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“Is one allowed to pay taxes to the IRS? “
No, one is *required* to pay taxes, unless you want to get free room and board at the Otisville kollel.
US crude oil production has increased by 90% under Obama. 2015 was the first year in memory that the US produced more oil than it imported. Over a third of the imported oil comes from Canada. Some also comes from Mexico and Columbia, both friendly countries. So most of our oil comes from friendly sources.
It should be noted that Citgo is a wholly owned subsidiary of the oil company that is owned by the Venezuelan government, which is run by anti-Semitic rashaim. Hopefully they will be overthrown soon as the country is now a failed state.
“The shul that uses a mic is not Modern Orthodox or Orthodox of any colour. “
There *are* orthodox synagogues that use the Tzomet sound system on Shabat.
“the chazzan uses a mike”
If it is a Tzomet microphone — and it probably is — what is the problem?
“How many people do you know who even fought in the US Military “
In my community there is a retired frum NY Supreme Court judge who served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War.
“How many people do you know who even fought in the US Military “
My father of blessed memory served in the Air Force during the Korean War.
“With the Democrats and Republicans both moving towards isolationism”
The Republicans indeed are — see Trump’s absolutely awful isolationist foreign policy advisers — but the Democrats are about to nominate the most interventionist candidate since Lyndon Johnson. Her foreign policy is basically neocon and that is bad news for Putin, China, Daesh, and Iran, and good news for Israel, Ukraine, Poland, Philippines, and South Korea. While Secretary of State, she was very aggressive in pushing for US intervention both in the Middle East (see Libya) and in the Western Pacific to counter China. The Republicans have gone off their rockers by whining about the loss of FOUR Americans in Libya when they were responsible for the loss of thousands of Americans in Iraq! The Republicans are returning to their 1920s/1930s roots and that is not a good thing.
“This story was featured in this week’s English edition of Mishpacha magazine.”
KEWL!!!!
” Rabbi Gordimer *is* Modern Orthodox.”
Whether he calls himself modern orthodox or something else, his expressed opposition to all existing formal programs of advanced Torah education for women is not consistent with where essentially all modern orthodox communities fall on the hashkafic spectrum.
“Why is there so much effort to get people to commemorate Yom HaZikarom, but not Memorial Day?”
This morning the rabbi recited a Kel Mele for American soldiers who have died in service to the US.
Pikuah nefesh trumps even death penalty prohibitions like Hilchot Shabat. Kal v’chomer any minhag.
“Anecdote” does not equal “data”.
Chazal did not agree. It mandated communal support for public works, education, and support for the poor. In the case of the last of the three there appears to have been a graduated income or wealth tax to provide the necessary funds.
See the Wikipedia page for the great Rabbi Ezra Attiya regarding the lengths he would go to help keep his top students in yeshiva. One of those students was Rabbi Ovadia Yosef z’tz’l.
“Don’t you agree with hugely slashing the military budget?”
No. It should be pointed out in fairness to Johnson that his current campaign web site does not mention a number to cut, and it also doesn’t contain the old libertarian meme of ending all foreign aid (including aid to Israel).
The problem is that it will be impossible to get Congress to agree to cut the things that could safely be cut (like the F-35 program — even Bernie Sanders supports it). In addition there are investments that we need to preserve: We really don’t need another aircraft carrier fight now, but were we to close the Newport News Shipyard, we would never be able to build another one because we would disperse all the talented engineers and shipyard workers to other careers.
“We can’t have a Jewish president.”
Why not? Other countries have had Jewish heads of state and/or heads of government.
Johnson has said that he wants to cut the military budget by 43% and to end all foreign aid including aid to Israel.
Correct, conspiracy theories today have turned out to always be false. Including all the lies about President Obama, who was actually born in Hawaii, not Kenya.
Rochester and Scranton have yeshivot. So to Waterbury, Memphis, and Cleveland, just to give some other examples. No excuse.
Here are the latest unemployment rates for those areas:
Memphis 4.7%
Rochester 4.9%
Cleveland 5.5%
Scranton 6.4%
Waterbury 7.7%
“Is it a deal? I have semicha, so that means you can’t express (or even have) any more opinions about halacha.”
I don’t have semicha and don’t want it. But *I* have been through Tanakh and the entire Bavli so I am not a complete ignoramus. The anti-vaxxers ARE ignoramuses; they make basic errors in logic that would earn them a failing grade in any epidemiology class.
“you couldn’t say”
I can’t say that the Berg cult isn’t Judaism???? You need to have semicha to say that??????
“I have no idea why that should make a difference.”
Just pointing out the kind of hashkafah that leads to people not vaccinating.
” Your ONLY priority should be Eretz Yisroel”
Not Shabat, kashrut, taharat hamishpacha, chinuch, economics, anti-Semitism all over the world….?
“Leon Trotsky (Lev Bronstein) headed the Red Army and, for a time, was chief of Soviet foreign affairs.”
Definitely a Jew and second only to Lenin in importance. Also the single person most responsible for the Communist victory in Russia’s civil war. Would that he had used the army to overturn Stalin in 1924. Even Lenin himself seems to have realized that Stalin was Bad News but he died in January 1924.
” Yakov Sverdlov (Solomon) was both the Bolshevik party’s executive secretary and — as chairman of the Central Executive Committee — head of the Soviet government.”
Halachically Jewish but his family had converted to Christianity.
” Grigori Zinoviev (Radomyslsky) headed the Communist International (Comintern), the central agency for spreading revolution in foreign countries.”
Zinoviev publically opposed the Bolshevik coup. That almost got him thrown out of the party.
” Other prominent Jews included press commissar Karl Radek (Sobelsohn)”
Radek was in Sweden at the time of the Bolshevik Revolution.
“, foreign affairs commissar Maxim Litvinov (Wallach),”
Litvinov was in the UK at the time of the Bolshevik Revolution.
“Lev Kamenev (Rosenfeld)”
Not halachically Jewish (mother was Christian). He, like Zinoviev, publically opposed the Bolshevik coup and was almost expelled from the party.
” and Moisei Uritsky.”
Definitely Jewish and did play a role in the Bolshevik Revolution.
Interestingly, the only two Jews who DID play a role in the Bolshevik coup — Trotsky and Uritsky — had only joined the party a few months earlier.
“Brokers lost their licenses and were fined thousands of dollars when the discriminator pattern was establish by the government.”
Baruch HaShem!
” Being a 9th generation American doesn’t negate the historical fact that we have sooner or later been expelled from every country we have ever inhabitted.”
That is not true. Jews have never been expelled from India or Ireland.
“Anybody who refrains from vaccinating their family for any diseases which have vaccines available”
There actually ARE contraindications to some vaccines, but they are very rare.
Here is the list of contraindications based on current knowledge:
copied from cdc website – link removed
“Contraindications and Precautions for Varicella Vaccination
Information for Healthcare Providers
Contraindications
has a history of anaphylactic/anaphylactoid reaction to gelatin, neomycin, or any other component of the vaccine
has blood dyscrasias, leukemia, lymphomas, or malignant neoplasms affecting bone marrow or lymphatic system
is receiving prolonged, high-dose systemic immunosuppressive therapy (?2 weeks), including large doses of oral steroids (?2mg/kg of body weight or a total of 20mg/day of prednisone or its equivalent for people who weigh >10kg)
has a moderate or severe concurrent illness
has received blood products (such as whole blood, plasma, or immune globulin) during the previous 3 to 11 months, depending on dosage
has a family history (first degree relatives) of congenital hereditary immunodeficiency, unless the person is immunocompetent
is or may be pregnant. For more information, see Guidelines for Vaccinating Pregnant Women: Varicella and Vaccination Recommendations for Specific Groups
.
Some people with contraindications for varicella vaccine may receive varicella zoster immune globulin after being exposed to varicella. For more information, see Managing People at Risk for Severe Varicella.
Precautions
People with Acute Illness
People with acute severe illness, including untreated, active tuberculosis, should postpone vaccination until they recover. The decision to delay vaccination depends on the severity of symptoms and the etiology of disease.
People with Thrombocytopenia
Recipients of Blood Products
People who have recently received (within 3 to 11 months depending on dosage) blood, plasma, or immune globulin products should not be vaccinated.
Blood, including whole blood, packed red blood cells, and plasma, and other antibody-containing blood products may interfere with the effectiveness of the vaccine.
People who have received varicella vaccine should not receive blood products for 14 days after being vaccinated unless the benefits of blood product outweigh the need for protection from vaccination.
People Receiving Salicylates
People should avoid using salicylates for 6 weeks after getting varicella vaccine. This is because of the association between aspirin use and Reye syndrome following varicella, and also the potential risk of Reye syndrome if a person is given aspirin after varicella vaccination.
Take caution when vaccinating children who are receiving salicylates. However, no adverse events have been reported.
Children with rheumatoid arthritis or other conditions that require therapeutic aspirin should be monitored closely after they get vaccinated.
For more information, see Chart of Contraindications and Precautions for varicella vaccination.”
Everyone else who has not had chickenpox who is over the age of 12 months should be vaccinated. Period.
“Presumably that is talking about where the doctors are acting responsibly and giving you medical advice that is appropriate to you.”
If you lack an advanced degree in either medicine, epidemiology, or some other related public health field (mine is in biostatistics), you have no basis on which to claim that the medical advice regarding vaccines is inappropriate nor do you have the ability to even evaluate the anti-vaxxer propaganda.
“It is an obligation to listen to the doctors (Maharik Shoresh 159, Shevut Yaakov 1:65, Yalkut Yosef Kitzor Shulchan Aruch Laws of the Doctor and the Obligation to be Cured 2).”
This has been accepted halachah for a thousand years.
Not vaccinating your children also violates the prohibition of following in the ways of the sectarians: The State of California found that the school that had the largest fraction by far of unvaccinated children was the one run by the Berg Kabbalah Centre cult.
“Vaccine can also be dangerous for some people. “
Nowhere near the danger from the disease. About a hundred people used to die from the varicella virus each year in the US. The vaccine for varicella was introduced in 1995; in a dozen years the number of deaths had been reduced to six. The number of deaths in the US from the vaccine has been zero.
Vaccinate your kids!
“Polyester (which is basically plastic) could be made into sheets instead of strings, so you don’t have to weave polyester. Wool, linen, cotton, etc have to be woven to make a begged. “
Those fabrics can be made into paper — in fact US currency is made from linen. So the same issues apply there.
I knew about the issue regarding plastic clothing and asked a shilah about wearing polyester mesh and the response was that we are machmir on treating ANY four cornered woven garment as a begged that needs tzitzit.
“And this query of yours proves that you do not believe the Torah to be the ultimate morality. “
Actually it is the people who support the death penalty in the US for whom that is true. The way it is administered clearly violates the standards set down in the gemara and codified by Rambam for Noachide courts.
“former OOTers who now – by choice – live in the NY area”
I only moved to NY because I got a job here. It was never on my radar screen nor something I desired.
” you sound like a typical NYer”
But Ki me Brooklyn teitzei Torah….
Oh, wait a minute. 😉
“There are plenty of jews who arrived in NY before 1900”
There were Jews in NY before 1700!
” in Brooklyn you don’t even get a eiruv”
Currently there are eiruvim Williamsburg, Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Borough Park, Marine Park, Manhattan Beach, and two overlapping eiruvim in Flatbush (one Sefardic and one Ashkenazic).
Rov Soloveitchik z’tz’l never lived in Brooklyn. Admittedly, the compartmenting frum did try to run him out of Boston. 🙁
“what’s the biggest (controversial) issues facing Frum Jews today”
Our willingness to compartment our religious life and to accept that compartmentization in others.
“the obligation of dinim requires them to adopt all of Choshen Mishpat”
Other than Rabbi Dr. Aaron Levine z’tz’l, what prominent rav has advocated for Torah standards in business conduct to be mandated in secular law?
“OUR OBLIGATION IN HALOCHAH OBLIGATES US TO SUPPORT OR OPPOSE certain things.”
That isn’t clear. I have seen no rabbi object to the provisions in the US Constitution that not only legalize polytheism but allow a polytheist to become President of the United States.
Furthermore, most commenters here probably voted for the polytheist running in the last election.
To cherrypick same sex marriage is not intellectually honest.
“Most of the country doesn’t believe in Gay marriage!”
The Pew poll just showed approval of same sex marriage by 55% to 37%.
The CBS poll last fall showed approval by 56% to 34%.
The Quinnipiac poll a month earlier showed approval by 55% to 38%.
The Gallup poll a year ago showed approval of same sex marriage by 60% to 37%.
Its over, folks.
“see how well that worked for Jewish Bolshevists in the long run”
To be fair, Trotsky was the only Jew directly involved with the Bolshevik Revolution in a major capacity. And he had only been a Bolshevik for a few months.
“Secretary Clinton is not a Liberal, she is a Centrist”
Not that anyone will care, as most commenters here have accepted the massive amounts of motzi shem ra against her, but a strong argument can be made that Clinton is the most conservative Democratic nominee since 1924.
Wool.
Except when it is REALLY hot. Then I use polyester mesh.
There may be some community somewhere that follows the All Music is Asur All The Time but I have never found one. Anyone know of any?
“as MDG pointed out, if we were to celebrate anything, it should be the end of the war”
For Chanukah we don’t observe the end of the war, which was almost 20 years later.
“then how can anyone use that reasoning for days other then 5 Iyar itself?”
Rav Soloveitchik z’tz’l agreed that IF you are to say Hallel for Y”H then you may ONLY say it on 5 Iyar. My rav seems to be the only one who followed him on that one.
“The original minhag only encompassed marriage and hair(beard)cuts.”
Correct. And erusin was even permitted. See Shulchan Aruch 493:1-2. There is no mention of avoiding music. I have been advised by my rav just to follow the halachah that is in the Shulchan Aruch and Rema here.
“To anyone Frum, Yom Ha’atzma’ut is about thanking HKBH.”
Precisely. And I recite Hallel as a reminder of WHO is responsible for the miracles.
“We’ve been sitting and studying Torah for centuries (really millenia) without soldiers, and doing quite well.”
You must be joking. But this is nothing to joke about.
Of course minhag trumps halachah, as shown by the numerous examples here. We embarrass ourselves by trying to claim otherwise.
In fact minhag can even trump something that would under normal circumstances be such an aveira that it would put you beyond the pale of Rabbinic Judaism. Just look at all the shuls that recite “Machnise Rachamim” in Selichot in clear violation of the Rambam’s ikkar. (Either that, or most shuls are run by apkorsim, chas v’shalom.)
There is no prohibition whatsoever for a Jewish woman to sing, anywhere. The prohibition is for Jewish men to listen. (There are exceptions to the latter although not all of the exceptions are widely accepted.)