Always_Ask_Questions

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  • in reply to: Parking Meter Tickets – An NYC “Gotcha!” #2302406

    So, it sounds like a better option is to use the app or park in Monsey,

    in reply to: Israel Antagonist Kamala Harris #2302404

    Dr Pepper, Catholics do not believe in divorce

    in reply to: Chabad Media Won #2302403

    YS> Neither did I hear any of those other Rabbonim say such a thing

    This is a serious matter, more important than potential A’Z! YS who seems to be a reliable poster says that the claim of what was in podcast is incorrect. Could we clear this item? Hopefully, this a misunderstanding/misinterpretation or a poster referred to a different podcast? Otherwise, using a deliberate wrong reference makes this whole discussion meaningless. Why argue with people who can not be trusted in their argument? I hope there are other volunteers to listen to the podcast (not me, sorry).

    in reply to: End of MAGA #2302394

    I don’t know guys if you can convince each other, but can we agree on this:
    apparently, Pres B was not in a good condition for a couple of years, getting worse with time, a lot of people suspected that, but
    a “blue wall” of advisors together with media were able to maintain the mainstream view that the President is functioning OK…

    A day after Pres B admitted his condition, there were multiple well-sourced articles describing the situation. For example,
    President visited Dem meeting in, I think, Oct 2021, to lobby for his infrastructure bill. Congressmen could not hear what he was saying,
    and what they heard, was not comprehensible. After President left, Ms Pelosi got up and said “here is what President wanted to say” …
    President did not speak to Congressmen after that. This was in front of 200 people and this did not become public knowledge. I think it
    is frightening that the government can keep people reassured of a falsehood for quite some time. And if they were to ditch the debates, President would have made it to elections. Were he to have a better economy or suddenly a win in Ukraine, he could have won another term. So, now the group of people who created this charade (to include cabinet, VP Harris, D congressmen, media) are moving on to the next candidate without being
    accountable for what they did. Ds would be better off at the convention by electing a clean candidate – Josh Shapiro or exCTL, for example.

    in reply to: Killing lice on shabbos #2302005

    someone said> ? Personally, I wouldn’t want to have a belief that many shittos would deem the person an apikorus — even if according to another shitta he wouldn’t be deemed an apikorus.

    I presume this person would not eat a kugel unless there are all haskamos on it. What if someone considers it treif?

    in reply to: Why does Yiddish butcher Hebrew #2301989

    So, Melech Shlomo had Sephardi consonants, Teimeni Ayin, Litvish vowels and Yakkish knowledge?

    in reply to: Why does Yiddish butcher Hebrew #2301988

    skripka > Eliyahu question isn’t a question, because he only ever came to my rebba. The stories about other rebbas are made up

    catch-22: You just described the attitude that stops Eliahu from coming!

    in reply to: Killing lice on shabbos #2301987

    I am confused with the statement that there is no difference between Jew and non-Jew. There are genetic differences between nations. There are nations that do not tolerate milk or alcohol.

    Maybe you mean that a non-Jew may convert and will he acquire Jewish traits? That maybe not what sources mean, giving a general statement about Jews in general … But even then, if someone changes his lifestyle from hunting & heavy drinking to sitting with a sefer and drinking weekly, his condition will change.

    Another interesting question: absorption of iron is decreased when milk is consumed. Iron comes from meat that was historically limited … So, Jews might be better at absorbing iron, leading to major metabolic differences.

    in reply to: No tachnun? #2301686

    Right. We should check with Mossad every morning whether there is a reason for no tachanun based on whatever else they are doing.

    When I asked once, I was told – you can say tachanun now, but will not need for Mincha …

    in reply to: Professional writer #2301685

    I heard Waterbury yeshiva is equipped to deal with boys whom other yeshivas fail.

    As R Kestenbaum of that yeshiva writes “we are losing our resh lakishes”. We don’t know the circumstances, but you also need to consider whether it is the best for your child to be in this place where they do not want him. He might be better at a place like Waterbury or learning with his parents and private tutors. See if a change improves his situation. Deal with the child first, do not get distracted to deal with the yeshiva.

    in reply to: Killing lice on shabbos #2301684

    without going into kabbalistic issues, effect of medical treatment differ based on genetics and cultural norms. Some examples

    – there are certain foods that people eat and tolerate based on their genetic history. Jews would be way different from majority of USA population in terms of the diet, and thus microbiome …
    – effect of treatment depends on how one follows the regimen and diet. R Salanter was known to follow doctor recommendation to a minute …
    – psychological effects. A book on ethnic psychology has chapters on different ethnicities, I scanned the Jewish chapter – for most people, the doctor gives instructions to every family member how he should behave in different situations. Not so Jews: they will sit together and discuss each others roles instead of just following their own instructions …

    in reply to: Why does Yiddish butcher Hebrew #2301649

    Bottom line, we can read Melech Shlomo, but might not understand him if meeting in person… Of course, everyone thinks he will because he surely speaks the genuine version of loshon kodesh …

    And, also, how is Eliahu communicating with tzadikim – does he speak a different loshon with each of them?

    On a more pragmatic note – is there research in how old Hebrew sounded? I heard simulations of old English … A simple thought would be that a version that differentiates between more sounds is more likely to be genuine, such as Teimani ayn, and patach/kamatz, but I am sure linguists have more to say.

    in reply to: Biggest supporter of Torah in the world #2301648

    spot on,
    to start, see below some numbers from Annual Statistical Report on Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) Society in Israel 2023 by Lee Cahaner Gilad Malach
    does not answer our questions directly, but gives some statistics

    2023 population – hareidi 1.3 mln (14% of Israel) in yeshiva/kollel 145K in college 17K (3K post-graduate)
    poverty rate 34%, 15% for other Jews (OJ)
    monthly income per capita 3900 NIS, OJ 7400 NIS
    monthly expenditure 3000 NIS, OJ 5200
    employed 25-66: men 55% (haredi women and OJ 80-85%)
    income from employment: men 10K OJ 19K, women 8K, OJ 12K

    in reply to: Biggest supporter of Torah in the world #2301366

    spot > Are they not entitled to a drop back for their yeshivos?

    a group of people who work less than the average population will generally pay less in taxes, and as coffee mentions, they use other services that are covered by taxes. More significantly, hpw can one dream about supporting Torah Learning by forcibly taking money from other Jews?

    Why can’t we have people paying for their own learning, like many Amoraim did, or a genuine Zevulun/Issachar partnership where both parties willingly share zechus?

    in reply to: Israel Antagonist Kamala Harris #2301364

    > Jill was married to someone else when Biden started living with her.

    Is she also catholic, by the way?

    in reply to: Killing lice on shabbos #2301363

    apparently, some snakes some times can give birth years after mating. What is the point of gemorah polemics with the scientists? There is no such argument about donkeys – everyone knows that, right? Snakes are harder, but it is easy to take one snake and watch it. The greek scientist says that it took him years to study the topic. Maybe, the discussion is about those rare cases, rather than a typical case that can be easily observed.

    in reply to: Killing lice on shabbos #2301362

    > The Torah says that gender is determined by the woman.

    Well, the men sends out multiple options of males and females, and – as usual in life – the woman has a final word which of them is taken 🙂

    in reply to: Killing lice on shabbos #2301361

    skripka > were experts in THE SCIENCE OF THAT TIME

    Chazal did not always follow everything the “current” science said, modulating it with masorah and common sense that not all scientists have. Creation v. eternal world would be one example.

    in reply to: Serving Your Husband Before Your Father #2300800

    Right, so if takes upon herself to serve her father first, the husband can stop that 😉

    in reply to: Biggest supporter of Torah in the world #2300418

    yeshiva man (?) > If the American government would decide to suddenly not give any of these benefits to people who are learning in yeshiva or kollel, I would certainly think that is wicked discrimination.

    Many of benefits you listed are intended to help people who are not able to work and also for those who study to be able to support themselves. So, you might or might not be within the law by using these funds for other purposes, but you are definitely not using them the way voters intended. So, as you describe this as “normal”, you need to rethink whether Torah approves of such crooked ways. It is well may be that perception of how one could use public assistance is skewed by the person’s environment. While many sub-cultures in US would not take public assistance unless they can’t find other work, there are also communities where using that assistance is normalized as part of life over several generations…

    If these laws also provide benefits for people involved in religious/spiritual studies, please provide a reference, I’ll be happy to change my opinion.

    in reply to: End of MAGA #2300095

    RCP has now state polls for Harris and they are very similar to Biden
    Battlegrounds Trump Harris Spread
    Wisconsin 48.0 47.3 Trump +0.7
    Pennsylvania 48.2 44.6 Trump +3.6
    Michigan 47.0 45.5 Trump +1.5
    Arizona 49.7 43.3 Trump +6.4
    Georgia 48.5 44.0 Trump +4.5
    Trump Harris
    Betting Odds 57.1 35.1

    of course, these numbers were very stable for Trump/Biden, and we can expect more volatility now as people learn about Harris, and she might get some from convention and VP choice.

    in reply to: Tradwives #2300094

    I think Eshes Chail summarizes it pretty well.

    in reply to: Post-debate fallout- question for Democratic voters #2300093

    Ex-CTL,
    for a lawyer, you are pretty loose with laws. HIPAA applies to medical professionals.

    What you are saying that we descended to the depth of China and USSR, where leader’s health was a state secret. I can give some slack to cabinet members – they serve the President and most of them can not earn parnosah outside of the government, so they say what they have to keep their jobs. I am not saying it is ethical to mislead the country for several years, but at least I understand. She is a politician. Even as she was selected by Biden, she can not be fired by him. She is there to be a responsible political voice. If she knew that Biden is not capable of running the country and continued publicly saying the opposite, she has no excuses, and should pay political price for that. If she did not know, then it will tell us how involved and understanding she is. I think it is important to find out and you are in the unique position to bring clarity.

    in reply to: End of MAGA #2300092

    Israeli newspapers end it with Hey, so it is not exactly Amalek

    but pretty close

    in reply to: Biggest supporter of Torah in the world #2300081

    I agree with some posters ^ it is questionable whether this Israeli shver gets sechar. Yes, they give money, but for this money – that they gave away in a political agreement and did not supervise appropriately – they got multitudes of students who do not seem to be great at following Torah commands of chesed, gratitude, derech eretz, and even a desire to force others to work and fight for them. This is unfortunate result of all the shver’s donations ….

    There is some hope. I learnt that if you give a beggar who ends up being a dishonest person, you still get a sechar for the giving, but not for the chessed … Still, if the shver did not ensure that the “boy” learns appropriately instead of just satisfying his demands, it might be his fault….

    in reply to: End of MAGA #2299741

    You need to consider the following: before this election, there was a certain segment of the society that liked R- and Trump’s policies but were conditioned that they can not be responsible for “letting democracy die”, so did not vote for Trump. When confronted with an alternative of a Wizard of Oz presidency, some of them decided that voting for Trump is OK, and that was reflected in polls. So, now with a live D- candidate, these people may reconsider, but they passed the psychological barrier and now need to be actually convinced to vote for D-.

    in reply to: End of MAGA #2299740

    Well, you can also say that he stepped down only after assassination of his opponent was not successful …

    you can also quote Pres B who said that he will only step down by the direct message from Almighty… Did he receive such a message? I think we believe that there are no non-Jewish naviim after Bilam, is it a firm position or just a dig at other religions? Maybe one of his Jewish subordinates or relatives got the message? Or maybe he got an indirect hint from Almighty (he is smart than the Gadol of his site!). Maybe it took him a couple of weeks to realize that his debate performance was such a message … or poll results are also a message.

    in reply to: Post-debate fallout- question for Democratic voters #2299739

    > I do not expect the President to resign and let Harris ascend. The backlash would be too great in a close election.

    XCTL, could you ask Ms Harris-Emhoff at the convention “what did you know about President condition and when did you know that?”.
    When reporters jump on you, tell them that you are also a reporter and YWN CR readers want to know the answer.

    in reply to: Serving Your Husband Before Your Father #2299738

    a publication from Ner Le’Elef (*) touches on the idea of osek b’mitzvah, and does not find it fully convincing as a halachic instrument. I frankly did not mean it as a strict halachic argument, just a sentiment that they seem to find at least reasonable.
    WOMEN’S ISSUES BOOK TWO Women in Mitzvos, p. 32-34
    In a sense, a woman is considered to be continuously עוסק במצוה , and we have a principle that Osek BeMitzvah Patur Min HaMitzvah. Indeed, there are some Rishonim who hold that even if one has a lost object in his house it is considered sufficient to exempt him from doing another Mitzvah like giving Tzedaka (even though he could actually manage to do both mitzvos simultaneously) However, most Rishonim disagree with this approach. They hold that the definition of an עוסק במצוה is quite stringent. As the Meiri (. ברכות יא ) …. “one who is engaged in one Mitzvah is exempt from a second Mitzvah, [they only intended this to apply] so long as he is still actually involved in the first Mitzvah, and the second Mitzvah can only be done at the expense of the first.” … We would then question why a single woman or a widow whose children are all grown up etc. would have these exemptions at all. Perhaps these Rishonim would say that a woman is exempt from time-based מצוות because her entire approach to serving G-d is one of constant readiness to respond to changing realities. For example, although one can easily provide for children’s physical needs according to certain schedules, if one is really going to allow children to develop as unique personalities, fulfil their creative faculties and fine-tune their moral sensitivities and values, it requires constant alertness, availability and engagement. Under such circumstances, even when one is not actually busy with the Mitzvah one would be
    exempt [Sukkah 25]. In addition, one may ask why women should only be exempt from Zeman Gramas. According to this approach, a woman is considered permanantly Osek BeMitzvah and should therefore be exempt from all other positive mitzvos as well

    This is answered by saying that it is true that a woman is not always considered Osek BeMitzvah. However, her situation is such that she can never know when she is going to be Osek BeMitzvah. Therefore, it was specially time-based Mitzvos, which require a woman to free her schedule at a particular time, from which she was exempt. And even though many time-based mitzvos can be done for a whole day, a woman can easily be busy the whole day. The Torah did not want her to have to figure out just when she is Osek BeMitzvah and when not since even Tirda Demitzva is enough to exempt one ( סוכה כה ). However, this is difficult. For we do know that the Torah, for whatever reasons, did obligate a woman in some time-based Mitzvos. Now, although a woman does not have a general exemption form these mitzvos, why can she not exempt herself from them whenever she is busy with her family? And the same goes for any other mitzva with which a women is obligated. Perhaps we can modify our original logic by saying that, although a women isn’t truly Osek BeMitzva when she takes care of her family, but the Torah wanted her to get the message of how important this is, and regarded her, with respect to time-based mitvahs, as if she is an osek bemitzvah. This might also explain why all women are exempt from this category, because it isn’t because of the actual business with her family that causes the exemption, it is the message of how important taking care of her family is, which is the source of the exemption.

    in reply to: Tradwives #2299720

    Yserb, Most of jobs assigned to women seem to be the ones done at home. It does not mean they were “homemakers”

    Before the industrial age, most people did not “go to work”, unless they were farming in the fields or travelling as merchants. Look at Nezikin, say Bava Batra discussing all kind of businesses in the mavoy …

    in reply to: Serving Your Husband Before Your Father #2299403

    RebE, just my own peshat, no good source. I’ll ask.
    The “asmakhta” idea is from a rav who said he, at some point, started making a list of time dependent mitzvot that apply and those that do not – and the lists were of equal length.

    in reply to: Ethics and Entenmann’s #2299401

    In older times, weak children died out when they were young. In our times, an average surviving adult is weaker than an average surviving adult 200 years ago, so he can be harmed by a traditional diet of kishka and mashka. Also, as people live longer, the diseases that develop later in life become of more importance.

    in reply to: Tradwives #2299400

    well, mostly _men_ worked on farms, women worked more at home. Gemora lists all jobs a woman is supposed to do in the house, with part of that could be done by the her maids if she brought some. She had to do at least some work to occupy herself. When women had capital and capabilities, halakha allowed them to run those businesses.

    Nowaways, men invented a lot of machines that perform the jobs in the house, and society started schools, and recently free pre-Ks, to take care of the children.

    in reply to: Serving Your Husband Before Your Father #2299084

    exemption from time is an asmakhta – there are more exceptions than not … I am thinking women are exempt by the principle “osek b’ mitzva patur mimitzvah”. Almost anything the women is doing when taking care of the house is a part of the mitzva – chesed, assisting in learning, chinuch, etc so she does not need to interrupt to do _other_ mitzvot

    in reply to: Israel Antagonist Kamala Harris #2299083

    While I am not a fan, I think that Jews who married a non-Jew are doing a wrong thing, but a non-Jew who marries a Jew might be a tzaddik/tzadekes, unless s/he is doing it because of perceived Jewish power & money 🙂

    in reply to: Post-debate fallout- question for Democratic voters #2299082

    xCTL,
    there are now multiple articles describes (with names) all the people who noticed that Pres B had cognitive issues starting 2021 and how they asll re-assured themselves, or were reasssured, or ignored, or were not given access, or were threatened. This is getting close to how members of Chinese Communist party behave, simply playing their voting role.

    Could you please look these formerly “pledged” electors in the eye and ask them how they chose to become part of this game, agreeing to vote for the candidate about whom they knew they did not have enough information? And if they did have enough information, they should show integrity and vote for Pres B. I am sure he will reconsider if the electors will vote for him.

    I hope it will be a good lesson for the citizens of this country to understand how Chinese and Russians feel and how we got to be led in the same direction …

    in reply to: Chabad Media Won #2298739

    > True kenoim who know what Chabad stands for do not use their services or interact with them.

    This is not true in my experience. I’ve seem yeshivish and Satmar travelers staying at Chabad houses. Maybe they check it out and avoid crzier ones, I do not know, do not go there either 🙂

    in reply to: Post-debate fallout- question for Democratic voters #2298735

    ExCTL, I am looking forward to your live comments from the convention.

    in reply to: The Fade No Peyos Look found Among Bnai Yeshiva #2298663

    Guys, go google for images of lithuanian jews / mir yeshiva/ teltz yeshiva … and you will see how Jews were typically dressed both in the streets and in the yeshivos.
    I tried to put a list of broken links but they did not show up.

    in reply to: Assassination Attempt #2298628

    Bilaam would be comfortable in this forum. He had access to Hashem and knew how to string words together, and then tried to use it for partisan purposes.

    And for those who can not apprehend how someone be sympathetic to another party, please understand that parties and media know more about us than we know about
    them. They develop messages and write stories targeting hard maybe 1% of population that holds certain views. Once in a while, someone happened to be in that 1%, or they
    develop messages directed towards our community. So, people can fall for silly things. The best cure is to discuss issues here in a respectful and truthful way.

    in reply to: Why Jews are Quitting the Democratic Party #2298459

    Coffee, you had to take _some_ English classes … I did not take any legal ones, only business 🙂

    in reply to: Assassination Attempt #2298458

    Somehow, several posters claiming that pursuit of truth allows them to discard civility, are not always good at actually modeh es haemes.
    Let’s start with a minimal requirement – strive for truth or be nice. At the next class, we can try doing both at the same time.

    in reply to: Another Proof Biden is Against Israel #2298457

    > if someone doesn’t say just the right thing.

    hopefully, standards for Yidden talking to each other should be higher than for American politicians. We are all affected by this plague, but maybe, D- posters are generally more assimilated, or more attuned to non-Jewish discussion style, so it looks so ugly here. In other venues, I see both sides having obnoxious posters in equal proportion.

    in reply to: Why b’davka Trump was shot, and why b’davka in the ear #2298456

    Gadol > f you want Reb Moshe to change his ways, punishing Reb Yankel is unlikely to create the needed incentive for Reb Yankel to behave differently

    Reb Yankel Hagadol, sigh, this attitude explains a lot .. please try to keep up with all the lessons that Hashem sends to you indirectly.
    Gut shabbos

    in reply to: Why Jews are Quitting the Democratic Party #2298047

    > unsuccessfully assassinated

    OXYMORON

    in reply to: Post-debate fallout- question for Democratic voters #2298005

    Ex-CTL, I am not a lawyer or an ex-lawyer, so I am allowed to be imprecise. I did not punched a chad near a name of a kosher candidate.

    in reply to: Assassination Attempt #2298004

    Dofi, you are out of line. Cool down.

    in reply to: The Fade No Peyos Look found Among Bnai Yeshiva #2298001

    maybe you should first start with pronouncing ayn like a teimeni

    in reply to: Dedications — Has It Gone Too Far? #2297998

    Rocky,
    I said “if there is competition”. Book and bookstore market may not be so good, so you might be right. But also keep in mind, costs of developing a book, especially with a translation, are high. So, maybe sponsors enable publishing more books than would otherwise published.

    If you are looking for affordable English seforim, search amazon books and click on “used only”. You get good conditioned books at < $10 each. I found out about this when the kids gave me a present of multiple of my favorite seforim and I wondered how they were able to afford that 🙂

    in reply to: July 13 was far worse than Jan 6 #2297701

    gadol > Perhaps his $15 donation to some progressive voter registration group several years ago is the smoking gun.

    perfect his smoking gun is the smoking gun.

Viewing 50 posts - 401 through 450 (of 7,287 total)