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The US Constitution has no reference toGod. And it allows idol worshipers and atheists to hold any public office, even President.
I strongly suspect that the vast majority of commenters on this site voted for a polytheist for President in 2012 — Mitt Romney. So I reject the criticism directed towards me here.
Spouses and children typically join the witness protection program along with the person being protected.
Yes, what Trump is doing has a multiple hechsherim — from David Duke, Louis Farrakhan, and Jean-Marie Le Pen.
“abandon their stale and fossilized “modernity” “
Source for the Rav Schwab quote?
Tropicana Low Acid. Better for my stomach.
” do you take every piece of media coverage at face value? “
He doesn’t to look at ANY media coverage of Trump to know that he is evil. There are videos of him all over the internet — from his refusal to condemn David Duke to his spouting anti-Semitic memes before the Republican Jewish Coalition. From his praises of dictators to his threatening of any media outlet that dares to criticize him. I fully expect that should he be elected he will be coming after me.
I have said it before, I will say it again: Any Democrat who said these things would be roundly be condemned by everyone here and the condemnation would be deserved. Jews who support Trump may keep Shabat and kashrut, but they are every bit as assimilated as the Italian Jews who supported Mussolini and the German Jews who assumed that nothing would ever happen to them once Hitler yemach shemo came to power. Their bodies may be keeping mitzvot but their minds are not thinking the way a Jew thinks.
Get out of denial!!!
” Protectionism hurts America. America benefits from free trade. “
Joseph is 100% correct on this.
I caught Bernie Sanders with a falsehood on his Facebook page a few months ago. He claimed that US exports to China did not increase after China gained Most Favored Nation status with the US. In fact, they increased by a factor of eight.
“Only Charlie can possibly suggest that Hillary is not an evil crook.”
As I explained, it is not clear that any crime has been committed. You, however, are guilty of motzi shem ra.
But even if you think that she is a crook, you still have to vote for her against Trump, just as Louisiana voters had to vote for an actual crook, Edwin Edwards, to prevent David Duke from becoming that state’s Governor. Trump is rallying racists and anti-Semites like no candidate in generations. There is simply no comparison.
Also worth mentioning is that only a grand jury can indict. It would have to repeat essentially the entire investigation. So far, no grand jury has been convened to do this.
“Every time i bring up hilary’s indictment, everyone in the room (my husband included) tells me i’m crazy, that she will NEVER be indicted because nobody will in the department will ever sign off on it.”
She will not be indicted because there is no evidence that a crime has been committed. The people who are expecting an indictment are unfamiliar with the laws involved.
Colin Powell wasn’t even investigated for using an unsecured email server for information that he claims wasn’t classified but others are now claiming should have been. Jeb Bush wasn’t indicted for his use of his personal smartphone to discuss classified information regarding National Guard deployments when he was Governor of Florida. Karl Rove wasn’t indicted even for a deliberate exposure of a US CIA agent’s cover. And nobody in the Bush White House got indicted for deliberate leaks to the media during the Iraq War. This is all hype from the Republican slander-and-lie machine.
The irony is that Clinton’s server was probably more secure than the government’s servers. Neither Manning nor Snowden knew of its existence!
And note that most of what the slander-and-lie machine is claiming should be classified is material that is already well known — drone strikes against terrorists in Pakistan. Everyone knows the US is doing drone strikes in Pakistan! Yet the FBI and CIA are trying to cover it up.
“In a parlimentary system the Prime Minister IS the head of state”
Wrong. The Head of State for both the UK and Canada is Queen Elizabeth II. The Head of State of Germany is President Joachim Gauck. The Head of State of Israel is President Reuven Rivlin.
“Trump didn’t to much to distance himself from david Duke on cnn yesterday despite being given multiple chances to do so. “
Not only that, he lied when he claimed he didn’t know who Duke was or what he represented. He had specifically blasted Duke way back in 2000, calling him a “neo-Nazi”!
“Unless Bloomberg, who is at least a fiscal conservative”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
“That was a serious comment.”
We know. That is what makes it so sad.
Have you ever visited a beit midrash at a MO yeshiva?
“I’d rather a socialist than a liar, possible murderer, and sleaze ball like Shillary.”
I’d take a Socialist, or Hillary, against someone who is openly signalling acceptance of neo-Nazi support — Donald Trump. David Duke announced his support for Trump last week and Trump today lied three times in claiming he had no idea who Duke was. And also today, holocaust denying anti-Semite Jean Marie Le Pen just endorsed Trump.
You think Hillary is a sleaze ball? Find. Vote for the sleaze ball. Its important.
Why was Oreos becoming kosher news?
Hydrox cookies were ALWAYS kosher. Oreos were the knockoffs and for most of Oreos history they were made with non-kosher animal fat. I grew up eating Hydrox and never understood why people liked Oreos even after they became kosher. And Hydrox are now back!
“despite knowing the patient failed the breathing test”
The poskim who disagree with Rabbi Tendler seem to mostly hold that cessation of breathing constitutes halachic death.
‘misdiagnosed “cardiac death” was a very real concern in his day’
Other poskim hold that cardiac death is the halachic definition of death. That is difficult, as blood circulation was not discovered until about years ago. Chazal would not have created this definition.
“his heart still pumping — albeit assisted mechanically”
A heart transplant can only happen if the donor’s heart is beating and the donor’s lungs are breathing (possibly with mechanical assistance). If your halachic definition of death is anything other than brain death, then all heart transplants should be mamesh murder al pi halachah.
If you go to the heart transplant page at the web site of Montefiore Medical Center, you can see a video of an actual heart transplant.
“despite knowing the patient failed the breathing test”
The poskim who disagree with Rabbi Tendler mostly hold that cessation of breathing constitutes halachic death.
‘misdiagnosed “cardiac death” was a very real concern in his day’
Other poskim hold that cardiac death is the halachic definition of death. That is difficult, as blood circulation was not discovered until about years ago. Chazal would not have been able to create this definition.
“To be clear, brain death is not reversible. Search the medical annals, you wont find a case.”
A review of 1,311 first diagnoses of brain death in New York during 2007-2009 was published in the journal *Neurology* in 2011. They found that in no case did a second diagnosis, on average 19 hours later, differ from the first diagnosis.
Sanders has not actually proclaimed himself to be an atheist. He definitely is not a communist and is merely irreligious, not anti-religious. (Note his fight for the Chabad menorah in Burlington — while that state’s Jewish governor wanted to cave to the ACLU. It would be peculiar for an atheist to make a bracha to a God he believes does not exist!)
Leon Blum was Prime Minister of France, not the Head of State. Pierre Mendes-France, also Jewish, was also Prime Minister of France. Blum got France to arm itself to the teeth against the Nazi threat and Mendes-France helped Israel a lot.
“Our political expert, Charlie Hall, would tell us that Bernie Sanders is the most Torah-true candidate due to his ultra-liberal policies.”
No, only his support for a generous welfare state are certainly Torah-true. See for example Rambam Hilchot Matanot Aniyim. Note that all the Gedolim in Medinat Yisrael have consistently supported similar policies there.
“Then why all the fuss?”
People with awful midot who will stop at nothing to get their way. Both Obama and Cruz are natural born US citizens, and so were McCain and the elder Romney. Three of those four were born outside the US but each had at least one US citizen parent.
“The one charliehall says is beged isha.”
It was. Now it is accepted as beged ish.
This proves that the halachic status of things can change.
This is also a great example of taking something that was very profane and making it into something that is a symbol of holiness. As I have pointed out the fedora was first popularized by a notorious hedonist apostate actress over a century ago. Whatever frum Jew first donned a fedora was probably committing an sin, but that averia has been turned into a merit. We should think about that before criticizing those who adopt new minhagim.
“Today it’s the worldwide left that is the biggest danger to religious freedom”
Yes, the Muslims are complaining about how the French Left is cracking down on their connections to Middle Eastern terrorists. A danger to religious freedom.
You are the one in a coma.
“9/11 was done by the American government. I know you’ll think I’m mad”
Yes, you are mad, and so is Donald Trump.
Osama bin Ladin claimed credit for it, all 19 hijackers were connected to him, and there is zero evidence that anyone else had anything to do with it.
Unfortunately, a major reason people are open to such foolishness was the Bush Administration’s attempts to link Saddam Hussein to 9/11 in order to justify their stupid invasion of Iraq.
It is essential for the future of the free world that we elect a President in November who (1) understands who caused 9/11 and (2) understands how stupid the Iraq invasion was.
“What’s your source for Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra’s disagreement?”
His commentary on Parshat Toldot. I don’t think Ramban mentions Ibn Ezra’s position there.
The current French socialist government has been cracking down on Muslim organizations like crazy. It just extended a state of emergency that it has used to conduct thousands of raids. Mosques and Muslim businesses have been shut down and the civil libertarians are up in arms. All because of the threat of Muslim terrorism.
Yet commenters here continue to insist that the French Left is anti-Semitic. This despite the fact that for the entire history of France going all the way back to the Middle Ages it has been the French Right that has been hostile to Jews.
People here are so invested in right wing politics that they put those politics ahead of the interest of Jews. It is truly a blatant example of assimilation. You can wear a yarmulke and eat kosher but your thinking is that of a goy.
And no, I don’t defend all European Leftists. George Galloway and Jeremy Corbyn are rashaim! You have to look at each country separately.
“the fact that he is popular, speaks absolute volumes about the current state of the US.”
And the fact that some Jews are supporting him speaks volumes about the current state of diaspora Jewry!
“Sarah Schneirer started Bais Yakov schools with the exact mission of teaching girls Torah”
And Jewish schools in Germany and America were doing so before Sarah Schneirer was born — with the support of the leading talmidei chachamim in those countries.
“why can’t the ‘guest wife’ help in the kitchen?”
Husbands can help in the kitchen, too.
In fact, I often cook entire Shabat meals for ourselves and for guests!
“Charlie, DeGaulle was not a rightist. “
He dominated the political Right for his entire political career.
Of course, by US standards, the Right in France is to the left of Barack Obama.
“as for the Left, in both America and Europe it is virulently anti-Israel and anti-Jewish”
I have already proven that that statement is a lie. Unless you think that Manuel Valls isn’t from the Left.
“Riverdale is a very liberal neighborhood. It is probable that even if the MO Jews there voted for Romney”
A lot of MO Jews here in Riverdale voted for Romney. But an informal survey of the roughly sixty guests in my sukkah that fall found that about 2/3 of them were planning to vote for Obama and the election results matched that.
“apples to unicorns”
apples — welfare for poor individuals
unicorns — welfare for mismanaged businesses
” In general, tzedaka is best managed by civil society and communities as they can best identify the needs of individuals. National programs only benefit the bureaucrats who administer them.”
Actually almost all social programs are administered by state or local governments.
Both in Judaism (see the descriptions of the Kuppah and Tamchuy in Mishnah/Yerushalmi Peah and Rambam), and in England and the American colonies (see the 1601 Elizabethan Poor Law and similar statutes in all the colonies), poor relief was indeed done on a local level. This worked well for a while but it was criticized by laissez-faire economists starting with Adam Smith for making labor markets less robust, as people did not want to move to get jobs in other communities less they become ineligible for help should the new opportunity not work out. It also bankrupted poor communities as the few well-off individuals remaining faced absolutely crushing tax burdens. As a result, support for the poor had to be funded at higher levels of government.
‘ With the banks the government got back all its money and even made a “profit”. With the car companies, the government lost money, but got back most of the money.’
You are more of a socialist than Bernie Sanders!
“The RJC is clueless about Orthodox voting.”
You are clueless about scientfically designed surveys. I suspect that the RJC was shocked at how poorly they had done. And if the Republicans nominate Trump or Cruz they will do worse this year.
“the leftists in the French National Assembly were republicans (every Jew decides for himself how to be holy) and the rightists monarchists (Hashem is King”
For the next 150 years in France, the leftists would emancipate and then defend Jews against anti-Semitic persecution. (Zola and Clemenceau, who defended Dreyfus, were leftists.) The rightists would persecute Jews such as Dreyfus and eventually turn Jews over to the Nazis during the Vichy regime.
During the decades after World War II the French left was pro-Israel — getting Israel the Dimona reactor and selling it combat aircraft, for example. De Gaulle was the symbol of the French right and he was an anti-Semite who tried to destroy Israel.
In recent decades the French right has dropped its anti-Semitism; Sarkozy actually had Jewish ancestry and was proud of it. Even Marine Le Pen has called out her father for HIS anti-Semitism. And Baruch HaShem the French left continues its outspoken support of Jews; there is a video on the internet of current Prime Minister Valls proclaiming to the National Assembly of France that “France without Jews is not France!”
“The things he attributes to being kraivah l’arayos are per Shulchan Aruch. “
Where?
“Not making minimal small talk is almost impossible and would at the very least be viewed as anti social if not downright rude and antagonistic.
Minimal small talk is social normalicy.”
It is perfectly possible if you never want to have a real job.
“Neither Teaneck nor Riverdale are majority Orthodox Jewish.”
I haven’t seen election-district by election-district level results from Teaneck, but Obama did best in the parts of Riverdale where there is the greatest concentration of Orthodox Jews and worst in the parts of Riverdale where non-Jews (mostly Irish-Americans) dominate. (Romney would actually defeat Obama in Irish-American and Italian-American areas of the Bronx even though Obama got 91% of the vote in the Bronx overall.
Ibn Ezra disagrees that we are in galut Edom at all!
“Only an idiot could call it welfare in the context of individual oriented social programs.”
The TARP bailout alone was over $400 billion. And I don’t see how you can call it anything other than welfare for insolvent banks. The government did get most of the money bank because it assumed an equity interest in those institutions — in other words, it nationalized the banks! This is called socialism. And the President who created TARP was a Republican. Obama, a Democrat, de-nationalized the banks.
Life is not what the polemicists say that it is.
For fiscal year 2014:
Medicaid cost: $496 billion.
SNAP (formerly food stamps) cost: $74 billion.
Anti-Zionist charedim in Brooklyn voted for Romney by overwhelming margins — over 80% in some areas. This despite the fact that Republican rule in Washington would cut the social programs those communities depend upon for their very existence.
Zionist modern orthodox in Teaneck and Riverdale voted for Obama by smaller margins. This despite the fact that Democratic rule in Washington means higher taxes for these well off communities.
The Republican Jewish Coalition’s 2012 exit poll had Obama over Romney by 4% among Orthodox Jews — almost exactly the margin among non-Jewish Americans.
“I think it’s a travesty for religious Jews to vote Democrat.”
I mostly vote for Democrats and make no apologies.
” I also think welfare is a busha.”
Most welfare in America is either health care for those who can’t afford it, or subsidies to politically connected businesses. Eliminating the first would leave poor sick people to die in the streets, and eliminating the second just isn’t going to happen.
I see that this is back.
It is asur d’oraita for an alcoholic to drink any alcohol whatsoever under any circumstances. This is a serious pikuach nefesh issue. There are no exceptions to this.
“I would think it the worst place considering it tiflus for women to learn Torah she’bal peh.”
Rabbi Schachter does not pasken like that. I have personally attended a co-ed gemara shiur he led.
“The Root Behind The Palestinian/Israeli Really Just Has To Do With Islam”
Given that some of the worst anti-Israel terrorists have been non-Muslims that would seem to be a stretch.
“Livery cabs must be called and can’t be hailed from the street.”
Everyone hails livery cabs in the Bronx. Including me. We have no yellow cabs and few green cabs.
Now will the person who accused me of opposing deregulation please retract and apologize?
“Uber Black to your local car service”
I have seen plenty of Uber Black cars in my area. They are Lincoln Town Cars, just like the livery cabs. In fact, many are other companies’ livery cabs, with drivers making an extra buck on the side.
‘I assume when you say “in many cases,” you are again being intentionally misleading’
Correct. What I should have said is that I have NEVER found Uber to be less expensive than an ordinary livery cab. I was giving Uber the benefit of the doubt. Maybe at 4am some morning they would be less expensive.
“they have effectively deregulated a formerly regulated industry.”
They have done no such thing. Livery cab rates are unregulated. Uber in NYC is basically a livery cab service with a smartphone app.
“You don’t like Trump so you call him a bigot, but when you’re called on it, you aren’t even willing to post one post backing it up. “
You think Trump isn’t a bigot??? If YWN accepted outside news links I could fill page after page in the Coffee Room with examples.
“I haven’t been following the Trump news closely, and there’s a decent chance you’d convince me that he is.”
You admit you are an ignoramus yet you challenge me on that? Talk about chutzpah!
“Liberalism is a mental disorder”
When someone starts engaging in *ad hominem* attacks, I know that I have won the argument.
Besides, Trump is no conservative. He makes Bernie Sanders look like a small government advocate. Before you start accusing people of having a mental disorder you might want to examine your own inaccurate perception of reality.
“I have no idea why you are opposed to people saving money.”
I *support* people saving money and that is why I am calling out Uber. It is preying on people who don’t realize that in many cases an ordinary livery cab or even green or yellow cab is less expensive because they aren’t familiar with NYC.