Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Montreal has a Chassidic (Vizhnitzer) woman borough councilor. Her name is Mindy Pollak and she speaks English, French and Yiddish, wears a sheitel and did not shake hands with men during her campaign. She was approached to run for the federal Parliament but turned it down because she wants to finish what she started.
UJM, that is the problem. You think that you are still in the shtetl. BTW, they were not so holy. Anyone who learns the responsa literature knows that.
It’s no longer Purim.
Ujm, does your hat have a good hechsher?
Avira,
1. The yaldei Tehran and Teimanim claims have been debunked by various inquiries, inclyuding one by Menachem Begin’s government , which had an interest to discredit Labor.
2. The IDF is designed to defend Am Yisrael.
3. The Declaration of independence mentions צור ישראל. Do you not believe that this is Hashem?
4. it is a known fact that gedolei Yisrael told Jews not to leave Europe.
5. Where did you get that bit about tefillin?
6. The State definitely is the representative of the Jewish people. If you don;t believe our enemies will tell you otherwise.
7. Dina d’malcuta dina. The state must give religious freedom because then Jews in other countries will not be given religious freedom. This is the state of the world today. ידנו לא תקיפה .
8. Control? Wanting kids to be taught skills so that they can be productive citizens and get off welfare?
9. Who claims that the Bagatz is the Sanhedrin?
10. What caricatures? Anyway, the solution to that and your other claims is for frum Jews to make aliya, accept citizenship 9which many hareidim refuse to do while enjoying all the benefits as “students”) and vote.HaKatan,
Mashiach ben Yosef did come in 5708. The Zohar says that easch 1,000 years of creation is lagainst one of the first six. That means that 5708 is the sof zeman bittul chametz. There is no greater chametz than the galut.
BTW, Rav Soloveichik said that if not for the creation of the State of Israel Jews would have assimilated completely. Missionaries were using the Holocaust as proof that they were right. RS himself was accosted a number of times during his trips between Boston and New York. The creation of the State destroyed their whole sheeta. This is besides the great mitzvot of establishing a sovereign state in Eretz Yisrael (which was heralded by almost all of the gedolim in Eretz Yisrael, including the Agudaistim), building the Land and being mosser nefesh to save Jews.
1. Actually, there is a move to lower the maximum age for the draft in order to encourage you hareidi men to go into the work force. The fact of the matter is that anyone who says that he has no motivation to serve is quietly exempted. non-motivated people make poor soldiers. Some people, of course, have martyr complexes and refuse to go to the induction centers. They want to go to jail and the IDF obliges them.
2. It is well known that many men who claim to be avereichim are either just hanging around or working off the books. Those who are should go into the IDF rabbinate in some form. We stop talmud Torah for any mitzva. Even for things that are not such bg mitvot lie going to chazzanut concerts and tiyulim during ben hazemanim (ten weeks per year – more vacation than most workers get).
HaKatan,
Why do you continue to spout hatred of your fellow Jews? Are you filled with guilt for not making aliya? Rabbi Abahu says that the ra’ah is called that because he stands in Babylon (a paradigm for chutz laAretz) and sees a carcass in Eretz Yisrael. The Kotzker says that nothing is more tamei.
The fact of the matter is that more people are learning Torah in Israel than in all of pre-Holocaust Europe. The state supports yeshivot and seminaries, unlike in the USA where there is a wall of separation. Moreover, polls consistently show that Israel is becoming more religious whereas America is becoming less so. Outside of the South and Midwest religion is marginal.
What is considered unreliable? Specify what they are doing wrong. If you cannot, keep quiet.
Far fewer vaccinated people become very sick, or even get Covid at all. This is an established fact. SCOTUS has repeatedly upheld state vaccine mandates on public health grounds. The ABA has an online article about this called “Not Breaking News: Mandatory Vaccination Has Been Constitutional for Over a Century”. A federal mandate, however, is problematic on Tenth Amendment grounds.
A real libertarian does not believe that the public should pay medical costs. A real libertarian would also not force a private insurance company to cover someone’s costs even if the person is not vaccinated.
The Mishan Berura says that it is not enough to rattle it off. One must understand it. It says that each person received exactly what he needed. If a person internalized that he will be satisfied with his lot, which is a rich person (Pirkei Avot 4:1).
Mod, that sounds ominous.
Always, you’re welcome.
Health, you do not know the long history of persecution in Arab countries. The hatred started with Mohammed, who wiped out Jewish tribes. In any case, it is a Torah mitzva to conquer Eretz Yisrael and establish a state.
Health, you are really funny. Don’t give up your day job though. When WW1 broke out the Turks expelled any Jew who did not have Ottoman citizenship (European Jews kept theirs as it was advantageous under the concessions given to European powers). There was even a period when any Ashkenazi was grabbed do to debts from the synagogue that followers of Rabbi Yehuda heChassid tried to build (it was destroyed because of the debt, which is why it is called the Churva Synagogue).
Always, that was Abner “Longie” Zwillman and it was a funeral home. Segal, as his name suggests, was a levy. There is a memorial plaque for him in the Bialystoker Synagogue. There was also a hit man named Samuel “Red” Levine who kept kosher, wore a kippa under his hat, and never carried out a contract on Shabbat if he could avoid it – and even then he first went to shul.
Actually, Americans have only been intermarrying in large numbers in the last couple of decades. Previously, even Jewish communists and gangsters married Jews. Jews lived in Jewish neighborhoods and had mostly Jewish classmates in public schools as they were neighborhood-based and Catholic parents generally sent their kids to parochial schools. People generally know what their parents and grandparents were so once they become observant they know if they are halachically Jewish and go to a rav.
Anyway, there is a halachic principle משפחה שנמעה נטמעה . Who knows what happened in someone’s family a few centuries ago? It could be that we are all mamzerim as during the time of the First Temple adultery was rampant (see Ulla’s response to Rav Yehuda’s brother Rav Yitzchak on Kiddushin 71b),As for Zionism, it is a resounding success. Look at where Israel has come in such a short time. Imagine what life would be like here under Arab rule. Anyone who does not recognize this is either blinded by hatred or guilt-ridden by continuing to live in shmutz laAretz a.k.a. the lands of the goyim, a.ka. the lands of tuma.
I read that there are 300K immigrants from the former Soviet Union who are not recognized as being Jewish. This undoubtedly includes many who are but can’t prove it. It was very advantageous to be categorized as a Russian on one’s identity card (Jewish was considered a separate nationality along with Ukrainian, etc.). As they generally have very small families and have formed a separate sub-culture (many times I hear teenagers speaking Russian to each other, unlike the children of Jewish olim who speak to each other in Hebrew even if they speak to their parents in another language) the problem will eventually go away. Moslems, Xtians and Druze do not marry out.
Ujm, what difference does it make which side is Sefardi?
Avira, why are those so-called “yeshivish” people bigoted?
Dorah, law students frequently have summer internships in cities where they neither study nor live.
Ujm, that happens all the time. There even instances in the Gemara where two Amoraim argue over what their rebbe said and each one swears that he is right. A gadol says complex things. Each talmid comes away with a subjective interpretation.
What difference does it make if he is Sephardi? The fact of the matter is that the NYC area has the largest Orthodox singles pool outside of Israel. Of course, with shidduch sites, if you are mobile you do not have to limit yourself geographically. I just saw a film called “Orthodoxed” about a BT Chabadnik from Canada who married a woman who was living in Panama.
The Tzitz Eliezer wants to say that but it is very puzzling. Does it show a lack of bitachon for someone to undergo any medical procedure?The question is whether cosmetic surgery is considered a medical procedure that would would allow wounding the person. This is a machloket among the poskim. See “Judaism and Cosmetic Surgery”by Daniel Eisenberg, M.D. online.
Who are these people who “frown upon” it and what is their basis? If it is muttar it is muttar. If it is assur it is assur. A person might be able to be machmir on himself but he has no right to force others to do so. If it is muttar, let them frown. The muscle exercises might be good for them.
UJM, when did you become a supporter of terror?
HaKatan, you are over on hotzaat shem ra. Besides, Zionism is part of Judaism. We daven for the return to Zion, not Brooklyn.
CS, based on your post you do not know English. Here is the corrected version:
I don’t know or care if you’re Sephardic, I could say based on your posts that you’re an immature, attention seeking, troll.
Yiddish names are really German names. In many places, clerks gave Jews last names based on the amount of the bribe (in some places, it was called a tip). Those who could not pay much, or anything, received insulting names. For example, “Krombein” means “broken leg”. Some, as with gentiles, were their occupations or their former towns (e.g. Landau, Horowitz). There were also levi’im who took the names of songbirds, such as fink (finch). In Russia, the “h” was turned into a “g” as the Russian language does not have the former sound. Thus, for example, Horowiz and Gorowitz are really the same name.
This is what the spies said. A person can live in the Galil or the Negev. A person who works in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem can live on a yishuv. BTW, there are also Hareidi enclaves in places like Ofakim, The Gerrer rebbe, in fact, is telling young couples to live in the periphery where apartments are much cheaper.
Avirah,
1. It is a Torah mitzva to establish a sovereign state in Eretz Yisrael and a prohibition to give it to goyim.
2. If c”v it was American territory, it would be subject to the toeva inquisitors. Not to mention the fat that there would be complete separation of religion and state.
3. You are making the same mistake Mendelssohn made. Becoming Americans will not stop anti-Semitism. Anti-Semtism is just because we are Jews. The reasons given are just excuses.
edited
DY, who proved it? Please cite sources.
RE, tell that to Judge Freier. Anyway, she did not have to listen as it pertains to her life and livelihood.
isaacmalul. you’re welcome.
Avira, read my post again. I wrote that Rav Sternbuch and Rav Ovadia wrote that. I did not write that Rav Moshe Feinstein wrote it.
ujm, none of us, including you, is on Avraham Avinu’s level. Besides, that is aggadata, and aggadata is not to be taken literally. I pity your wife.
Regarding the Zohar, the Gra says that there is only one machloket between it and the Gemara (regarding whether it is permissible to walk behind a person who is davening). All other supposed machlokot are misinterpretations. For example, the Zohar says very harsh things about a man who pulls off even one strand of his beard. Rav Chaim Volozhiner explains that it is referring to someonewho shaves with a razor.
Rav Sternbuch (Teshuvot V’hanhagot 2:692) and Rav Ovadia (Yabia Omer Y.D. 4:1) say that here is no halachic source for this custom. Rav Moshe ruled (IM EH 1:59 that a husband can prevent her from doing so, as it makes her repulsive to him (see Nazir 28b and Shabbat 64b).
Ujm, are you in the group that wants asylum in Iran? It was an air show.
There have been many forged vaccination certificates in these circles. BTW,
Rav Ovadia blasted those who desert their families and go to Uman. Not to mention giving parnassa to people who have a statue of Chmielnitzki ym”s in the middle of their capital and even have a city named after him.RE, both Rav Moshe and Rav Soloveichik said not to divorce a woman over this as today many frum women are, unfortunately, not careful in this matter. In Lithuania, it was very uncommon for women to cover their hair. Custom may impact the halacha. Why should women who have never married not have to cover their hair? An erva is an erva. The only answer the poskim give (although the Aruch haShulchan is unhappy with it) is that it is not the custom.
On the contrary, the women passed on antibodies to their babies. Regarding safety, see “The COVID-19 Vaccine and Pregnancy: What You Need to Know” put out online by Johns Hopkins University.
Avira, RCK doesn’t say anything. He just learns. His grandson Yanky is the one who does the talking. In any case, your issues are well known here. Just out of curiosity, would you say that the Israeli government is legitimate for the purpose of taking money, such as what it gives to Torah institutions and avereichim?
CS, Rabbi Weiss’ role model in this is MLK. If you read “Letter from a Birmingham jail” you will see that he (and Rabbi Weiss) accepted the fact that they would have to go to jail. MLK was also worried about anarchy. In any case, there is a clear difference between protesting a law one considers unjust and breaking a law for personal convenience or profit.
correction: the citation from Baba Batra is the Rashbam.
Dina d’malchuta dina is far more than monetary matters(@ujm, many poskim rule that monetary laws have the power of minhag hamedina). According to the Chatam Sofer it includes anything that is enacted for public safety and welfare. A modern example would be traffic laws. There are a number of online articles on the subject.
According to Rambam, Rabbenu Tam (Or Zerua, Piskei Bab Kaam 447), the Shulchan Aruch (CM 369,6), and Rav Ovadia (Yechavei Daat 5,64) it does apply in Eretz Yisrael. The Rashba (Baba Batra 54b d”h v’amar) says that it has nothing to do with land ownership. Anyone who lives in a country implicitly accepts its laws.
CHOOSID, who decides what makes SENSE (please learn how to spell or get a spell check)?
RE, who says? What I heard is that one should only eat pat Yisrael (Kitzur Shulchan Aruch).
Rational, I once told this to someone from a Chassidic background and he took umbrage. He said that there has to be a pesak. If it’s kosher a jew has to eat it after making a beracha in order to elevate the animal soul. BTW, the Chafetz Chaim preferred glatt yosher.
At one time in Europe as well as in America Jews did not walk outside bareheaded because no one did. A hat came with one’s suit. Workers wore caps. Jews did not work in non-Jewish offices so the subject did not start. In New York, I worked with several observant Jews who did not wear kippot at work. When I decided to start wearing one a black woman asked me if I had been “elevated”. Apparently, she thought that it was some kind of clerical garb.
Shimon, have you taken a census? Of course, one can have a wide definition of slavery. Someone who cannot part from his cell phone and runs out of tefilla to answer it is a slave in a sense. According to slavery expert Siddharth Kara, out of 28.4 million slaves today (out of a world population of 7.674 billion – .37%) 18.1 million are actually indentured servants. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, slavery was practiced in every ancient civilization and slaves sometimes accounted for a very large percentage of the population.
The Gra says that Jewish observance is like a ladder. If you try to jump a level you will fall. Rav Kook says that if a person tries to keep some chumra that is inappropriate for his spiritual level he will fall somewhere else to keep a general balance. Thus there was an אשת יפת תואר and slavery until humanity progressed to the point where these dispensations were no longer needed. Similarly, vegetarianism is not appropriate for our time but will be in the Messianic Age (see on this Rav Yosef Albo in “Sefer haIkarim” on the generation of the Flood).
Hashem decides based on the person’s challenges, upbringing, etc. (Rav Dessler, “Kuntras Nekudat haBechira”).
1. What is respectable garb differs according to time and place. Should Sephardim today wear fezes because at one time it was the mark of a man of standing?
2. Many Orthodox men did not wear kippot at work or while engaging in secular studies. In fact, in Rav Hirsch’s school, the boys studied secular subjects bareheaded. In fact, originally it was only a middat chassidut. If you see old passport pictures, even talmidei chachamim have their heads uncovered as it was a requirement of the government (US passport regulations still say this but there is a religious exemption). The Cahfetzchaim also wore a cap as did Rav Kook when he was a rav in Latvia (after he came to Yerushalayim he changed to a spodik). I heard that Rav Moshe wore a straw hat in his bungalow colony
Avirah, Hashem runs the world according to Nature. Moreover, there is free choice and there is personal responsibility. We are not fatalists like another religious group that says that all “is written”.
Rabbenu Chananel says (Chagiga 5a)
ופתרון יש נספה בלא וגו’ כגון אדם שהרג חבירו.The Or haChaimhaKadosh says on Parashat Vayeshev
פי’ לפי שהאדם בעל בחירה ורצון ויכול להרוג מי שלא נתחייב מיתה משא”כ חיות רעות לא יפגעו באדם אם לא יתחייב מיתה לשמים, והוא אומרו ויצילהו מידם פי’ מיד הבחירי ובזה סתר אומרו ונראה מה יהיו חלומותיו וגו’ כי הבחירה תבטל הדבר ואין ראיה אם יהרגוהו כי שקר דבר:I really wonder what is the purpose of your libelous screeds. Chazal say (Kiddushin 70b) that one who constantly disqualifies does so with his own blemish. Could it be that these are things you hate about yourself?
As for the Holocaust specifically, Rav Soloveichik said that we cannot know why it happened but we can learn a lesson – that all Jews are in the same boat.
As for learning, the Netziv (He’emek Devar on Devarim 19,12) says
כי אם ליראה. על זקניכם כי אם ללכת בכל דרכיו ולאהבה אותו ולעבוד את ה׳ בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך. על המון עם ישראל כי אם לשמור את מצות ה׳ וגו׳. על טפכם נשיכם וגרך כי אם לטוב לך. ומכ״מ נאמרו כל אזהרות אלו יחד משום שנאמרה הפרשה בכלל קהל ה׳ שבהם נכללו כל אופני אנשים וכל המתבקש מכל א׳. וכמו כן עשה דוד המלך שביקש אחת מה׳. היינו לכל א׳ כראוי לו. ת״ח יהיו ישיבתם בית ה׳ לחזות בנועמו ולבקר בהיכלו. ומי שאינו מוכשר לכך והוא מהלך בעסקיו. כי יצפנו בסוכו ביום רעה. מי שהולך למלחמה עם אויביו בצור ירוממני. מכ״מ בכלל ישראל מתבקש כל זה והדבר מובן שיש אדם שפעם עומד בזה האופן והקב״ה שואל ממנו כך וגם הוא בקשתו כך ופעם הוא באופן אחר והרי הוא אז כאדם אחר כמותו:
I can tell you that many MO shuls do have Torah learning. There are also many MOs who learn in battei midrash – together with black hatters. In fact, originally there was a sharp distinction between shuls, which were only for prayers, and battei midrash, which were only for learning.Avira, the Ben Ish Hai includes the residents of EY in that aveira. Who is better a tamei bird (see Chullin 63b) who keeps Shabbat and kashrut or someone who does not but risks his life to defend the Jewish people (and how do you know what are his intentions – do you bochen kelayot v’lev?)? I don’t know. I also refer you to Reish Lakish’s statement about פושעי ישראל (Eruvin 19a). As for the nazis and kapos, if you could read English you would see that I differentiate between ahava and love. The former can also be expressed through executing a murderer.
1. The Orthodox world is a continuum, not a discreet distribution. Really, we should follow Rav Kook and drop these labels. Even the term “Orthodox” is relatively new and was only used by Rav Horsch in order to establish a separate religious community under Prussian law. We should go back to tzaddikim/benoni’im/resha’im with the difference based on the weight of mitzvot vs. aveirot (Rambam Hilchot Teshuva 3,1) and the weights of different for each individual (Rav Dessler, Kuntras Nekudat haBechira). Do you know who will fare better in the Heavenly Court, someone with the problems you cited but is honest, or someone whom you consider frum but steals and cheats in business? The Sefat Emmet says on הווה דן כל האדם בכף זכות that if you look at everything about a person you will surely find something good.
2. Demonization is multi=lateral. You, Avirah, demonize those with whom you disagree. For that matter, Litvaks and Chassidim make fun of each other and everybody makes fun of Yekkes. There are also the Ashkenazi/Sephardi issues.
3. FYI, Rav Soloveichik established a mixed-gender school in Boston. For that matter, the Seridei Eish established a mixed-gender youth movement, Jeshurun, in Paris after the Holocaust and Rav Joseph Breuer established a mixed-gender branch of Ezra in Washington Heights. There is no choice in small communities or in communities where many children would otherwise be sent to public schools. Do you have a license to pasken? If so, it should be revoked. As for the topic of that debate, perhaps the team should have entered and given the Torah view. As for the opposing point of view, they are going to eventually encounter it. whether in college or at work (yes, people do talk in offices) so they should know what to answer, at least to themselves.
Avira, I hope that you find a good therapist. Being expelled by the Land did a real number on you. It turned you into a spy. As for Rav Chaim Brisker, he did not say that the person is liable just that that is what he is. Similarly, someone who desecrates Shabbat because he does not know what it is is a Shabbat desecrator but he is not considered to be at fault. BTW, the Chabad rabbi of Budapest did accept Csanad Szegedi. He gave him a new mission to fight anti-Semitism. As I previously posted, executing a Nazi or kapo can also be a form of ahava as it enables atonement, or at least stops him from adding to his sins.
Shimon Nodel, actually, leaving a spouse in order to stop making him or her miserable is a form of ahava, which is not necessarily the same as the English word “love”, as I previously posted.
Getting back to the O.P.’s question. The Tosefta (Sotah 5:11) says
שנתקדשה לו מפני שהיא בושה מאביו מאחיו ומקרוביו לסוף שקוברה היה ר’ מאיר אומ’ הנושא אשה שאינה הוגנת לו עובר משם חמשה לאוין משם בל תקום ומשם בל תטור בל תשנא את אחיך בלבביך ואהבת לרעך כמוך וחי אחיך עמך ולא עוד אלא שמבטל פריה ורביה מן העולם
RE, apparently only for Jews (Yoma 69b). Among other nations, it exists right up to our time (e.g. Hinduism).