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“the Zionist movement was founded and led by people who hate the Torah”
There were religious people who loved Torah and Mitzvot from the very beginning of modern Zionism.
“the zionists were wicked people and so they were anti”
Uh, the Rebbe had a great relationship with Rov Soloveitchik z’tz’l who wasn’t just a Zionist but the leading Religious Zionist in the world.
“we must not squander this gift”, which is a Religious Zionist/Nationalist view”
Rov Soloveitchik z’tz’l was one of the gedolim and supported Land for Peace, but he was also the official world leader of Religious Zionism.
Not only could Ashkenazim in Israel eat kitniyot cooked before Shabat this year, they could cook kitniyot for Sefardic guests any day of Pesach any year.
Not asur at all Erev Pesach until sunset. We always eat a nice kitniyot lunch erev Pesach after noon, cooked on our Pesach kelim.
It isn’t even necessary for men to stay up all night. The minhag only got serious in the late middle ages when coffee and tea arrived in the Middle East and Europe, allowing caffeine ingestion to allow Jews to stay awake!!! 😉
Not eating kitniyot is not a gezerah. It is a minhag. And kitniyot is bitul b’rov. It is nothing like chametz and should not be treated like chametz.
The machloket is between Rav Ovadia Yosef z’tz’l and Rav Shlomo Goren z’tz’l. Rav Yosef said to say Hallel without a Bracha and Rav Goren to say Hallel with the bracha. Communities may follow either.
Scranton was the name of the family that founded the city, developing iron, steel, and coal in the area.
A direct descendent of one of the founders, William Scranton, served as a Republican Congressman and Governor of Pennsylvania. Scranton was and is a hugely Democratic city; Republicans tried to get Scranton to run for higher office because of his ability to get Democratic votes but he always declined. This is probably good because he worked in the State Department under Eisenhower and was UN Ambassador under Ford where he had a record of hostility to Israel.
If you don’t like Chabad minhagim, keep some other collection of minhagim.
We have enough divisions as it is.
“And they were required by law to be redacted, to protect grand jury testimony.”
Barr claims that. But given that he basically lied about what was in the redacted report he does not have credibility on this either.
“obstruction of justice with no underlying crime”
There have been dozens of indictments and convictions. Definitely underlying crimes.
“I read the AGs summary”
The AG summary clearly misrepresented the contents of the actual report. And the misrepresentation may be worse than we realize because none of us has seen the unredacted report.
“I’m pro-Vaxx, but don’t you think it’s ludicrous that you had to get all three vaccines when you only needed one?”
From the CDC’s web site:
“Receiving MMR vaccine rather than the separate component vaccines results in fewer shots and decreases the chance of delays in protection against all three diseases (measles, mumps and rubella). ”
One of the things that the anti-vaxxers whine about is “too many shots”. The vaccine manufacturer discontinued production of the monovalent vaccines for measles, mumps, and rubella in 2011 after this recommendation from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).
Using machine made shemurah matzah this year. Tired of paying the high prices.
I was recently revaccinated even though my titers measured high for measles — because I had low titers for rubella.
No issues.
Mazel tov!!! I am 90% through my second Bavli daf yomi cycle and am also about a third of the way into Yerushalmi Bikkurim having completed all the other tractates of Yerushalmi Seder Zeraim. I have not learned a lot of the poskim though; maybe that will be next. I also have only learned a few tractates of Mishnayot Seder Taharot so I don’t claim to have learned all of Shas.
I encourage everyone to take on challenging learning — I had little background when I started and there are many shiurim and aids that can help.
The Rebbitzen is correct. I once walked into a shul in another country on my father’s yahretzeit and was immediately told that I was the shliach tzibbur — for maariv, shacharit, and mincha! I travel a lot and get aliyot in out of town shuls who have never seen me before.
In addition to El Salvador and Nicaragua, which ban all abortions for any reason yet have Marxist political parties in power, Malta has a total ban on all abortions, along with a socialist government (which is rare in Europe today). Vatican City also has a total ban on abortion but it really isn’t much of an issue there. 😉
“nobody “REQUIRES” it”
To the contrary, there are situations where women can die from not having an abortion and they are not as rare as you think. The most common situation is an ectopic pregnancy, which happens in one to two percent of pregnancies. Fertility treatments — very common in the frum community — can substantially increase that risk. There are two countries in Central America — El Salvador and Nicaragua — where ALL abortions are illegal and indeed some women are dying. Interestingly, both those countries have far left Presidents from Marxist political parties. This destroys the entire premise of most of the discussion here.
There are more rare situations that typically occur late in pregnancy that also are life threatening to the mother and I posted a comment about them earlier. My wife is a primary care physician who takes care of pregnant patients. Once in her career she had to refer a patient for an abortion. The fetus’s brain was developing outside the skull. This is a condition not compatible with life.
Eliot Engel is my Congressman. He is anything but insane. Neither are Nita Lowy or Jerrold Nadler. All among the most powerful Democrats in Washington.
I should add that I have on rare occasions seen Engel in shul (he lives in my neighborhood) and that the first time I ever saw Nadler he was leading services at an orthodox shul in Manhattan.
Ubiquitin,
It isn’t just in Nach. It is in Chazal and Rishonim. See for example the draconian business regulations found in Bavli Bava Metzia and the mandated support for the poor in Yerushalmi Peah that Rambam codifies as halachah. On economic matters real Judaism is to the left of Bernie Sanders. (I bet he never learned any of that at his socialist kibbutz.)
On social matters of course halachah is very conservative.
“liberals are EXTREMELY pro-abortion, which is against halacha”
Not so simple. First, some liberals aren’t. Second, some abortions are NOT against halachah. I was just talking to an obstetrician at the medical complex where I work and asked about the abortions they perform there. They don’t perform many but the ones they do are usually awful situations where either the mother has a serious medical problem that would be made worse by continuing the pregnancy or the fetus has a serious issue. She said that some of the families desperately wanted to have a child and were devastated when things did not work out. One can seriously argue that it is not halachically okay to follow the Evangelical/Catholic position that would prohibit most of these abortions.
I note that the number of languages of the different sefarim is quite large: Biblical Hebrew, Rabbinic Hebrew, Palestinian Aramaic, Babylonian Aramaic, Classical Arabic, Ladino, Yiddish, and Modern German. Without knowing *all* of these, we need translations. Not to mention that English language sefarim need to be translated into French, Russian, and Modern Hebrew.
My wife is a physician who treats a lot of immigrants (mostly legal, some illegal). She has never had any question vaccinations. As akuperma pointed out, the countries sending us immigrants lack the idiots we have here in the US and in Israel. The truth is that the immigrants should be afraid of the health risks from us!
Avi K,
I once heard Rabbi Avi Weiss describe how he once stayed up all night talking to a young Jewish man who was about to marry a non-Jewish woman the next day. The young man decided to cancel the wedding. Rabbi Weiss said that the man eventually became frum and moved to a charedi neighborhood in Jerusalem. Rabbi Weiss was clearly pleased as he related that story.
FWIW, the first national Thanksgiving Day in the United States was proclaimed by George Washington and celebrated November 26, 1789. The holiday was enthusiastically embraced by the Jews of New York; the order of service has survived and included a lot of extra psalms, a new prayer for the government (in English!), and a sermon that has also survived which was an extended homily on psalm 100. No Tachanun. That is still the minhag to this day. This was more than a century before the rabbis mentioned by other commenters were born.
Joseph,
Thanks! Work has been taking up a lot of time, and so has learning. Since my last post I have also completed Yerushalmi Maaser Sheni, and just last Shabbat completed Yerushalmi Challah. I hope to make a Siyum shortly.
Sadly, one thing in which Muslims and Jews are similar is that both religions have significant numbers of people who are following religious leaders who endorse not vaccinating children. The Muslim extremists are preventing the eradication of polio and we now see measles outbreaks in frum areas in the US.
De-lurking for a moment….
A thousand years ago Rav Sherirah Gaon established the halachah that we follow doctors and not rabbis on medical matters and that has been universally accepted.
Back to lurking….
HI CHARLIE !!
I just noticed this. I still exist, but I am very busy with work and learning (made a siyum on Yerushalmi Maasrot just nine days ago!) and am trying to be involved in fewer machlokets. 🙂
AFAIK I am not related to Robert Hall.
“We all know that the holy Zohar advise all married ladies – not just chassidim – to not let a single hair be seen even to the walls of their house.”
And the halachah is not according to the zohar. A married woman is not required to have any headcovering in her own house.
“The accepted way to achieve this is to shave off all the hair. “
Only in some communities, particularly those with Hungarian roots.
I dated someone who had very, very long hair. Periodically she would cut it short and donate the hair to a charity that provided wigs for women with cancer, and then grow it long again so she could repeat that wonderful tzedakah.
“our gedolim of today made it HALCHA!”
That is not true. They can establish new minhagim that might be binding for their own communities but no single rabbi has the power to actually change halachah in our times.
“But you should realize that pharmacists don’t do research”
This is not true; I personally know pharmacists who do research. They work in pharmaceutical research labs and in hospitals. Good luck!
“It’s assur to sit on a jury on a case between two Jewish litigants.”
I will take my rabbis who are well learned and trustworthy over some anonymous internet commenter who often distorts Torah and may not even be Jewish.
“Take up your objection with the Chazon Ish.”
The Chazon Ish was a gedol. But he did not live in America, and was not familiar with the American legal system. (Was he even fluent in English?) He is not a rabbi I would have ever asked a shilah on the subject nor was he a rabbi anyone else should have asked. This is one for American rabbis. And none of what I just wrote is at all defamatory towards him!
” it is absolutely legal for a mesader kedushin to not involve himself in filing a civil marriage.”
No, it isn’t. See New York Domestic Relations Code, Article 3, Section 17.
“in the U.S. there are no such public beaches”
There are, however, remote isolated beaches where you won’t see anyone else except for perhaps a park ranger driving by on a beach vehicle.
There are additional issues that are even more important than the pritzus. Self-induced skin cancer, for one. Deadly riptides, for another — I almost drowned once about 20 years ago in a riptide off a deserted California beach — I was about 1/2 mile out to sea before I was able to swim about a mile parallel to shore and get out of the riptide. And because it was one of those remote isolated beaches there were no lifeguards. Fortunately I am a strong (although not fast) swimmer; all Jews need to learn to swim!
The President has unlimited power to pardon or to grant clemency, even for the most serious crimes, so Obama has acted legally. And he acted fairly because he is granting clemency for people convicted of crimes for which the penalty is now much less severe.
Clinton has committed no crime so she will not be tried.
Trump operated an illegal fraudulent university and is facing three trials for fraud and racketeering. He probably can’t be tried criminally because of the statute of limitations. He would be facing two additional trials but he bribed two state Attorneys General with campaign contributions when they dropped investigations into his practices. People claim Clinton is a crook but it is actually Trump who knowingly broke the law.
“Jews are meant to be workers according to the Torah, or there would not be so many of the halachos relating to business practices and farming.”
Indeed the way a Jew can observe the most mitzvot in our times is to be a farmer in the Land of Israel. I find it quite surprising that so few frum Jews want to do that.
“”Jewish judges who have traded away a Torah system for a worthless, vain system.””
If you think the American legal system, which has protected the rights of Jews better than any legal system in history (yes, even better than in biblical times when most of the monarchs were worshiping idols and engaged in corruption) is “worthless” and “vain” you have a seriously distorted POV. You are as bad as the Alt-Right and the BlackLivesMatter nutjobs.
Note that NONE of the sources you mention ever lived in America or understood the American legal system. I have personally had three orthodox rabbis tell me that it is a mitzvah to serve on a jury in the United States in anything other than a death penalty case and one even responded that I can send a Jew to prison for financial crimes when this would never be permitted under Torah law.
“Don’t you agree, considering there are sources for both derechs, that each to his own, we should all respect and honor whatever shitta someone else follows (for himself)?”
This should be true in general.
“The Mishna Brura paskens l’halacha that a hat is required to be worn during davening.”
You don’t include the entire MB ruling. He also writes that it is about dressing as you would when you go out into the street and that everything is dependent on the local custom.
“not introducing Elul”
The event was tonight; Elul starts Saturday night.
But this isn’t the kind of event that would appeal to me — I would be interested in a cruise that had great Torah speakers.
“there certainly are many gedolim who hold a state marriage license is meaningless as far as Judaism is concerned”
Rav Henkin z’tz’l and Rav Soloveitchik z’tz’l disagreed.
“did not yet receive a legal divorce decree from the state courts, and one of the halachicly divorced spouses remarries in a Jewish marriage ceremony prior to receiving a state divorce”
The couple could be prosecuted for bigamy. I know someone this almost happened to in such a jurisdiction.
“The purely religious marriage is not merely “legal” in that it is not criminal”
In New York it actually IS a criminal act by the mesader kidushin, as I pointed out in an earlier post.
Not sure why so many yeshivot want to build in places that don’t want us. Here in the Bronx, the local authorities love frum Jews and go out of the way to help us. Build your yeshiva and dorm here!
“It’s about making a change in the upcoming election outcome and having them realize that we do make a difference.”
More likely the results this fall will show that opponents of the deal do NOT make a difference. If Debbie Wasserman-Schultz survives her primary this coming Tuesday there are zero Democratic supporters of the deal who are in danger of losing their seats.
“The State does not, and cannot under the Constitution, regulate or preclude a religious ceremony or deed, including religious marriages.”
It can and it does. Back when same sex marriage was illegal it tried to prosecute ministers whose churches had no problem with same-sex marriages.
“It was overturned as an infringement of the First Amendment.”
Wrong. The final decision by the Appeals Court was on a technicality.
“It involved government benefits to a disabled individual and had they legally married they would have lost those benefits they needed to live”
Unfortunately that means that they would be defrauding the government. That is both asur and a felony under civil law.
“you are also mistaken in asserting that judicial consent is rarely given to minors under 16 years of age”
I think you just proved my point. That year there were 131,515 marriages in New York State; four of them required such judicial approval.
It also violates US law and for extreme cases there are even criminal penalties. Some copyright violators who thought they were doing nothing wrong have had to pay heavy fines.
Besides, why not pay for the music? Most songs are just $1. Are you so lack of faith in HaShem that you think you can’t afford a dollar a song?
“Do you feel it is important to hold your Congressman or Senator responsible for the Iran deal?”
No. Only one Democrat is in any re-election difficulty as the result of her vote for the Iran deal — Debbie Wasserman Schultz — and her opponent is a far left nutcase who just happens to have opposed the deal. Several Democrats who opposed the deal are in trouble, though.
“at this stage will result in no change in Iran’s nuclear capabilities”
I didn’t really support the deal but it did result in pushing off Iran getting nuclear weapons from just a few months to over ten years. That was a big change and it is for the better.
“If your question is whether State law requires you to obtain a marriage license if you get married under religious law, the answer is no.”
In New York it is illegal to perform any wedding without a license. You may be religiously married after a license-free chasuna but your Mesader Kedushin may be in legal trouble (misdemeanor with a $50 fine, and he loses his right to perform marriages for a while). There is also a 24 hour waiting period. Get the license. Both spouses have to be 18 in New York (16 with parental consent or 14 with parental and court consent — rarely given).
“Some (but not all) States will consider you legally married if you marry under religious law, and reside together with your spouse, even if you never get a State marriage license. “
This is correct, but New York is not one of those states. The term in secular law is “common law marriage”. New York forbade them in 1938, although if there is anyone still alive who entered a common law marriage prior to then the marriage is recognized. About a dozen states still permit them. And if you enter a common law marriage in another state and then move to New York, New York will accept it.