and EU tax you for the work done on their territory anyway. Say, you are a tax preparer for US citizens in Israel, spend April in US when you are actually filing all taxes and claim US-only income? Of course, maybe not paying Israeli taxes is worse option and there is an issue of leaving EY to pursue additional income (at the expense of other Israeli citizens).
Lav > He told me that in his experience it is very unlikely for a teen with a smartphone (even if they only use it for Kosher content) to grow up frum, let alone a Ben Torah.
I am ok with not using smartphones, but, in the interest of Emes, this statement is only partially true. It is quite possible to raise Torah-loving children with phones provided they are surrounded by parents and schools that teach and monitor kids appropriately. What this menahel is saying that within his framework, where defence of Torah is primarily by building siyagim, then the smartphone is a breach that he does not know how to repair.
Just do a thought experiment: would it hurt a kid, if a kid will be using a computer only together with his thoughtful parent to access Torah resources; math quizzes; communications with Savta; buying tzanua clothes on Amazon? Obviously not. So, probably deviating somewhat from that ideal will also not hurt them too much. Just find the right dosage for a particular kid.
> Many Jews unfortunately believe the Zionist lie that Jews are a “nation” like all other nations and that the Zionists represent that mythical nation
I think there is some confusing conflation of terms here. First “zionists” = non-religious people who were in power in early Israel. True. Then, everyone who cooperated in any way with those “zionists” are also called “zionists” and thus are equally treif. So, if a governor of NJ visits Lakewood NJ, now all rabonim, H’V, are guilty of the governor’s corruption?!
where do religious zionists say that Jews are “like other nations”?! I am not a bokeh in R Kook, but I was reading R Soloveitchik lately who was sympathetic to Mafdal, and he is in no way approving of such approach. To the opposite, he quotes Israeli minister on US TV in the 1950s who talks about “trusting Arab youth” and “British ministers” and recording a sarcastic remarks of a non-Jewish friend – “I would rather put my trust in G-d of Israel” …
from halakhipedia, these are some starting points for the discussion.
One who does not pay taxes violates a Torah commandment of “lo tigzol” (Vayikra 19:13), as one is stealing from the government. Shulchan Aruch C.M. 369:6. Rabbi Menashe Klein writes that tax evasion is equivalent to hafkaat halvaa, withholding payment for debt, which is only prohibited in case of chillul hashem (Mishneh Halachot, Chelek 12, Siman 445).
One who violates tax laws of a country with a legitimate system of taxes is obligated to pay the resulting fines. Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat 369:7; Rambam, Hilchos Melachim 4:1, Hilchos Gezeilah 5:12
A Jew is permitted to work a tax agency and turn in Jews found guilty Shevet Halevi, Chelek 2, Siman 18
It is prohibited to avoid paying taxes in a democracy such as the United States. Shu”t Igrot Moshe CM 2:29, Shu”t Shevet Halevi 2:58,
taxes nowadays would not only be binding because of dina dimalchuta dina. Paying taxes is also your obligation to the partnership because taxes are used to provide services to the citizens (fire, police, military, garbage, mail etc). All the people of the city, state, country have to contribute to provide for that. Thus, one who withholds his taxes is not only taking from the government. He is taking from the other citizens, which inevitably includes other Jews. Rav Schachter
According to some poskim, patronizing a Jewish merchant who cheats on his taxes violates the biblical prohibition of lifnei iver. Rav Schachter ?
phil: i guess the early Americans were criminals for protesting against British taxation
One difference is that Brits did not give Americans an option to quit Britain, they came to collect those taxes.
As Dr Pepper said, you can renounce your US citizenship and live freely and honestly.Maybe you can start by asking your clients what their Rabbis pasken about this? It would be interesting to see the range of opinions.
As far as I know, there might be a heter to cheat oppressive governments, especially when there are laws targeting Jews, but not of democratic governments. But maybe there are other views. I am surprised that some people ^ just quote their feelings to allow something like that.
ok, anIraeliYid seem to confirm that incorporation helps. Could you guys flesh these solutions out so that the kahal could use them? The same about child credits.
simcha, you should start working with these people on their next year return and creating the right structure. Sanhedrin 40+ – you should always pray about the problem before it happens (Avraham near Ai)
Note that we had periods in history where Jews were unfairly targeted for extra taxation. In such cases, it might be acceptable to avoid them. In this case, this is an issue with any American abroad, so this is not an anti-Jewish gezerah.
maybe you can have a discussion with your parents and come to a compromise.
One suggestion – do you need a phone or any internet-connected device. I understand that some parnosos take require a phone – an uber drive, hgatzola, lhavdil, drug dealer. Otherwise, you can have a full computer with a big screen in a living room, turned towards the public so that everyone can see what is on the screen. That could solve a lot of concerns they have. You can have whatsapp on the computer also. And show that you are responsible individual otherwise.
I see what comes out of these discussions: we need to separate between views of 50-100 years and current matzav.
There were widely diverging views 100 years ago and whatever views they were, we are not able to make judgment on them, when what is history for us, was an unknown and uncertain future for them. And their views and actions fashioned the today’s situation, whether for better or worse. Same, as some say, that Vilna Gaon put herem on chasidim – are chasidim today avdei avoda zara? some say, that is because Gaon brought them to senses. Not trying to divert the thread, just bringing an analogy.
So, when we discussing today’s world, we need to recalibrate to what exists today. Anti-religious Zionism, judging by votes and polls are a minority in EY. Another large group is “traditional” and large religious group that did not exist (in numbers like now) 100 years ago.
Neville > Because if I’m going to have a state that can coerce me into giving it money and being subjected to its will, then I want it to be as limited as possible. States are free to “compete” by giving us even more rights that what the Constitution guarantees, but I see no advantage to the consumer in them being able to give less.
Constitution gives certain rights to the Feds. The rest is between States and people (or towns). States can not give you _more_ rights. That is, if Feds can regulate interstate commerce, they have it whatever the States say. What happened from 14th Amendment and on, the rights of the states are minimal – both Feds and People got more. On a positive side, we live in a reasonably free country and enjoying a lot of rights. On the negative side, we lost the ability of individual states to implement different systems of government, whether in culture or in economics. I am calling your attention that a large portion of current political wars could be resolved by doing it differently in different states.
> That’s a cute way of justifying only using the parts of the Constitution that serve your shittah, but it’s a nonsensical distinction. You now have to also ignore the Constitution’s ability to be amended so that you can justify ignoring all amendments, but to do so would ignore part of what you call the “ikar.”
I am not calling for a revolution. I am suggesting using existing political process to favor restoration of state powers where possible, The fact that such system existed – and had certain flaws that led to civil war – makes it easier to analyze. If you consider original American idea a success, then you’d pay attention to the lessons and maybe go read federalist papers. If you follow modernishe view that the country was founded on aveiros only, then you’d advocate for a federal government that will solve all the problems. I don’t think this is your shitah.
a good question. Maybe it is worth exploring if there are legal structures that can resolve the double taxation issue. For example, forming a corporation whether in Israel or in Us or in a 3rd party that will hold the profits. This is way beyond my expertise, I just hope that such methods are known to rich people and maybe should be shared with others also. It will a great thing both financially and hashkafically.
as to mutual funds, solution seems to be simple – just hold those investments that are tax-advantaged in your situation. There is no mitzva to hold all mutual funds in the world.
Nrville > being subjugated by private companies is no better than being subjugated by the government. I don’t agree with them, because in a free market you can take your business elsewhere
exactly this is the problem with the government – monopoly, and, as I am saying, a state system partially alleviates this problem by providing competition between state governments. I am not sure why you don’t agree with this, maybe I do not understand your arguments, such as:
> If a state wanted to make their own currency, and refuse to do business with any other state, what would stop them?
article 1, sec 10, see text below> makes the commerce clause a “fundamental of the Constitution” while the 14th amendment is just something you think should be scrapped?
14th amendment came later after civil war. Constitutional structure existed from the beginning. Ikar v tofel. My argument here is that this structure of competition between government is gradually decreased over time and it may be worth going back to. For a comparison, think of how Roman Republic changed over time into Empire. Interestingly, modern historians start using the term “empire” from the time of .. Emperors, duh. At the same time, say, Tacitus who lived at that time, describes his government as republic with emperors. He sees emperors as part of republican government, although he realizes that there is a change happening. He seems to define it as a Republic as long the Senate is there and it goes through motions confirming emperors, approving wars, and doing all the other Senate stuff – all of that while describing in detail how weak and corrupt the senate became. for example, when the next emperor approaches Rome with the army, Senators abandon current emperor and run to the future one to proclaim that they always were on his side.
#article-1-section-10-clause-1
No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it’s inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.
No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.
Why hide the place? If a school does not supervise their students from participating in dangerous activities, they should be shamed for the aveiros
Feel free to go to beis din and make parents and schools pay for your pain and embarrassment.some > Ever Jew is obligated to keep the Torah and the Torah’s rejection of Zionism is a refection of fundamental of Yiddishkeit.
You might have been exposed to very partisan info at some point, but you participated in several discussions here where you were exposed to a number of sources that show there are a number of Talmidei Chachomim that hold, to a different degree, pro-medina views – and you continue repeating that there is only one position. Maybe “Zionism” is a loaded term, so that you can easily say it refers to specific anti-religious views and activities and rightfully reject them, and then, mistakenly, mis-apply this disapproval to kosher Talmidei Chachomim. The other alternative is more disturbing – that someone with reasonable Jewish education and can not be classified as tink shebanishba can reject Torah authorities who happen to disagree with him.
Neville, you seem to be missing out on fundamentals of us constitution: look up commerce clause that leaves interstate commerce to congress and not states. Same for foreign relations, etc this structure unified colonies into one country while letting them develop independently. This was not trivial given that each colony had different history and distances between them were huge
Ap is credible to say what they mean and provide explanation to their statements. In this case, it is an oft repeated reference to studies of immigrants in general to make a statement about illegals crossing Rio grande ..
All you need is some reading 📚 comprehension.Rav Schach also suggested not to accept Begin’s offer of full tuition funding. He explained that if schools stop fundraising, they’ll not be able to recover when left comes back to power and reduce funding. So, it wad not simply bitachon, some sevorah also.
> I see the litivsher velt learned the chasidisher way of life
yes, assimilation. Even without such overt copy. And without admitting how far from litvishe mesorah they are going.
Provaxx, Chofetz Chaim said similarly: people say you should be frum, frum and only then klug. I am saying you should be klug, klug, and only then frum. This is in the context of how to behave when there is assimilation all around you.
Neville, states had those rights as you admit; Connecticut did have official religion. Things changed after post civil war amendments when rights were expanded to states, maybe also some court decisions. I am sure there are lawyers here who can explain further. And that was not the end of changes, with income tax, direct vote for senate allowed dramatic expansion of federal government. You can try to restore state rights without restoring slavery, of course.
Again, difference between moving to another country is that states have common language, economy, interstate travel and commerce making moving between states easy.
Israel destroyed hizbulla and half of hamas. This is not less than in previous wars. All enemy countries were still there after previous wars. Iran supports hamas; Egypt and Syria were supported by USSR.
Neville > The way you worded it made it sound like you would always vote yes on any new regulation proposed by a state regardless of its merit,
Of course, I’ll vote according to my own sechel. What I am saying, a lot of things that are considered, l’havdil “sacred” by one or another side of american politics, will be ok to be violated at state level. USA will still work if Connecticut will have an official church and if Pennsylvania quakers will ban all guns. Early on, all freethinkers from Massachusetts moved to form Rhode Island and both states survived fine. If things will be difficult, maybe enough Yidden would move to South Dakota and make it into a halachik state that will live in peace with a sharia state in North Dakota.
With less federal power, we will stop these silly high stake battles for president. You want to have high taxes, live in a state with high taxes … The Presidential elections then will be mostly about military and foreign politics.
Neville > Even Hamas?
In negotiations, yes. When militants were developing their plans, they apparently did not discuss that with others in Hamas or outside organizations. Current negotiations are conducted with several leaders from different locations involved and they are having discussions with each other, even if they have to use pigeons sometimes. Also, most of the irrational players are gone already.
> what did it accomplish longterm
this is an important question. So far, Israel was able to defeat or deter all enemies for almost 80 years. Are things worse or better now v. 1948 or 1967 or 1973? Compared to Amonites or Assyrians or Babylonians or Romans at the gate?
Most of those enemies are gone or pacified … Maybe the plan is to finally make peace w/ Saudis, or maybe there is no “long term” solution and H’ gives us some (?) time and space to build an erliche and religious country that will impress everyone. As we always considered ourselves the center of the world, Israeli being in the center of daily papers and UN resolutions seems as prophetic as the foxes on Har Habayit that made R Akiva happy.
Ard, there is no question that chabad was early in caring for the non religious jews in US. r Soloveitchik writes about this contradiction we are discussing in 1940s, under previous rebbe
some real exercises with Meta AI:
> is this a correct statement? “The laptop and the allegations surrounding it have been widely disputed. The claim that Hunter Biden used his father’s position to advance his business interests has been debunked, and no evidence has emerged to support such claims.”The statement you provided is partially correct. While it’s true that allegations surrounding Hunter Biden’s laptop have been widely disputed, the claim that he used his father’s position to advance his business interests is more nuanced.
> estimate probability that laptop belonged to Hunter Biden
Given these complexities, a reasonable estimate might be:
50-60% probability that the laptop belonged to Hunter Biden, based on the FBI’s involvement and some authenticated contents.
20-30% probability that the laptop was part of a disinformation operation, given the inconsistencies and concerns about forgery.
10-20% probability that the laptop’s origins and contents are entirely unrelated to Hunter Biden or the Biden family.> estimate probability that Hunter worked for Burisma
99-100% probability: Hunter Biden’s role on Burisma’s board is a well-documented fact, confirmed by multiple sources, including Hunter Biden himself and Burisma Holdings.> estimate probability that either Burisma or its owner did illegal or corrupt acts
70-80% probability: There have been multiple investigations, allegations, and court rulings suggesting that Burisma and/or Zlochevsky may have engaged in corrupt or illegal activities.> estimate probability that Hunter knew about these acts
40-50% probability: While Hunter’s role on the board and some testimonies suggest he may have had knowledge of Burisma’s activities, there is no conclusive evidence to prove definitively that he knew about the alleged corrupt or illegal acts.> estimate probability that Hunter participated in these acts
10-20% probability: While there are concerns about Hunter Biden’s involvement with Burisma, the lack of concrete evidence and his role on the board suggest that his participation in corrupt activities is unlikely.> estimate probability that Hunter was hired by Burisma because he was Joe’s son
60-70% probability: While Burisma has claimed that Hunter Biden was hired for his expertise, the timing and circumstances of his hiring, combined with investigations and testimonies, suggest that his relationship to Joe Biden may have played a significant role in his hiring.> is it ethical to receive money not because of your expertise but because you are a son of a politician
Receiving money solely because of your relationship to a politician, rather than your expertise or qualifications, raises significant ethical concerns.
In the case of Hunter Biden’s involvement with Burisma Holdings, the fact that he received significant compensation (reportedly up to $50,000 per month) despite limited experience in the energy sector raises concerns about whether his hiring was based on merit or his family connections.ard > you consider them apikorsim there is no issur of loshon hora
so, people standing on street corners trying to find all lost yidden are apikorosim, but those who sit in their chadorim not even noticing the tragedy of millions are the tzadikim allowed to say loshon horo? Olam afuch … As R Soloveichik remarked to the argument that he learns less time than other gedolim due to his interest in philosophy: when they learn, I learn; when they talk loshon horo about me, I study philosophy.
CS > The Alter Rebbe paskens you can’t daven to a picture (even a mirror is bad),
a good point. For those who do have rebbe’s picture in front of them:
if a chosid can daven in front of a picture, then the rebbe should be able to daven in front of a mirror. Is there any evidence that Rebbe davened in front of a mirror? I have a proof that he did not: when Chabad built first girl’s seminary, rebbe came to inspect the building and he suggested one addition: put mirrrors in each room. Evidently men in charge of construction did not think about it. Which proves that there were no mirrors in the rest of 770 complex. See, I can see the lack of mirrors without ever coming inside!PS As someone telling a story of Hasam Sofer visiting newly built Vienna shul and commenting on construction remarked: “for some reason, all these stories have a Rav visiting after construction instead of being asked in advance”. So much for daas Torah… Of course, this could be selection bias – only mistakes become stories; shuls built according to daas Torah have no stories attached.
Avram > [about states] They have to be constitutional.
of course. Note that this notion stretched over time. First amendment et al initially applied to feds only. States were able to have government-sponsored churches, for example. I guess slavery issue is by now settled. I presume the rest of bill of rights was applied to states after civil war.
> What’s the difference between your argument and telling people if they don’t like it they can just move to another country?
this is the critical part of the US design. The difference is that US provides uniformity of culture and law. You can move between states without going thru immigration, keeping your property right, dollar bank account, have same language, walmart and mcdonalds, and even your job nowadays. And you can always move back. In math terms, you have 0 switching costs, allowing optimal allocation of resources. Moving from Poland to Germany may be close geographically but way more difficult. It was even worse before EU that tries to emulate USA idea. People risked their life to jump over Berlin Wall.
Competition between businesses works all over the world, except China and Russia. Government monopoly stifles economy everywhere. This ability to move creates competition between (state) _governments_. So, when we make issues federal, we remove this ability for governments to compete. In other words, federal gov is a cartel created by politicians to avoid competing with each other at state level and stick it to the people. Any unnecessary, unsupported by Constitution federalization should be, thus, prosecuted as a illegal cartel under RICO or something.
Wiki says indeed that differentiation between astrology and astronomy starts in 17th century
At the same time, we can see that Rambam is pretty clear about this difference. And so did Jews in earlier times as well as some famous Christians and Muslims like Al-Biruni and probably some greeks also.Neville, it is not my point, here is what one “modernizer” said:
What we have said about this from the beginning is that the entire position of the stargazers is regarded as a falsehood by all men of science. I know that you may search and find sayings of some individual sages in the Talmud and Midrashim whose words appear to maintain that at the moment of a man’s birth, the stars will cause such and such to happen to him. Do not regard this as a difficulty, for it is not fitting for a man to abandon the prevailing law and raise once again the counterarguments and replies (that preceded its enactment). Similarly it is not proper to abandon matters of reason that have already been verified by proofs, shake loose of them, and depend on the words of a single one of the sages from whom possibly the matter was hidden. Or there may be an allusion in those words; or they may have been said with a view to the times and the business before him. (You surely know how many of the verses of the holy Law are not to be taken literally. Since it is known through proofs of reason that it is impossible for the thing to be literally so, the translator [of the Aramaic Targum] rendered it in a form that reason will abide. ) A man should never cast his reason behind him, for the eyes are set in front, not in back.Neville > If this is true, and Israel had been trying to make this deal since last May,
It may be an unconscious bias from reading papers that always start with discussing Israeli problems. With rare exceptions, like Oct 7 or misguided Russian attack on Ukraine, most sides are rational and well-informed parties and negotiations reflect this. If conditions changed in Israeli favor from May to January, that means the results of negotiations are more favorable to Israel in January than they were in May. Game theory 101.
> I’m not totally convinced that Israel doesn’t bear some responsibility for dragging this
We do not have access to all information they had at a time. They achieved a lot of successes. There is a lot of both hard work and syata d’shamayim involved. Try convincing one guy on Ebay to buy a beeper, and you’ll appreciate how hard it is to make Hizbollah buy thousands of those!
> I don’t think they ever had the delusion that they would fully eliminate Hamas.
indeed, it well may be that they had to maintain certain positions because of public pressure leading some to being disappointed.
I am, frankly, for almost any regulations at state level.
If majority becomes too overbearing, people can move away to other states. If the persecuting minority is a small group, then it is better that they move to another state than continue fighting. If small majority tries to impose it’s will, and then 10+% of population moves away, the state would suffer economically and possibly reconsider.
This approach is way better than a small majority imposing their will at federal level.