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“But I am leery about thinking of it as an arcane uncivilized practice.”
I don’t call it arcane or uncivilized, just unsafe. The people who insist on doing it today are meikel on pikuach nefesh.
zahavasdad,
I would say that the boy should wear the hat if the father insists, but that the father should not have insisted.
It is these kind of silly insistence of externals that drive people away from Judaism.
popa,
The California State Constitution also contains a Free Exercise clause, and state courts are often more protective of individual rights than federal courts. All the current Justices of the Supreme Court of California were appointed by Republicans; does anyone know how they have ruled on past religious freedom issues?
“There are zero health benefits to not circumcising. “
Not true if metzitzah be peh is performed!
If your father says “no” that is the end of it.
That said, I think that the father should say “yes”. Plenty of modern orthodox RABBIS wear black hats on Shabat.
Health,
Suppose that the Arabs had won the 1948 war, that the Medinah had not survived. Do you really think we’d be able to daven at the Kotel?
popa,
The Jerusalem Day thread got ten comments. You were not one of the commenters.
“Why didn’y Yeshiva World bother to mention it in their main news stories of the day?”
Well, I created a Jerusalem Day thread in the coffee room and it got almost no responses. Maybe YWN understands that its readers don’t care about Jerusalem.
“Because I might understand now how you think Obama and other liberals are reasonable on Israel.”
Nine US Presidents have supported Land for Peace. So have some of the greatest rabbis of my lifetime including Rav Soloveitchik z’tz’l and Rav Shach z’tz’l. (And while I’m not familiar with R’Shach’s writings, you absolutely cannot say tat The Rav was not well aware of Arab hatred and duplicity; he wrote about it in *Kol Dodi Dofeik*.)
‘That A”H you quoted was written on behalf of the Russian censors.’
Even if it was, it is solidly grounded in the talmudic discussion in Bava Kamma 113 that distinguishes between lawful and corrupt governments.
“CharlieHall joined Neteurei Karta!”
I doubt many NK folks recited Hallel this past morning.
“I dont care what they say in English, its what thay say in Arabic and their action what counts.”
I agree. I note the difference between what Haniyeh, Abbas, and Fayyad say to media outlets like Al-Jazeera.
“Does anyone know how this is applicable today to a newly converted person?”
No.
“M’ikur hadin he can even marry his “mother”.”
Not true, all forbidden relations as a Noachide are at least rabbinically forbidden once one becomes a ger.
“Stay. Accept Pali citizenship.”
I would seriously consider doing the same thing. It is still Eretz Yisrael and you still observe one day Yom Tov. Palestinian PM Fayyad, may he have a refuah shleimah from his recent heart attack, has publicly stated in both the Arabic and English language media that he wants Jews to be able to live freely as Palestinian citizens in a democratic free market Palestine. (And PM Fayyad seems more committed to free markets than most Israeli politicians!)
“Yes, I did”
So did I.
“So why not get a round trip ticket for a one way trip?”
People actually do that. Another trick is to get a cheap flight to some not-very-popular destination that involves a change of plane at the popular destination you really want, and throw away the ticket for the second leg of the trip, when the ticket to the popular destination is much more expensive. Airlines hate people who do these things.
600,
Jastrow’s congregation, Rodeph Shalom, still exists today as a Reform synagogue. It is the oldest Ashkenazic synagogue in the western hemisphere. It eventually fired Jastrow because he was too (small c) conservative. Ironically, the Sefardic congregation it broke away from, Mikveh Israel, is still Orthodox.
YU and Touro offer programs where you can get a BA and an MA by your early 20s while learning in the beit midrash many hours a day.
“If the girls learn the same halacha, they won’t consider it rude.”
Not a problem in my neighborhood since we teach gemara to women ;).
This has been discussed many times here. Almost nobody in my community keeps chalav Yisrael, and the major kashrut agencies and the local vaad allows non-CY dairy products. In the US no commercial milk from any animals other than cows, sheep, or goats are permitted to be transported across state lines, so it is basically impossible to substitute non-kosher milk for kosher milk. There is still the concern of non-kosher additives, which has occasionally happened; since all milk has additives you still need supervision. (Note: You an find imported camel milk in some specialty stores, and at a few farms.)
“I like that line about the labor unions. Pretty true!”
If it weren’t for labor unions, we would all be given the choice of working on Saturday or not working at all.
“someone whose values are inimical to what the founding fathers stood for”
You should re-read the writings of the Founding Fathers, in particular Alexander Hamilton, whose model for interventionist government was accepted and implemented.
“Change – yes – $1 US = 98 cents Canadian, as in three Canadian quarters, two Canadian dimes, one Canadian nickel, and three Canadian pennies for one US dollar – as I read this morning.”
Nothing wrong with that — back in 1974 the US dollar was worth 96 cents Canadian. It is a sign of the success of Canada’s interventionist economic regulation that keeps its financial institutions on a short leash. It also may be a sign of the competitive advantage that Canadian businesses have when they don’t have to pay their employees’ health insurance. I wish we had Canada’s economic and health insurance system here in the US.
“had I been a Jew in Europe I would have davened for a German victory.”
I would have, too. Germany and Austria-Hungary mostly treated Jews well at that time — and they were in a war to the end against Russia, the most anti-Semitic country in the world. After the fall of the Czar, Germany and the UK should have made peace before the US intervened, but they did not.
Yes.
“President’s Day” is actually the official celebration of George Washington’s birthday. President Washington was an unbelievable friend to the Jewish people. You should read his amazing letter to the Jewish congregation of Newport RI and remember that no Christian head of state had said anything like that ever before in history.
“Memorial Day” is the day that we honor those who gave their lives to preserve this medinah shel chesed in which we live.
“Independence Day” — July 4 — is the day we celebrate the creation of that medinah shel chesed. It is a day for thanksgiving. It was celebrated by Jews in America at least as early as 1788 and we have no power to alter a long established minhag such as that.
“Labor Day” is less important to us, but we should give thanks on that day for the organized labor movement because it was only due to their efforts that the US got a five day work week, allowing us to observe Shabat while keeping our jobs. Note that in most countries there is a similar-sounding holiday on May 1, but it was co-opted by socialists whose agenda is not consistent with ours; the US deliberately chose a different date in order to distance it from those interests.
“Thanksgiving Day” was not mentioned, but it was enthusiastically embraced by the small American Jewish community at the first official Thanksgiving Day in 1789 (proclaimed by George Washington, above). The very first religious writing related to Thanksgiving Day in America to be published was actually written by a Jew, Gershom Mendes Seixas. To this day, the congregation he led, which is still orthodox, skips tachanun and recites a half-hallel on Thanksgiving Day. (Whether one can eat turkey on Thanksgiving Day or any other day is a very different question!)
So while there is no heter to skip Torah learning, a few moments of appreciation for what we have here are certainly appropriate.
I don’t know what is the halachah here, but a boy who is always rude to women he dates is not going to be getting married, so the community of Jews who follow those rulings will die out in a generation.
“Jastrow wasn’t religious and wrote his dictionary over 100 years ago.”
Has anything of interest to Jews been written in Aramaic in the past 100 years?
am yisrael chai,
Not as far as I know.
“If you see someone wearing shaatnez doraisa knowingly”
My assumption was that the person was NOT wearing shatnez knowingly.
I would NEVER walk up to a woman I did not know to point out her non-tzniut dress. Talk about not tzniut! In fact, I wouldn’t even do that for someone I DID know. Come to think of it, I wouldn’t even do that for my wife!!!
Given that according to many opinions I’m not even supposed to tell a woman that she is wearing shatnez, an objective issur from the Torah, kal v’chomer for tznuit which is subjective.
“Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim and RIETS are easily confused, since both allow their students to wear shirts that are not white.”
ROTF!!!!
Make sure that the online program is accredited by the appropriate regional association. Here is the list:
http://www.chea.org/Directories/regional.asp
An unaccredited program is a waste of money and time.
If you don’t want to go past a BA or BS, that is probably sufficient. But if you want to pursue further professional or graduate education, it will really help if you are able to get to know some faculty who can write you a letter of recommendation! Check out the programs and find out how much contact with real faculty you will have.
FWIW, you can also go to a famous prestigious university and not have much contact with real faculty. I did, and ended up not having any of my undergraduate faculty write letters for me to get into graduate school. And I know of others who have had the same experience.
Actually the US economy has now been growing for two years. It just hasn’t recovered from the crash of 2008. And the reason Canada didn’t have a crash is that it never bought into the extreme laissez-faire non-regulation of its banking sector. This is of course consistent with Torah principles — commerce needs transparency and regulation. PM Harper indicated during his campaign that he did not plan to make major changes in these or other major policy areas; it is arguable that the Conservative Party of Canada is to the left of the Democratic Party in the US.
“the rabbis in the 1920’s & 30’s were very opposed to the State of Israel”
Not ALL the rabbis — some gedolim were Zionists.
In terms of headcount RIETS has to be #1 — it has dozens of Rosh Yeshivas, all brilliant.
“Vaad policy is not to give hashgacha to a place open on shabbos. “
It is also the policy of the OK, unless they have recently changed it.
“the only two establishments in Queens under a Hashgacha other than the Queens va’ad”
There are numerous other establishments in Queens with other supervision.
“Of course it is more tznius to wear a burka.”
Nonsense. There is no clothing that will bring more to a woman on the street than a burka. That is the opposite of tzniut.
‘Just because “a large part of Orthodoxy” does something, does not make it permissible.’
Actually, numerous poskim over the centuries have used that argument to declare things mutar.
“Whoever it was that decided the msot appropriate palce for a shidduch date was a LOUNGE in some hotel, should have his head examined. There are people committing all kinds of untzniusdig acts there, picking women up, doing other things. Frum young people should not be exposed to that on a date. what happened to that old standard – – the airport?”
Airport lounges are probably even more known for “hookups” than hotel lounges.
My one airport lobby date was a disaster. Not only was the woman a complete non-match, but the hotel was hosting a convention of pro-Palestinian activists. (I’m not making this up.)
If he drove home after drinking, I would run the other way as fast as possible.
“Obviously any frum yid would choose Brisk.”
Not necessarily — there are other great yeshivas, just as there are other great universities besides Harvard.
pac-man, you bring a proof from Nazi propaganda? It is a fact that every single Social Democrat in the Reichstag voted against giving Hitler yemach shmo dictatorial powers in 1933, and every single member of every other party voted the wrong way. Most of the deputies who voted with the losing side spent the next 12 years in prison or in hiding, if they survived at all. With rare exceptions such as Konrad Adenauer, mayor of Cologne, a member of the (Catholic) Center Party who openly opposed the Nazis and for his trouble was arrested multiple times by the Nazis and spent much of the next 12 years in hiding, the non-socialist parties went along with the Nazis.
cucumber, Hitler yemach shmo was not opposed to all abortions: He forbade Aryan Germans from having abortion but made it easily available to non-Germans, in particular, Jews, before he decided to eliminate born-Jews as well.
http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/air/air_vol16no1_2001.html
No less a figure than Himmler yemach shmo was founded a “Reich Central Office for Combating Abortion and Homosexuality”. Tens of thousands of suspected homosexuals were imprisoned, many in the same camps that our people were sent to.
Hitler yemach shmo was anti-abortion and anti-gay. I presume some of the commenters here would have supported him. After all, his last opponents were socialists!
“my grandparents had cats, in order to get rid of the mice”
If you have cats, you won’t have mice.
“the Rabbi allowed a blind man to bring his seeing eye dog “
I’ve seen halachic writings that say that such a dog does not have the halachic status of an animal and would therefore be permitted in a beit knesset.
“I know plenty of jews who have dogs.”
I know plenty of FRUM Jews who have dogs. We, however, have cats.
Rev. Camping previously predicted the end of the world for October 1994.
“there is a command from the Commander! to cover ones hair”
Actually there are more sources who say that the commandment is not from the Commander but from the Rabbis. Rav Broyde wrote an 80+ page essay where he brings down all the sources — machmir and meikel. There is close to universal agreement, however, that it IS halachah, with only three 20th century poskim disagreeing.
observateen, if Canadian and Israeli healthcare is so bad, why do they live longer?
And if you have a pre-existing condition and you are in the US, the only way you can get any healthcare at all is to make aliyah!
No defense.
“they’re always wrong?”
Of course not! My wife wears them often.
‘i heard it’s because it’s copying from the Goyim but it doesn’t make sense to me, everything we wear is sort of “copying from the Goyim” no?’
If we were really prohibited from copying fashion from the goyim, we would not be wearing suits, ties, trousers, or fedora hats.
“Jeans were invented for farmers and by no stretch of the imagination would be considered nice”
Not true. In Europe, jeans are very fashionable — and cost much more than in the US. I’ve been to Rome where the Levi’s boutique was in the same block as the Armani and Gucci boutiques.
(BTW, they weren’t invented for farmers at all — the first use of denim was in Italian naval uniforms. In America they became popular in California mining communities.)
“bas melech?”
Well the closest thing to a bas melech in the US are President Obama’s daughters. A quick google search will show that they wear denim jeans — not denim skirts, but denim trousers. Thus denim jeans are mutar for Jewish women. 😉
(President Bush’s daughters were more likely to be photographed in miniskirts.)
“denim pants were first manufactured in America by a Jewish immigrant from Bavaria named Levi Strauss. Doesn’t this make them Jewish clothing?”
Yes, much more so than fedora hats!
“My goal in life is to be a Rebbetzin who wears em.”
I know a rebbitzin who wears jeans. It really isn’t an issue if they aren’t form-fitting and they show far less than many of the skirts that are common in the frum world.
Scrabble! I’ve played in three languages: English, Spanish, and Hebrew.