Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Ted Cruz is a righteous gentile. He exemplifies Noahide values and has been a consistent supporter of the Jewish people. What was he supposed to do in a snowstorm? He would just have been in the way. As for his father, CTL. you owe him a public apology. FYI, he was granted political asylum in 1961 following the expiration of his student visa. After arriving in the US with no knowledge of English he earned degrees in mathematics and chemical engineering from the University of Texas in four years. He later was transferred to Calgary by his employer, an oil company. BTW, ICE was not formed until 2002 with the establishment of the Homeland Security Agency. Shame on you! You should check your facts before you post, especially as you are having many senior moments.
Yserbius, that is the word in Modern Hebrew. However, in Mishnaic Hebrew the closest word is רשות. Sometimes it means “permission” although it can also mean “option”.
CTL, you are twice wrong. First of all, it should be “are reserved” as “powers” is plural. Secondly, the Tenth Amendment says ““The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”. Tsk, tsk. You are correct, though, about the distortion of the Interstate Commerce Clause. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, for example, is blatantly unconstitutional as applied to local businesses. The Fair Housing Act and the Federal minimum wage are also examples. After the “switch in time that saved nine” (although that involved a state law) SCOTUS indeed was complicit but there was a turnaround with Lopez vs. United States 514 U.S. 549 (1995).
N0mesorah, before a word that starts with a vowel “a” becomes “an”.
I just saw an interesting essay by Shais Rishon, also known by the pen name MaNishtana, who says that we will absorb horrible right-wing hashkafot by listening to Shapiro. Interesting.
Always, please cite where Rashba bans secular knowledge. Both Rabbenu Bachya and the Gra (on the third perek in Pirkei Avot) say that one cannot be called a sage unless one knows the secular fields. Rambam, at the beginning of the Guide, says that it is a prerequisite to Torah knowledge.
BTW, another Twersky, Rabbi Dr. Aaron Twersky, was the Dean of Hofstra Law School. Rav Hutner encouraged his talmidim to pursue advanced secular studies. Rav Aharon Soloveichik had a doctorate in law from NYU. Rav Prof. (Emeritus) Israel Kirzner is a well-known economist. Interestingly, his teacher in economics was Ludwig von mIses, who was an anti-religious Jew.
Always,
1. Torah is democratic. The people must not approve of the form of government, as I previously posted, but of all of the leaders (Berachot 55a). They can even remove a king from office(Yerushalmi, Horiot 3,3).
2. The interesting thing about that gemara is that Yossi ben Yoezer didn’t want to repeal more decrees because he did not want to be called Yosef Sharya (Yosef the Lenient). Some things never change.Ujm, “Yid” is a pejorative. Archie Bunker used it. It is certainly not the language of Sepharadim or the Eidot haMizrach.
Always is correct. When one of my Sephardic relatives married an Ashkenazi her parents refused to believe he was Jewish. Not only did his name sound Italian (actually it was Arabic) but he did not know a word of Yiddish. Golda Meir also said this about Moroccan Jewish protesters.
Syag,
1. No, I am not a lawyer. Maybe I should have been. In any case, HaKatan wrote
“It’s very possible that even an “Orthodox” Jew – especially one who spends his time on areas of *thought* that are outside of Torah – might have an improper hashkafa.
Therefore, you should not have your children (and possibly even yourself) listen to them because the children might absorb an improper hashkafa, and that could cause real spiritual damage R”L L”A.”
Okay, so he didn’t mention Shapiro by name. However, it is clear about whom he is talking.
2. I certainly do not hate him c”v. What is the difference between his view and his words?
I definitely hate hotzaat shem ra. The idea that we must build thick walls and not listen to the view of anybody but a rav (and usually the rav of the person advancing the claim) exasperates me. It is contrary to Chazal, who say that we can even believe that goyim have wisdom. It is contrary to Rambam, who advocates accepting the truth from whomever says it. It is also contrary to the famous statement that nobody died from a difficulty.3. What is an “improper” hashkafa? Neither of you has defined it. Nor have you explained how listening to a political commentator, especially one who is an Orthodox Jew, can do this.
4. I will admit that not everyone has a head for science. However, everyone should study it at some level. How else can one truly appreciate Hashem and His Creation. Rambam says that it is necessary to learn Torah (how can one understand the sugya about a round sukka without the Pythagorean Theorem – which was discovered by an idolator?). See on this Rambam, Hilkhot Yesodei ha-Torah 2:2. The Semag even counts studying astronomy as one of the Taryag (Aseh 75).
Syag, so we should not do anything but learn Torah? Bury our heads in the sand and live by shnorring? What do you consider an “improper” hashkafa? Should we not study science because we might believe that the Universe is billions of years old or that dinosaurs existed? Should we not listen to Shapiro because we might think that liberals are wrong? Maybe it will spur someone to investigate the terutzim and have a deeper knowledge of Torah. A person might even c”v find out that there are different hashkafic possibilities within Torah.
Shtark, that is really funny. But don’t give up your day job. Look what is happening in the US on their watches. Look at how the anti-Israel crowd is gaining power. Not to mention that the whole progressive agenda is anathema to Torah.
Always, they should at least have advisors who understand business. I heard that some poskim say that the Antitrust Authority is considered an adam chashuv fo this. It would seem that there would at least be an issue of dina dmalchuta.
RE, why does it need an extension? There is not extension when they daven – and there it leads to apikorsut. For example, someone who says נשבה in keriat shema says that He was captured, c”v. As for “yaan Kel”, I think the reason is that the could not distinguish between mudgeshet and rofefet and did not want to appear to be saying “torture, Hashem”.
N0mesorah, wrong. The Declaration of Independence declares them to be Gd-given. The Bill of Rights was added because some wanted to strengthen the legal basis.
I would hardly call Biden pro-Jewish. He wants to go back to the disastrous Iran agreement. His whole leftist agenda (toeva and abortion “rights”, for example) is contrary to Jewish values. We can also expect him to appoint judges who will be antagonistic to freedom of speech and religion in these areas as well as anti-police. There is even the threat of packing the Supreme Court.
CTL, on the contrary, he saved the economy. FYI, JFK did the same thing. His Star Wars program pushed the former Soviet Union (of cursed memory) over the brink.
Can someone explain how Yaakov obtained a nun and became Yankel?
HaKatan, I just listened to the Ben Shapiro Show. It was an excellent piece on why he wears a kippa followed by a discussion of the problem of attacks on Jews in the US. He is obviously a fine, proud, observant Jew. You are obligated to contact him and ask forgiveness for being motzi shem ra on him.
Addir, it is definitely the Torah view. These are all derived from the tzelem Elokim.
Ubiquitin, free speech is also not absolute in American law. Neither is freedom of religion. See Reynolds vs. United States 98 U.S. 145 (1878). However, as general statements, they are certainly correct. According to the Avnei Nezer (YD 312, 48) the secular authorities only deal with sins against one’s fellow. So really the discussion is about the limits and how they are enforced. as a practical matter, it is almost impossible for even the Sanhedrin to do punish them, idol worshippers, etc. as the procedural rules are almost impossible to satisfy.
Always, please quote your source for the one-year rule. Look again at Baba Batra. It says “important person”. Rav Moshe. among others says that he does not have to be a talmid chacham but anybody appointed by the public. Much has been written aboutthis. Go and learn.
HaKatan, you are really very funny. I am not aware that Shapiro has made pronouncements regarding Torah. He is a political commentator and addresses a general audience. Are you claiming that there is one correct political hashkafa? I have already brought sources to prove that this is not true. I have already asked the O.P. how old his children are and have yet to be answered. Obviously, these discussions are not for five-year olds. Probably they would find them very boring anyway.
BTW, how do you justify being in this venue and on the Internet in general? Aren’t you afraid that you might absorb incorrect hashkafot?
Isn’t it better to deter before the fact? In fact, Rambam says that a doctor’s job is to prevent illness not cure it.
N0mesorah, those German Jews who left before 1933 did so for economic reasons. Some came in the wake of the revocations of civil rights following the failed revolutions of 1848 (at the time Germany was a collection of independent kingdoms). Don’t forget, after WW1 there was a tremendous economic crisis and hyperinflation. People were carrying around money in wheelbarrows and prices changed constantly.
N0 and HaKatan, I disagree with you. A rav can give his hashkafa on some Torah issue (and there is no one “right” hashkafa = all are divrei Elokim chaim). However, he cannot give an opinion, for example, the 1619 Project, unless he has studied the relevant secular fields.
As for the topic at hand, The Netziv says *He’emek Devar Devarim 17:15) that the Torah leaves the political system to the people. Rav Chaim David haLevy , who was certainly a gadol as well, says that the Torah does not require any particular economic system
(במוצאי שנת השמטה: המשטר החברתי התורתי מול הקפיטליזם והסוציאליזם”, קול סיני ה, תשכ”ו, עמ’ 251-245). but leaves it up to the people to decide how to achieve goals. Certainly, neither Halacha nor Haskafa can be referenced to decide decisions of central banks, for exampleRambam says at he beginning of the Guide that one can and should learn how to think by
studying secular fields. He himself learned from non-Jewish thinkers. Accept the truth from whomever says it (intro. to Shemoneh Perkaim). Both Rabbenu Bachaya and the Gra say on the third chapter of Pirkei Avot that a person cannot be considered a sage if he does not know secular fields .Correction: Rabbi Prof. (Emeritus) Israel Kirzner
Ben, it depends on how old they are. He does sometimes quote words that might be considered improper that others use but he condemns them. I am now listening to such a broadcast and he bleeps out the bad words.
HaKatan, I don’t think that anyone will ask him for a pesak halacha. I would hope that no one would ask a rav about something that is in Shapiro’s field of expertise – unless, of course, the rav is also an expert in that field. I would ask, for example, Rabbi Israel Kirzner a question about economics but in his role as an economist, not a rav.
Always, don’t you know that every Jew needs two shuls and why?
Rav Mordechai Eliahu said that the war already happened. Maybe WW2. The Gemara (Yoma 10a) does say that there will be a war between Persia and Rome. There is a machloket who will win.
If the people who held the pirate minyan do not want to abide by their shul’s rules they should leave and start their own shul. This is a hallowed Jewish tradition.
A language is a dialect with an army and navy (aphorism of unclear origin). BTW, Rav Aryeh Levin once rejected a boy for the Etz Chaim yeshiva, of which he was the mashgiach. He later re-tested him thinking that because the boy came from a Hungarian background he didn’t understand Rav Aryeh’s Lithuanian speech.
Sam, who says that a person must have that intent in order to be cured? It certainly is not necessary that the doctor thinks that as we even listen to idolatrous doctors (SA OC, 618:1). The Taz says (YD 336:1) that no one is on that level. The Netziv says (Heemek Devar Bamidbar 6:11 and 17:3) says that a person who acts in a manner inappropriate to his level is called a sinner. In fact, several Amoraim went to bloodletters. See also Rambam in his commentary on Pesachim Ch. 4 d”h shisha devarim asa Hizkiyahu.
As for the O.P.’s question, the shot is needed as a booster. It increases the chances of not getting it again. It is also not certain how long the recovered person’s immunity lasts.
Akuperma, the highest level of tzedaka is to give someone a productive job. This is best accomplished by the free enterprise system as is seen in all times and places. It also works against discrimination without compulsion as Ludwig von Mises (“Omnipotent Government”) and Milton Friedman (“Capitalism and Freedom”) have shown.
Health, if someone did not think that his life was in danger and he killed someone would it matter that his life really was in danger? In any case, from the record that definitely does not seem to be the case. Floyd was handcuffed at the time.
Johnklets, only a duly constituted court may impose the death penalty. See my post #1967386.
Health, by not claiming in at his trial he effectively admitted that it was not.
Mod, why did you reverse my last two posts?
an unfortunately irreversible error-29
Not true. I fixed it -25
Little, a goy does have a neshama. It is just different than a Jew’s neshama. For that matter, a Jew who lives in Eretz Yisrael has a different neshama than one who lives in galut.
1. It is ridiculous to call someone a rodef after thirteen years.
2. Chauvin did not claim that his life was in danger.
3. There are those who want to claim that anyone may kill a ben Noach who violated one of the sheva mitzvot, as Floyd did many times. However, this goes against many Rishonim (see דרך המלך: מענה הלכתי ורעיוני לספר תורת המלך and איסור הריגת גוי ורציחת מחבל כפות, both online) who make it clear that only a duly constituted court may do this).In the O.P.’s case, however, there might be nafka minas. Is her friend’s budget such that getting these items for free would cause her to buy something else that she would not have bought? Is business such that the items would have been sold anyway?
In any case, if it is an issue of gezel it does not matter who owns the store. Even if it is something else that only applies to Jews (absent chillul Hashem) I see no reason why it should matter if the owner is frum. It is not, for example, allowed to charge a non-frum Jew interest on a loan.
Here is a new wrinkle. As my father used to say, you learn something new every day.
Question: Reuven has an electronics store that offers affordable prices. There’s another store in town that charges a little more for some of the same products. Is Reuven allowed to go into that store and inform customers that they can purchase the products they are interested in from his store for a cheaper price?
HaRav Chaim Weg
Answer: The halacha is that one is allowed to compete with another local business, even if he is adversely affecting his bottom line. The Gemara says that the reason for this is because “zeh osek b’soch shelo v’zeh osek b’soch shelo.” He will operate in his store and he will operate in his store.
It seems that one is only permitted to compete with an existing business if he operates within his own store, but not if he operates in the competing store.
There is also another relevant sugya in halacha. The Gemara discusses a case where someone has already set up nets to catch fish and rules that another individual is not allowed to encroach on his territory and put down nets in the same area. Rashi explains that since the first fisherman has already set his sights on those particular fish and is planning on catching them, they are already considered to be set aside for him, and no one else is allowed to “take them away” from him.
The Chasam Sofer says that when a customer is already in a store, the same reasoning would apply. This customer is already in the sights of that store owner and is “in his net”, so to speak; therefore, it would be forbidden for a competitor to take away that business.The word “sinister” comes from the Latin word for “left” (spelled the same). On the other hand, Ehud’s left-handedness saved Am Yisrael.
CS, can you please rewrite your post in English?
DY,
1. The mitzva to buy from a Jew only applies if the non-Jew does not sell for much less (I think one-sixth) and/or the quality is much lower. In any case, the customer was already there. In any case, I fail to see the connection. If it is gezel it is prohibited no matter who is the owner. If not then it is permitted no matter who is the owner. If the owner is poor (very doubtful) there might be an issue of עני המהפך בחררהץ. This indeed only applies to a Jew (please bring sources if you want to say only a frum Jew – and then we can argue over who is considered frum). However, as I previously posted, there is also an issue of chillul Hashem if the store owner is not Jewish or not frum.
2. That was my conclusion.Ujm, my sources are in Choshen Mishpat.
Ujm,
1. What is the difference? Stealing from anyone is prohibited by the Torah (SA 359:1 and see Be’er haGola 348:5). Please cite your sources. Actually,if the owner is non-frum/non-Jewish it might be worse as it might be a chillul Hashem.
2. Yes. It is a question. It would depend on whether people commonly change their minds and put items back on the shelf before paying. In most places that is the case so there was no kinyan because there was no completed intent to acquire. Probably the store owner does not care as someone else will buy it. However, where this is not common putting an item in one’s cart might be a kinyan.Rational,
1. That was a method of the people of Sodom. Each one would steal less than a peruta’s worth.
2. True.
3. Finding someone a productive job is the highest form of tzedaka so there is a mitzva to help someone’s business.Chazal say (Kiddushin 82a) that someone who does not teach his son a trade teaches him to steal.
The question is, and therefore it would not matter who owned the store (and it really bugs me when people emphasize “frum-owned” as if non0frum and non-Jewish people are hefker), did she make a kinyan by putting them in her cart. If she did then it might be theft (although presumably, someone else would then buy them so in the end there was no loss). If not, it is analogous to giving someone a lift and thus saving the person the cost of public transportation.
Nechoma, my grandmother (and grandfather) were from Smyrna, Turkey (now Izmir).
Ujm, millions? Ha! In Israel, many Chareidim, especially Lithuanians, can’t even put together a complete sentence in Yiddish. I once saw an older Russian immigrant try to speak to a Lithuanian Chareidi in Yiddish. The latter was completely tongue-tied.
Ujm, nonsense. Sephardic Jews never spoke Yiddish. Even among Yiddish speakers, there were different dialects. Sometimes one was unintelligible to another. Rav Arye Levin re-tested a boy from a Hungarian background he rejected for the yeshiva because he thought that maybe the kid did not understand his Lithuanian accent. The international language ofJews, at least so far as writing was concerned, was always Hebrew. Jews typically were also conversant in several European languages because of their business connections. Rabbi Menashe ben Yisrael, for example, was fluent in ten languages. My grandmother spoke English, Spanish/Ladino (she could converse with Puerto Ricans and called her language Spanish), French, Greek, and Turkish and also knew at least some Italian.
There is no doubt that local languages influenced how Jews pronounce Hebrew. We know that the Ephraimites had a different pronunciation. It stands to reason that each of the other tribes also had somewhat different pronunciations just as people from different places pronounce English differently.
From masechet Haggiga we know that Jews from Haifa and Beit Shean did not differentiate between alef and ayin. Being that Beruria knew that Rabbi Yosi haGalili was from the Galilee as soon as he opened his mouth (Eruvin 53b) it seems that they spoke differently than Judeans.
It is also clear that the Ashkenazim changed their pronunciation at some point. For example, one of the Baalei Tosafot is רבי אליעזר ממץ. In French it is pronounced “Messe”. Another is the שר מקוצי (Coucy). We see from the word אצטדיון (stadium) that this was the original pronunciation of the tzaddi (the alef was due to the fact that they could not pronounce a sheva nach at the beginning of the word – many Arabs also say things like “ibseder” for “beseder”).On the other hand, if a person is a Spanish speaker he might mean “there is” or “there are”.
Wolf, I know people who said “Sir” and “Madame” to their kids sarcastically.
Robert, in NYC they say “Hey Mac”. The response is “hay is for horses”.
I know someone whose wife sent a check to some tzedaka organization. She received a computerized acknowledgment addressed to הרב. She said that she was insulted that they didn’t write הרב הגאון. On the other hand, some say that a gaon is someone who never heard of Rashi or Tosafot. There is also ה”ה (ha’adon hanichbad) Some say that there is also ה”ה”ה”ה
(הבל הבלים הכל הבל).