anon for this

May I submit my own mashal? Thanks.

A master once had two servants who both followed his instructions, but not the same way.

An example: One day he asked both for a drink of water. The first servant found, cleaned, buffed and polished a beautiful silver goblet. He filled the cup with cold filtered water, and placed it on a platter (also buffed and polished). The servant then dressed in his finest clothes and served the water to the master with a deep bow. The first servant then watched as the second servant, who was moving much slower, also fulfilled the master’s request.

The first servant noticed, much to his consternation, that the second servant was not honoring the master as was proper. While the second servant did find a fine silver goblet which he buffed and polished, he did not buff and polish as thoroughly as the first servant, and actually left a patch of tarnish on it. He also moved much slower than the first servant, pausing frequently in his work. The water was not as thoroughly chilled, and while the second servant did wear fine clothes to present the water to the king, he did not dress as well and his tie was crooked.

The first servant pointed out each of these shortcomings, but despite his best efforts to point out exactly what the other was doing wrong, the second servant just continued on his way. The first servant eventually gave up on trying to improve the first servant, figuring that when the master paid both servants, the second servant would be forced to recognize his faults.

Finally the second servant presented the water to the master. When the time came for the master to pay his two servants, he brought the first servant into his palace, and seated him at the master’s own table, where he fed him fine delicacies. Much to the surprise of the first servant, the master also brought the second servant into his palace and seated him at his own table, at his right. The master fed the second servant the finest delicacies from his table, even better than what he gave the first servant.

The first servant approached the master and asked, repectfully, why the master had chosen to honor the second servant even more than the first, when the first servant had done more to honor the master. The master explained that the second servant suffered severe pains in his arms and legs, and that his efforts to honor the master had cost him great effort and pain, and were in fact greater than the master had ever expected of him. “And,” added the master, “If you were so concerned that the other servant was not honoring me appropriately, why did you not help him in his work?”.

Esther1 got it right. The power grid which covers 3/4 of Texas is largely isolated from the rest of the contiguous US & Mexico. Today there are a few small direct current transmission lines, but these are different from the large-capacity alternating currect lines that would be needed to connect the state to the power grid.

The grid originally was completely isolated, and was designed that way to avoid federal oversight of the grid. The interconnected power grids in the other 48 states are under the jurisdiction of FERC, the Federal Electric Regulatory Commission (Texas’s DC connection lines with other states are under FERC’s jurisdiction though). The Texas grid, except for the DC ties, are only under the jurisdiction of the state public utility commission. Of course this wouldn’t have been possible if Texas didn’t have sufficient sources of power generation inside the state, including two nuclear power plants and many natural gas and oil plants.

Yanky55,

I apologize for projecting then. I wrote what I did because I found those comments offensive. I hope you are not offended by what I wrote, since that surely was not my intention.

/end hijack

The Big One,

I think Yanky55 may have felt offended when some posters accused him of speaking loshon hara/ lying (despite repeated questions, I wasn’t able to clarify the exact nature of Yanky55’s “offense”) about a godol hador when he posted some facts about this godol in another thread.

Joseph and The Big One,

Both of you accused Yanky55 of telling loshon hara. Are you saying this because you don’t believe R’ Soloveichik had a television in his apartment, or because you think Yanky55 is telling the truth but it’s wrong to say it? Please clarify.

ICOT,

What children’s books would you recommend?

jewishfeminist02,

Actually this thread reminded me of that chapter too. I spend a lot of time reading aloud to my kids, and the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series is one they enjoy hearing.

The Big One,

Are you then saying that the poster who mentioned the television in R’ Soloveichik’s apartment isn’t telling the truth? Or do you think the poster is telling the truth, but was wrong to mention such a thing about R’ Soloveichik?

If jewishfeminist02 really pointed out everyone’s errors, she’d be the most prolific poster here (maybe from my posts alone).

whatshaiches,

I encountered the attitude you describe when I lived in a small midwestern Jewish community. My husband was earning a rather small salary in a training position so I worked outside the home to help pay for basics such as mortgage, food, and full tuition for my school aged children, as well as day care for my younger ones. (Because my husband’s job required long & irregular hours he could not work another job or take on significant child care responsibilities). Basically 90% of my salary after day care paid my children’s tuition. All of the teachers/ kollel members who had children in the school paid minimal or no tuition; these children comprised about 50% of the student body. Because this frum community is relatively small, kollel members received a salary underwritten by a wealthy donor, and teachers were better compensated than in larger frum communities.

When I lost my job while I was pregnant, and was unable to find a new one, it was very difficult to convince the school administrator that we were no longer able to pay full tuition. He told us that if had sufficient mesiras nefesh we would be able to pay tuition anyways. We explained that we couldn’t afford cleaning help, drove older cars that had been purchased used (my huband worked long and irregular hours and we felt two vehicles were necessary), and did not take vacations. We rarely bought new clothes for ourselves, and bought our children’s clothing used or took hand-me-downs.

We explained to the administrator that we had been happy to do this so we could pay full tuition, even though it meant our general standard of living was lower than those of the klei kodesh in the community, but since I’d lost my job and couldn’t find another this was no longer possible. We showed him our tax return, pointing out that my husband’s salary was less than that received by teachers and kollel members, and was fully taxed besides. He just reiterated that if we had real mesiras nefesh, we’d find a way to pay full tuition, but was unable to give specific examples of how we could do this.

It took months before the administrator agreed to reduce our children’s tuition, and I also arranged to work at the school to earn credit towards their tuition. To his credit I will note that he did not kick our children out of the school or seriously threaten to do so.

Because I’d lost my job and was pregnant, my children and I qualified for Medicaid and WIC assistance, which reduced our grocery bill by at least 30%. My preschool aged children stayed home with me, and I no longer needed to arrange or pay for child care for my older kids on their days off from school. B”H we made it through the next year, but this humiliating and disillsioning experience was part of the reason my husband looked for jobs in other cities when he finished his training.

B”H we now live in a wonderful community, where people are respected for who they are, not what they do for a living.

asdfghjkl,

Generally most countries don’t allow one to bring fresh fruit or vegetables from other countries, due to infestation concerns.

Joseph,

You wrote: “What is the meaning of life?”

That’s easy. 42.

ICOT,

It definitely worked, although I think only in combination with the PT boar incident. Ted Sorenson was a great writer–I think that generally speechwriters don’t get a lot of credit; I suppose that’s the nature of the business.

Sorry, I don’t understand your last sentence.

SJS,

I want to mention here that I really appreciate your posts. You always express yourself carefully and respectfully, even when responding to those who are less careful and respectful. Even though my Rav didn’t give me the same p’ask as yours I appreciate the restraint you are showing.

Joseph,

The fraternity may have a “sincerely held religious belief” in being allowed to serve alcohol to minors without any consequences. And the adult serving alcohol to minors on Purim may not be completely consistent in his observance of Judaism. Really I don’t think either of us want the courts to start examining our religious observance.

Actually I gave this as an extreme example. The religious exemption to social hosts laws, as described by Chuck Schwab, is big enough to drive a Budweiser truck through. Also, as I’ve mentioned above, it’s not consistent with other areas of law, which don’t allow religious exemptions for neglect/ abuse. I’m not discounting Mr. Schwab’s experience, but I think that just because this type of crime has never been prosecuted doesn’t mean it never will be prosecuted. As illini07 noted, not all social host laws have religious exemptions, and probably neither do all teen party laws (which have a lower threshold for prosecution in that adults can be held liable even if no crime results).

the chavrusas,

I don’t own any pets other than fish, but when visiting acquaintances who own pets I’ve not ever noticed a bad smell. One would probably want to avoid davening near the litter box, but I doubt that would smell worse than a diaper pail (which b”h I have experienced). Of course davening near a re’ach ra is an issue around small children, who are definitely capable of smelling up a good part of the house.

Actually Peter Fitzgerald mentioned several times during the press conference that President-elect Obama has nothing to do with the indictment, beyond the fact that his Senate seat was the one being sold. So I’m not sure how the “Obama campaign” is taking heat for this. Associating Obama and Blagojevich makes about as much sense as associating Alaska Governor Sarah Palin with the crimes of former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens.

Thanks for the update.

Joseph,

That’s true, and I never said otherwise. But by putting other people down we make ourselves seem insecure. And calling other human beings trash is disparaging creations made in His image. I don’t think that’s behavior well-suited to superior people.

noitallmr,

I disagree with you on this point. This exchange reminds me of a story I heard of a godol who, the day after a US presidential election, asked who had won. When those around him expressed surprise that he wanted to know (since he didn’t usually take an interest in politics), he explained that when he said the bracha “shelo asani goy” he wanted to have in mind the most powerful person in the world.

We should feel proud and grateful for being Jews, and recognize the privilege and responsibility associated with this. If we have to talk ourselves into feeling better by selectively comparing ourselves to those around us, and call them names to feel superior, then I think we are sadly missing the point. Not to mention that I don’t think Hashem wants us to criticize creations made in His image.

BYM,

Usually I really like your posts, but I do object to your referring to people that way. I’ve also traveled the subways, and encountered all kinds of panhandlers and fake deaf people, along with more unsavory characters, but I wouldn’t refer to any of them as “trash”. Remember, every human was created b’tzelem elokim.

ICOT,

3,4, and 5 are a pythagorean triple. That is, they can form the sides of a right triangle, where 5 is the side opposite the right angle. Then, according to the Pythagorean Theorem, 3^2 + 4^2 = 5^2 (9+16=25). Another example of a unique Pythagorean Triple would be 5,12, and 13.

illini07,

Thanks for clarifying my points better than I could myself. To elaborate on your point (2) above, social host laws hold adults liable if they serve alcohol to a minor (that is, someone under the legal drinking age of 21) who injures himself or someone else as a result. These laws exist in some communities in NY and NJ.

To my knowledge social host laws contain no exemption for alcohol consumed for religious purposes. It seems to me that social host laws wouldn’t affect consumption of alcohol for kiddush, since a minimal amount of alcohol is comsumed. However, if one serves a minor sufficient alcohol so that he is “drunk and falling asleep from drunkenness” then if any injury results c”v social host laws would likely apply.