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@som1 your initial premise is incredibly flawed and I hope that you are able to see the errors in your way of generalizing. You also use a few tropes that are commonly used by anti Semites. Replace the words Democrats with Jews. That is literally what my Dad went up against in the 1970s as he and other Jewish students fought to overturn the quota of Jews admitted into his universities medical school.
It would be more helpful of removing the lenses of “us vs. them” “democrats vs. republicans” and look at this from a neutral viewpoint.
I hope that we can agree that there are both discriminatory laws and unfair enforcement of the same laws.
Generally the people who are in power tend to write laws to keep themselves in power. This can be seen all the time when voting districts are created. Additionally, in certain areas, there have been laws that are designed to suppress the votes from low income and also formerly incarcerated individuals. In those same areas the low income and formerly incarcerated populations tend to be minorities. Now when the laws are enforced at a higher rate per capita than other people, that is a biassed system.
It goes beyond just law enforcement. The media is more likely to devote more time covering crimes against white victims as opposed to minorities. When the criminal is being discussed, if you pay attention to the details, white criminals are generally described more positively when compared to coverage of criminals who are minorities.
One of the main points the BLM protesters are making is that:<i> African American’s have been unfairly judged based on their skin tone for generations. Treat African American individuals with the same amount of respect that you would afford any other person. Take an inward look and try to put yourselves in their shoes before you judge them.</i> As Jews this should be easy for us to do. We have also been discriminated against and unfair laws were also made against us as recently as 2020. Each person, including non Jews is created Btzelem Elokim, we should judge other based on their individual worth and we should be able to empathize with them.
By effectively closing your mind and saying that the Democrats are hypocrites you are not helping the issue. Expand your knowledge and be willing to open your mind to the idea that others may have a point even if you do not generally agree with them. If you don’t want to do this, at least reconsider your statement, because it is often falsely made about Jews controlling everything and we all know how that generally holds up.
Som1,
You can say that you don’t agree with the decision, but don’t say that it was a false ruling because you don’t agree with it.
Judges determine how the laws are interpreted. The Supreme Court ruled that the 1964 law extends protection to how one defines their gender identity. There is a lot of precedent of the Supreme Court expanding the original coverage of a law.
Also they are not promoting LGBT culture. They are simply defining the law to protect people for their individual choices and make it harder for employers to fire an employee on a basis other than if they were competent to preform the tasks required for the job
I wouldn’t say that the pandemic has calmed yet. There most likely will be a second wave. We are seeing that states who have reopened to some degree such as Texas and Arizona are reporting increases in hospitalizations. It could also happen in the New York/ New Jersey area as they begin to reopen.
That being said, many hotels that have opened up are being more restrictive about who they are letting in to the building. Some are only open to people who are staying in the hotels and staff. In New York, you will probably have to wait until the reopening stage where bars and restaurants are allowed to seat guests inside before hotel lobbies will fully open up to the public.
I suggest switching to park dates. I’m not as familiar with park locations in Brooklyn, but Central and Riverside park are open and are always nice date spots. If you want to get a bit creative on later dates, do a picnic otherwise just go on a walk.
This sounds very similar to buying bonds. I’ll use Israel Bonds as an example. You can pay them $100 today and get a certificate that you can redeem in 2 years time for $110. They use the funds immediately and you collect a higher value at a later time.
Small business may not have access to the financial markets that allow them to raise funds in the form of bonds or stocks. I like this idea of gift cards, but it does contain a lot more risk as the gift cards are not underwritten by a 3rd party the same way a bond is.
@CTL
That makes too much sense, which is why most people don’t wait to get married. There is too much pressure for young people to get married. Because what young Jew wants to be 25 and single. The community will talk about how its a shame that they are so old and are single.
Also people should not make big weddings if they have to go into debt to do so. Instead of spending an exorbitant sum of money on a wedding, give the young couple some funds to start life with.Hi Ben,
This is a website where people post things anonymously. If you want to try internet dating, you have a better chance to meet on a dating website or even an online video game. People on this website might not be who they say they are. For example, by my username, you might assume that I am a filet mignon. However, I am actually a porterhouse.
If you want, I can probably arrange a date for you with my coworker. She’s not religious, but is a very nice person and has a PHD. She is also based in Paris. Let me know if you are interested.
You also need to give us a better idea of what you are looking for. You pretty much said that you are looking for someone with issues and nothing else. What qualities are you looking for in a shiduch? What religious level are you and what are you open to? Are you chasidish looking for only chabad? Etc…
Good Luck
I use Adblock Plus through Firefox on my phone. I found Chrome to be battery draining. Adblock plus is my go to filter. It gets rid of most of the ads and I can watch Youtube without ads.
Good Luck! When the time is right, it will happen. Just like everyone else is saying, call/ video chat the matchmakers. Depending on how comfortable you are, you might want to look into online dating services such as Saw You At Sinai or Jdate.
Think of dating as networking. I have never actually met any matchmakers face to face, but have spoken with them on the phone. As long as you are able to clearly convey what you are looking for, you should be fine. If you have not already done so, I have found it helpful to write down a description of who you see yourself to be and what you are looking for.
Personally I am using the channels that I have set up before the pandemic started: Friends, Jswipe, and SYAS. I have gone on video chat dates within the past month. Personally, I have not found the dating scene to be dead and the only mildly challenging thing has been not being able to have the date in person. It actually may be better to date at this time because you can talk and really get to know the other person.
@CTLAWYER I just searched True American and it looks like a fascinating game!
This is a great point! Whenever I go to a wedding, my non Jewish Coworkers are amazed at the amount of people that are invited. To them a “big” wedding is 150+ people. My boss got married in her small NYC apartment. She was somehow able to squeeze in 50 guests. We don’t need to invite the whole town. If you can afford to do a lavish wedding, great! Do that. But we shouldn’t be as materialistic.
The best memories from weddings are the joy expressed at the wedding more so than what food was served. Frankly if you are getting more out of the food than feeling joy towards the couple, you probably should not have been invited to the wedding.
Yehai Shloma – The Chevra
Gad Elbaz – Hashem Melech (the version with Nissim Black actually charted as the number 3 world music charts)Its not worth getting a smartphone if your only reason is to track the virus updates. The notifications are nice at first, but then they get consuming and addicting and can cut into your sleep time. Tracking the virus updates in real time can become very stressful and IMO is not worth it.
Deciding on what language you want to learn really depends on what you want to do with it. Different languages serve different purposes. For example if I wanted to do something that involves computer animation, I may use Ruby on Rails. And if I wanted to code apps for apple products, I would use swift.
I’d say to start with an object oriented language and go from there if you want general knowledge. It may take some time to get used to the style of thinking to be able to code effectively. Python or Ruby are relatively easy to learn and you should start with one of them. They incorporate familiar English terms to make the code more understandable.
R and SQL are incredibly useful languages to know and are very versatile.
If you want to code basic websites, start with HTML then move to CSS and Javascript.
Most sports games are pretty clean. Off the top of my head I can think of these sports gamest:
FIFA, Madden, 2K (basketball), MLB the Show, Rocket League, NHL.Minecraft is very popular and clean. Almost all Nintendo and Lego games are clean, Mario, Smash, Pokemon, Zelda, Mario Cart, Lego Star wars, Lego Batman.
A lot of simulation games are clean and more popular than you might expect. You got Farm Simulator, Duck Simulator, Euro Truck Simulator, a lot of flight simulators.
Syag, There always is a give and take when it comes to this type of things. However the alternatives are not as bad for the environment as plastic. When plastic breaks down to a microscopic level, it doesn’t integrate back into the soil the same way cotton or paper does.
Milhouse, Most plastic waste is not biodegradable. A specific example I can give is, chlorinated plastic can release harmful chemicals into the surrounding soil, which can then seep into groundwater or other surrounding water sources, and also the ecosystem. This can cause a range of potentially harmful effects on the species that drink the water.
The regulations will not ban reusable durable plastic bags. Those are generally the bags that the high end retail stores provide.
Abba_S, I’d like to see the source for that information. I would wager that the process to create a single plastic bag is more harmful to the environment start to finish than a single paper bag.
Zahava I want to make some corrections to your post about cheerleaders.
The Patriots do have cheerleaders. Only 6/32 teams currently do not have cheerleaders.
Basketball has cheerleaders and dance squads. Only the San Antonio Spurs don’t have them and they got rid of them in 2018.
Hockey has cheerleaders. They are often in the crowd cheering and come onto the ice to remove excess snow.
Some Baseball teams have a dance/ cheer squad that throws tshirts and dances on the dugout during inning breaks. They are usually dressed more modestly. There are also teams that employ ball girls down the foul lines.
I’m actually amazed by the amount kvetching about the plastic bag ban. Many posters in this thread are missing the bigger picture. I’m highly skeptical that people in Manhattan will be adversely affected even 10% of what some of you predict.
1. I live in Manhattan. Many grocery stores in Manhattan have paper option.
2. The onus of providing an alternative to soft plastic bags will fall on the retailer. They want to keep customers coming back so they will find an alternative.
3. This will not affect tourism or tourism purchases. Many tourists will do their shopping at the higher end stores. The higher end stores do not provide cheep plastic bags, they provide branded bags so everyone know the tourist just went to a high end store.4. Plastic bags are not good for the environment. I’ve seen posts saying how only China is affected by plastic pollution. If you go to any river in the USA, you will see plastic waste in it. It might not be clogging up the river, but it is there.
5. Plastic pollution is horrible for the world and it has ripple effects that are potentially very dangerous. Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean that it isn’t dangerous. You can’t physically see the flu, but it can still kill you.6. Everyone with the hate of Liberals needs to stop. There are legitimate things you can complain about but this is something that they are not doing to target any group of people. Reducing pollution is something that Jews should support. Hashem gave us this beautiful planet and we should do our part to maintain it. Expand your horizons beyond the NY/NJ bubble and think about how pollution affects other people
Little did everyone know, O’keffle identified as a M16A2 rifle. O’keefle was so triggered that the bullets came flying out.
Meanwhile, Greg Boyd had just finished buttering his toast when he looked outside his circular kitchen window. The snow had not yet started to fall even though November was a few weeks away. Snow was common in October and Greg couldn’t help but wonder if the lack of snow was from global warming. Greg went back to his toast. The toast was charred on one side, yet soft enough to soak up the yoke from the sunny side up eggs. Greg decided it would be a good day. He had to go to work, but later that night he was meeting James and Phil to go to the pub and football match.
Before Greg was able to finish his toast, he heard a knock on the door. Instinctively he started to ask Carla to get the door before he remembered that she left him two weeks ago. James had the idea to go to the game to get his mind off of her and Greg accepted.
Another knock, this time louder and more frantic. Greg decided to open the door. Standing before him was Baruch who was holding a alpaca filled with bullet holes. Instantly Greg understood what he had to do. He had to find O’keefle and get revenge.
Why not just use one of the many online dating websites that basically would do the same thing?
Reform Rabbi I disagree with your statement that if the singers and musicians are Jewish then it is Jewish music. There are a few bands who all the members are Jewish that are clearly not making Jewish music.
HAIM is a band made up of 3 Jewish sisters. Their music is most definitely not Jewish. If anything its closer to indie rock.
Statistically its actually pretty incredible that humans find the correct spouse in their lifetime. If there are 7 billion people in the world, there are an extraordinarily high amount of combinations you could make to pair couples so that each match with the best partner. It could be a fun exercise for anyone who wants to do the math. Bonus points for making the process economically efficient (possibly using a system similar to the doctor/ rotation matching process).
Hopefully you found someone by now, but either way relax. Its not an easy process and you got to focus on yourself and don’t listen to the haters.
Certain websites that currently use a “like” button are experimenting with removing it. The “like” button produces an interesting physiological reaction and there is belief by some that it is unhealty.
Now what YWN really could use would be a “reply” button that would automatically link the last post. Technically the HTML options allow that, but almost nobody uses it.
@CT Are there any local kosher pizza restaurants in New Haven that make that style of pizza? I’ve heard that New Haven has good pizza but I never got the chance to visit yet.
@syag
That’s very fair and you make a good point. I chose a extreme case to make my point and i wouldn’t necessarily think that Greenbaum’s song is actually Jewish, just that you can make the argument it is. I just wanted to point out that the definition of Jewish music is not so black and white.Music has been intertwined with davening since at least the times of the Beis Hamikdash. I understand Jewish music to be anything that is meant to bring a person closer to Hashem by employing Jewish themes. The tunes don’t have to be Jewish. There are niggumin that are used in davening which originated as local songs. By putting the words of davening, Jews have elevated the music and made it Jewish music. I put much more weight in what the actual intent is behind the song than the vehicle that is used to construct the song.
There was a similar (maybe same) person that did this around Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan a few years ago.
Pineapple Pizza <3
You don’t make a bracha on medicine. The purpose of the spray is not to get pleasure. You should still consult your local Rabbi.
GH, I thought that was pretty standard in America. At least it is in the non NYC area city I am from. We’ve had that for a while.
I’m surprised no one mentioned Nixon
I love how this thread became a big argument if Baltimore is a good city or not. I have relatives who currently live there and some who grew up there.
Any community outside of the NYC area is much more welcoming and non judgemental. I grew up outside of New York. In the Orthodox shul I went to, I had friends who were conservative and reform who went to the shul because the Rabbi and members were all kind and non judgemental. I’ve found that the larger the city, the more judgemental the people are. Saint Louis Park (Minneapolis suburb) was less judgemental than Chicago, which was less judgemental than New York. In the smaller communities people with different haskafic views are forced to interact with each other because of the limited amount of minyanim. In some shuls both the people wearing the knitted kippas and black hats will welcome other Jews wearing jeans and a t shirt because at the end of the day they realize that they all count equally towards a minyan.Regarding Baltimore: None of my friends who grew up there would consider moving back to Baltimore to start a family. The crime does reach some of the Jewish areas. Its not a warzone like some other comments in this thread make it out to be. You just have to be aware that sometimes things can happen just like when you go through some parts of New York.
My Grandma always tells me. You’ll know when it feels right. And how can you not get excited when you are getting a new best friend?
I think that the lyrics and or the intent of the song is what makes it Jewish.
Take for example Norman Greenbaum’s 1969 hit song, “Spirit in the Sky”. Greenbaum is an Orthodox Jew and if you listen to the lyrics it is very much not a Jewish song. However, Greenbaum’s intent was to express spiritualism and used Christian overtones to express it because it was more marektable.
If you were to take the song at the lyrics it is not a Jewish one. But if you take the intent of the song behind the lyrics knowing that Greenbaum is an Orthodox Jew, you can make a compelling argument that it is a Jewish song. To quote Greenbaum (i got this off his Wikipedia page),
Sometimes its hard to define what “Jewish” music is.
If this would include musicians that are Jewish, you can include Bob Dillon, Mac Miller, David Draiman, Neil Diamond, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkle, Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys, Matisyahu, Barbara Steisand, David Lee Roth, Gene Simmons, Paula Addul, and last but not least Billy Joel.
Irving Berlin, Felix Mendlssohn, Gustav Mahler, Salamone Rossi, Arnold Schoenberg and Leonard Bernstein were all renown in the classical music realm.
If snow doesn’t stop people from staying out and watching football, it shouldn’t stop Jews from celebrating Torah.
You can have enjoyment because of suffering. The following is my take. Its extreme and it is the ideal mindset that I am aiming for.
Hopefully this never happens to anyone. If you have ever been in a near death experience, you will know that pain is a reminder that you are still alive and the fact that you are alive brings joy because you can accomplish more in this world.
When I was a camp counselor for young boys, I was taught that if they are crying then they will eventually be alright. if they are in so much pain that they can not verbally express themselves then the situation is serious. Pain and suffering is a gift because it reminds us that we are still in this world and can improve.
According to some, you can fulfill the obligation by drinking slightly more than you usually do and then taking a nap. So if you can make new threads while sleeping, kudos.
I am for tonight.
And since I can not respond to my other thread from around a year ago. I will give an update and go off on a big tangent/ say what is on my mind. (Sorry about that. I am tired and should be sleeping.)
That post came during one of the hardest times in my life. I still have struggles as we all do, but I still am religious. I don’t daven as much as I should or even put on tephilin most days. But I value Judaism and still talk with G-d, keep kosher, and do various chessed that keep me connected. I still am convinced 100% that G-d is out there and always puts us in the right situation.
At the time, I was in a bad environment that was fueling those feelings. I was a victim of Domestic abuse. I had an abuse step father that physically abused my mother and emotionally abused my family. He officially had a “Rabbinic” degree from a somewhat prestigious place. He was never in a communal role.
I’m doing much better now. I got help from friends. I left a job that was not a good fit for me. I got in touch with my creative side and learned guitar which helped me express myself in a creative and healthy way. I focused on self care and worked out, slept more, and ate healthier. My Mom finally got a get a few months ago. And I paid off a few student loans, which freed me to move to a different neighborhood, which I will do so in a few months.
However the thing that helped the most was straight from G-d. A lot of times terrible things will happen and we don’t know why it happened. In a way, I got very lucky since the messages I received are very to the point while being gruesome. I will not share the details of what happened, but I was put in a situation where I witnessed something very gruesome and it helped me realize that life is very precious. Once I started to focus on life, it helped me break from the cycle of negativity that I was trapped in. I learned a lot about my self in the following weeks and I know where my strengths and weaknesses are. I have something to live for and I want to channel my actions into something powerfully positive so I can help others in my situation.
I want to create a Jewish community where we do not look at each other as Hassidic or Litvish, Orthdox or Reform/ Conservative, New Yorker or Out Of Towner. Until we stop viewing a different side as the other and start to see each other as fellow Jews, showing compassion and genuine kindness to each other, we will not break this toxic cycle. Those who do not learn history are bound to repeat it. As kids we learn Sefer Bereshis. We learn the values of the Avot, but then we see what Sinas Chinum could do when the brothers sold Yosef. We should probably focus more on those lessons because we are still in exile and Sinas Chinum was the cause.
I appreciate everyone in the coffee room who said such nice things and reminded me of my previous posts. It helped me more than you can imagine.
I don’t know if I will comment again after tonight but I will probably come back to lurk every once in a while.
Since there were not many suggestions given, I will assume Ben Torah is still trying to find a good spot to take his date. I have risen from the ashes and decided to check out the CR after a long break.
Here is a list of places to go/ things to do in the New York Metro area. Some of these places may have already been mentioned. It depends how comfortable you are with certain settings as some of these places may not be for you. There are many activities that I did not list. What I do for dates is usually give my date 3 options to choose from. I try to ask what type of activity they want to do first and then come up with something. In the early stages of dating, it is generally better to do something that will allow you to have a conversation.
1. Parks/ Nature
- Central Park
- High line
- Fort Tryon Park
- Walk along the Hudson River
2. Sports/ Games
- Baseball Game (Yankee Stadium, Citi Field, MCU Park, Staten Island Yankees Stadium are some of the venues that host pro teams. You can also go to one of many college games such as Columbia, Fordham, LIU Brooklyn, CCNY, NYU, Yeshiva University, Queens College, etc… )
- Hockey Game (Rangers, Devils, Islanders)
- Basketball Game (Knicks, Nets, College games/ Tournaments
- Soccer (NYFC, Red Bulls)
- Football (Jets, Giants, Pinstripe Bowl in Yankee Staduim
- Pool Hall
- The only mini golf location in Manhattan is bad buts its around pier 28. There is a driving range at Chelsea Piers thats pretty fun
- Bowling (must be 21 in Manhattan after a certain time since they serve booze)
- Ping Pong Hall
- Ice Skating
- Go Biking
- kayaking
- There kinda is hiking spots a bit upstate and in New Jersey
3. Food
- There are many coffee shops. Choose one. This is my go to first date activity
- Kosher Restaurant. There are many in the New York area. I will not list them all.
- Bar. (There are many different bars that have cool themes. Some will even have board games at the bar)
- Ice Cream/ FroYo. 16 handles is a kosher FroYo place and there are many around the city.
- Cook/ Prepare food before and go out on a picknic
4. Museum / Historical
- Governor’s Island (Very cool island that has been a military base for most major American wars through WW2)
- Ellis Island/ Staten Island Ferry
- Natural History Museum
- Art Museums
- Wander the city and look at the architechture
- There is a subway museum that is pretty good
5. Artsy/ shows
- Paint Night
- Broadway show
- Pottery Making
- There is a place where you get to smash everything in the room. Its pretty fun.
- Escape Rooms
- Movie
- Shows in the park
- Concerts
- Sometimes there is live music in Bars or Coffee Shops
- Bring a musical instrument and play for your date
- There are shops where you can play board games
The Jewish High School I went to gave a combined GPA and a separate General Studies GPA. It really depends on the school. Either way do your best in school.
It depends on the religious level of the player. Some women on YU sports teams wear skirts while some wear pants/ shorts. It the same with the men’s teams if they wear a kippah or not. Although YU as an institution is Orthodox in nature, not all of the students are.
6 feet tall hovering around 165. Hope to build up those muscles and get to 180 ~ 185. Getting on that prison workout: Pushups, Pullups, Squats, Dips, Hanging Leg raises, and Burpies
I completely agree with you that Baltimore is better than NY and NJ. Baltimore and Cleveland are wonderful options because of what they have to offer. I encourage everyone to leave the greater NYC area and move to a more livable place.
I assumed that by the next Lakewood, this thread was talking about a very small community that has little to none Jewish life and then transforming it into a place of Jewishness. That would disqualify Baltimore and Cleveland as places to be the next “Lakewood”.
Baltimore and Cleveland have great Jewish histories and saying that either one of them can be the new “Lakewood” is flat out insulting the history of those respective cities. Its disrespectful to Ner Israel and Telz Cleveland to suggest that they don’t currently have any great Torah centers. Personally I think its better for those communities to have natural growth instead of having transplants from New York ignore how the city has operated and decided that they had to do things their way.
I have a a lot of family that currently live in Baltimore and have been in Baltimore since the 1950s. I also have friends who are from Cleveland as well. I don’t have anything against the city, but regional rivalries encourage me to rip on those two cities. I hope the Ravens never have a winning season again.
Aren’t Baltimore and Cleveland major cities that are much larger than Lakewood?? If you include the non religious than, Baltimore and probably also Cleveland already have a larger Jewish population than Lakewood. Also I wouldn’t exactly call Baltimore safe. The murder rate is double that of Chicago and as of this writing there have been more homicides in Baltimore than in New York city. The Charm City still sounds better than the Mistake by the Lake.
My friend set me up with a girl who he said would be a great fit for me. He wouldn’t tell me much about her except that she was a good girl ect… I talked with her on the phone and we had a good conversation. She told me she knew a few players on my favorite football team and we decided to go out. From speaking with her on the phone I thought she was similar to me.
At the time I was living in Manhattan and she was in Staten Island. We were gonna do the date in lower Manhattan. I went to meet her on the Staten Island side of the ferry. She was late and missed the ferry. When I saw her I knew it would not work out. I was not attracted to her, she was very different hasgafically than me, and we had almost opposite views in life and wanted different things. We ended up walking around lower Manhattan and I decided to have some fun and asked her if she knew who Harambe זכרונו לברכה was. When I heard she didn’t know about the Great One, I spent the rest of the date showing her Harambe memes.
I ended the date on the ferry ride back to Staten Island. Unsurprisingly she agreed with me.
Doesn’t having the word “maid” within a name kind of give it away? Its a pretty good pun saying shes a servant of G-d.
Philadelphia has had 216 homicides so far this year according to the FBI. Sadly this is not exactly news that a national audience would be shocked by. Another murder in Philly, same as the week before (and the week before that). You don’t hear in the national news every day about the specific murder in Chicago, because its become expected.
Depending on who you speak with, Charlottesville was a terrorist attack. Terrorism is more news worthy than Murder.
Romanian in Chicago has salamis you can buy and hang without doing any special preparation.
Just find a dry place to hang it for 3-5 weeks.
IMO best place to get kosher meat in America.Create a punk rock band.
Search job boards. Linkedin, glassdoor, indeed, ect… Good Luck!