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“When I’ve been in similar situations I’ve gone to the restaurant and just had Coke.”
Same here. And I have a baseball cap rather than a yarmulke.
Recently, at a professional conference, there was a reception in a non-kosher restaurant. The non-kosher restaurant arranged for me to have a meal delivered from a kosher caterer; it arrived at my table triple-wrapped with the kashrut seal intact. I still wore my baseball cap.
For me, one of the great things about Shabat is that I DON’T use my Blackberry or my computer! How do we communicate that to our kids?
Recently I heard Rabbi Jeff Fox give a shiur on this very issue. After a brief discussion of the halachot of electricity on Shabat, he went into his main point which was that kids who do this don’t get what Shabat is about and that we are failing to communicate the greatness of Shabat. He didn’t have any particular ideas except to say that if all Shabat is about is all the things you can’t do, of course kids will want to get out of it somehow.
At the end of the shiur, none of us (myself included) wanted to talk about his main point — we all wanted to discuss the halachot of electricity! He (justifiably) berated us for missing the point.
Bronx, Riverdale. We have a yard with lots of trees.
“Professor Nils Christie said (when discussing this case) that this basically almost never happens.”
I don’t doubt this — even in the US, a life sentence in the federal system really means 30 years and then parole (which is why Jonathan Pollard is scheduled for release in November 2015). But Norway has not had a situation like this since World War II — and note that the Norwegians executed Vidkun Quisling along with 36 others for war crimes and treason. Other than those executions, the last execution in Norway was prior to its 1905 independence from Sweden.
“I’d have gladly paid 20% – 25% more for a bonded and guaranteed worker who had rules to work by, and so would any of my friends.”
I have had no problem finding housekeepers who are legally permitted to work in the US and are bonded. My current housekeeper was born in the US. Is Brooklyn different from the Bronx?
“Peet Seeger represents yesterday’s liberalism.”
Mr. Seeger would certainly disagree; he still performs in public and still speaks out on various issues.
“He also doesn’t buy the general notion that everyone today is a tinok shenishba.”
That is reasonable. But the issue with Amy Winehouse was not tinok shenishba but that she had a very serious disease: drug addiction. Her repeated outbreaks of anti-social behavior are quite characteristic of addiction, as was her defiant refusal to do anything about it.
I recently had to attend the funeral of a Jewish drug addict who had died young; he had been a teacher and many former students came. He had a sister who is orthodox and the family sat a full shiva. There was also a suicide in my community a few years ago; the person had only recently spent time in the hospital for depression and there, too, the family sat a full shiva with the approval of the rabbis. Both these were tragic losses of good people. I had just given the man who committed suicide an aliyah the preceding Shabat. Amy Winehouse had tremendous talent and could have used it for good.
I just hope that Amy Winehouse’s death might inspire those who have fallen prey to scourge of drug addition to take action now before they end up like her.
A lot of great rabbis have been vegetarians.
“I have seen some mesh tzitzis on eichlers. Are these comfortable?
I see that the tzitzis are actually made out of some sort of p
polyester string rather then the string of a usual set of tzitzis.”
I wear only the polyester mesh. I wouldn’t be able to handle the heat if I had to wear cotton or wool. They are indeed comfortable and I highly recommend them.
“I still think my kids will feel like nebs, and I won’t allow that.”
Tell them that they are getting the most important role, and that unfortunately in our times it is not as respected. Show them the source in the gemara and tell them to be proud! And especially tell them not to be worried about what others think when they fulfill a mitzvah!!!
“if where you daven, they really give ppl kibbudim according to their “neb status”, then the ppl who run your shul, should be fired and you should get people with ahavas habrios, ahavas hatorah and their priorities straight, to run the shul.”
Or change shuls to one that respects our traditions.
“I would be thrilled and delighted to even be able to TOUCH the Torah every Shabbos”
There do exist Orthodox synagogues where you could — in fact the three closest ones to where I live allow this.
I use getting an aliyah or not getting an aliyah as a mussar lesson. When I find myself getting resentful that someone else whom I think is less deserving gets an aliyah and I don’t, it is a good reminder that NO amount of honor, NO amount of prestige, NO amount of respect will EVER be enough for my ego. When I get offered an honor, I take it. I often get hagbah because I am trusted not to drop the sefer torah.
“Charlie, please do not write anything that sounds negative!!”
I wasn’t trying to be negative, I was just trying to understand what you meant. “Jewish” music is really hard to define. Almost all Jewish music has been influenced by non-Jewish styles, and I don’t think Arnold Schoenberg’s atonal music, which arguably was like nothing ever heard before, is what any band is going to play at a simcha.
When my wife and I got married we hired the best klezmer band we could find. We wanted something that was more of a traditional Ashkenazic Jewish style even though that style is arguably only about a century or two old and clearly shares characteristics with other Eastern European music. We also were successful in getting them to keep the volume at a reasonable level, which our guests appreciated.
“My idea resonates very well with 90% of voters who are net tax payers.”
Not this one! For one thing, your premises are absolutely mistaken. Poor people pay much larger fractions of their income in sales and excise taxes, and the full rate of the social security tax on their earnings. And millionaires pay a lower marginal tax rate today than the middle class. Furthermore, no less a conservative persona than Milton Freedman endorsed a NEGATIVE income tax to help the poor. The current Earned Income Tax Credit is a pale imitation of what he proposed.
“Rav moshe in his teshuva to the governor of NY didn’t mention that, and all my rebbeim have supported it.”
Rav Ahron Soloveichik z’tz’l, who was probably close to if not equal to Rav Moshe’s stature, was an outspoken opponent of the death penalty and said so publicly. All my rabbeim I’ve heard speak on the matter have told me that a Jew should not serve on a jury in a capital case. (Did Rav Moshe address the requirement for an eyewitness or did he pasken against the gemara and Rambam?)
“All you do by redistributing wealth is encourage people to stay home and produce nothing but children”
Are you seriously arguing that all the kollel families receiving public assistance need to stop having children? Chas v’shalom!
popa,
Salt Palace is just a convention center, not a church. What is wrong with it?
newhere,
Have you bothered to ask a rav about this issue?
“I am always looking for new (and easy ways) to make salmon.”
Real Easy Lemon Dill Salmon:
Marinate salmon filet overnight in olive oil and lemon juice. This is important as it keeps it from drying out on the blech and gives it lemony flavor throughout.
Remove from marinate and place in broiler pan. Sprinkle liberally with dried dill. Cover with aluminum foil Bake in oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit — the time will depend on the size of the filet — until flaky. Serve either hot or cold. It reheats well on the blech on Shabat morning.
Enjoy!
Regarding the confusion of permissivism with liberalism, I will point out one great example of how they differ: Pete Seeger, the famous folksinger known for his far-left politics. He has been married to the same woman since 1943.
“Yes it does. And it’s worth every penny.”
Which taxes do you support increasing in order to pay for all the extra detectives and prosecutors?
600,
It costs far more to get a death sentence in the US than it does to lock someone up for life.
600, I agree that Soros adds no value. The problem is how to defend the system against people like him. Many capitalists and their supporters, including the current Republicans in the US Congress, are adamant against setting up checks and balances in the financial system to avoid abuses of the market.
Buffet is as good as Soros is bad. Buffet invests in well-run companies and keeps their management intact, protecting them from the likes of Soros and also from the likes of less evil speculators who just want a quick buck.
The surprising thing is that given Buffet’s record as the most successful investor in history, that there are far more individuals who adopt the fast buck strategy than the kind of strategy that Buffet employs.
” it was the first thing I saw online when I logged on after Shabbos.”
Me, too.
” i wouldnt waste time mourning that lowlife”
She had a lowlife lifestyle because of drugs. None of us are immune.
‘ true reshoim, whether self-hating like George Soros, frei like Madoff who davka ate pork, or “frum” (farkakte reshoim uhn mitzvos) like D-ek, Shereshevsky, or Levi Aron.’
Soros would be considered evil even if he weren’t a self-hating Jew. He made billions betting on the destruction of the British economy. In effect, he capitalized on the misery of others. And he shows no remorse. He is a textbook example of the evils of capitalism when carried to extreme. Fortunately, most capitalists do not share his lack of morality.
Popa,
I doubt that a provision such as that in Norway would stand constitutional challenge in the United States, at least if it were applied retroactively. But it does show that Norway does realize that there are indeed people who need to be excluded forever from society, contrary to the OP.
“you’ve seen one lentil, you’ve seen them all”
Not true at all! They have different textures and flavors.
If you’d like to try it yourself, check out Dakshin restaurant on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. (They call it Panchrattan Dal. Kashrut supervision by O-K.)
While the maximum penalty for any particular crime in Norway is indeed 21 years, the Criminal Code of the Kingdom of Norway also permits indefinite preventative detention after the completion of a sentence if the person is still deemed a threat to society, essentially allowing for a life sentence.
The presence of a death penalty if anything is associated with higher rates of homicide. Norway’s homicide rate is about one eighth that of the United States, and has declined in recent years.
” For example any of Yossele Rosenblatts songs or any of the old chassidish songs like Koh Echsof.”
Those are actually in the style of non-Jewish music. And Rosenblatt himself sang non-Jewish songs, including opera arias and “The Star-Spangled Banner”, in public.
I wear Converse Jack Purcell canvas shoes two days a year, on Tisha B’Av, and on Yom Kippur.
There are many minhagim for Tisha B’Av and they all should be respected.
I posted “Baruch Dayan HaEmet” on my facebook page, along with a link to a news report of her death. She had been terribly troubled by drug addiction. It is very sad.
Pancha dal: An Indian stew with five different kinds of lentils.
“I just learned in the Gemara in Shabbos that the reason that children die young is because we didn’t properly mourn gedolim”
Source (daf, amud)?
What is “non-Goyish” music?
“First of all, Leiby a’h, left day camp around 4:50. He was supposed to meet his mother 10 minutes later. He walked for over half an hour before meeting the wrong person.”
An inexpensive cell phone would have had the potential to save Leiby’s life. Much simpler than a GPS is just to have mom on speed dial.
If you don’t like the moderators….you can start your own site.
Why not make your own? Pizza crust is easy to make from flour, water, and olive oil. There are excellent kosher tomato sauces and kosher mozzarella cheeses. You can bake it in a pan, or, even better, get a pizza stone. If you are too lazy to knead the dough yourself, a breadmaker works quite well. (Commercial bakeries use them.)
How about allowing kids to carry cell phones so they can call home when lost?
“Do we follow all the other dictates of this Mishna? Are 5 year old kids learning Mikra for five years, then Mishna for five years, then start Gemara at 15? No.
The Mishna is giving us suggested guidelines that our present day Chachamim will interpret and apply as needed.”
And the Conservative Movement says that they can interpret and apply mishnayot as needed. There has to be a better answer to them than “we are right and they are wrong”.
And a good argument can be made — in fact it has been made, by Rabbi Hershel Schachter among others — that boy’s yeshivot overemphasize gemara, starting too early and ignoring the rest of our mesorah. The author of this mishnah would likely have agreed.
I would talk to a rabbi about this before doing anything.
This site has the information for Marinol:
http://www.rxlist.com/marinol-drug.htm
“Medical marijuana” is just a fraud, pure and simple. Smoking marijuana has no medical use whatsoever, and smoking anything is dangerous.
That said, marijuana is MUCH less of a public health hazard than alcohol. Potheads do not get violent, do not commit crimes of passion, and are not feared by the police the way that they fear people who are drunk. Just imagine what a disaster Woodstock would have been had the drug of choice been beer rather than pot! It is not clear that there has ever been anyone who has died from marijuana use. But potheads can suffer other effects — I had a roommate flunk out of college because he was high on pot for the entire semester.
“I think beis din is authorized to do that today.”
That is a good way to get more Jews learning full time, supported by government tax money — in federal prisons!
“Unless there are the requisite halachic justifications to insist on a get and the beis din orders him to give one”
We have to accept rulings of beit din. In this case, the published reports are that it ruled that she was entitled to a get and he was ordered to give her one. In such cases, an otherwise coerced get is not considered to be coerced and she would truly be free to remarry after the get is given.
“the couple be forced to wear monitoring bracelets because their ties to Israel make them a risk to flee”
The fact that Israel refuses to extradite some fugitives to the US or to put them on trial in Israel gives the idea that Jews are flight risks credibility. Mondrowitz has been living freely in Israel for 25 years!
I’ve been taught that if you eat or drink ANY amount you are no longer considered to be completing the fast and therefore cannot be given an aliyah. Yom Kippur is actually more lenient as you can eat or drink small amounts for medical reasons and still be given an aliyah.
Go to an area with a shorter day. I’m in Europe what the fast ended at 10:37pm local time! My fast ended up being 22 hours — almost as long as Yom Kippur!!!
A man remarrying his ex-wife when she has been married to another man in the interim is not only asur, the Torah calls it a toeiva. Yet it is legal almost everywhere. Why we object to same sex toeiva marriage but not this other kind of toeiva marriage is not clear to me.
“Theaters and circuses did not exist in ancient Egypt.”
I did not say that they did.
“taking three steps back and foward is a bit tricky with ski boots, but it can be done”
Correct for downhill boots. But with cross country skis it is easy. I’ve davened minchah many times while on cross country skis. Now if I could just get enough other Jews interested in cross country skiing….
“And have you ever consulted a Rov about davening at a game?”
I’ve davened at Yankee Stadium WITH rabbis!
“A minyan at a baseball game is like a minyan in back of an airplane.”
No, a minyan at the back of an airplane creates serious safety concerns if the plane is at all full. My flight to Europe last week was 3/4 empty but that was a rarity and I don’t think there were any other Jews on the plane — certainly none with a yarmulke.
“What are G-d given rights? Where/When did he give them to us? Is there a rishon that codified them somewhere?”
The “rishon” was named Thomas Jefferson, and he codified some of them in the U.S. Declaration of Independence. But it should be noted that Jefferson, who was not a Christian by any reasonable definition, was quite hostile to any and all organized religions. (He was neither an anti-Semite nor an atheist, though.) But Judaism doesn’t really speak of rights but of responsibilities. While the principles of the U.S. Declaration of Independence helped to create a country in which Jews are as well treated as at any time or place in our long galut — and in fact most of the small Jewish community here were enthusiastic supporters of the new Republic — we should not fall into the trap of thinking that Jefferson’s ideas represent Torah thinking.
“Only if he is halachicly required to provide it. That isn’t necessarily the case.”
My understanding in this particular case is that a beit din in Israel had ordered him to give a get and that he had fled the country in order to avoid being sent to prison.
“NY is the the state with the least freedom”
I would argue NYC has the most freedom. NYC has the lowest rate of sexual assaults and the lowest rate of property crime of any city in America. And it has one of the lowest rates of homicide of any large city. Did the GMU researchers include freedom from crime in their criteria?
And as pointed out earlier, NYC is awfully tolerant of people with nonstandard lifestyles like ours. I’m in Europe right now and the local Jews were envious of the fact that my wife can practice medicine while wearing a headscarf — around here, many men feel they can’t wear yarmulkes on the street because they will stand out.
” Unless you own a home in nyc”
NYC has some of the lowest property tax rates in America.
The mandatory recycling is free and saves us a lot of tax money as there is very limited landfill space in the NY area. I’ve lived in a lot of places with mandatory recycling and frankly NY does it better than anywhere else. You don’t need to put it in bags at all if you have separate labeled trash containers for recyclables.