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“Do you support outlawing abortion (except when the mother’s life/health is at stake)?”
I hope not! Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli z’tz’l, Rabbi Eliezer Waldenberg z’tz’l, Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik z’tz’l, Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, and Rabbi Levy Yitzhak Halperin permit an abortion when a fetus has a serious medical condition or genetic defect.
I have been told by someone in a position to know that Sen. Lieberman was told by his rabbi NOT to wear a yarmulke in public because people might mistake his public statements for that of a rabbi, which he is not.
This may sound silly but when I travel outside the NY area to parts of the country where there are few Jews lots of people assume that the fact I wear a yarmulke means *I* am a rabbi, which I am not.
Nononsense is 100% correct about medical school. DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT GOING TO MEDICAL SCHOOL IF YOU ARE IN IT FOR THE MONEY. I say that as someone who is married to a physician who finished her training with over two hundred thousand dollars of debt and who has taught medical students since 1998. Physician salaries aren’t what people think they are; only a few specialties are lucrative today. And the training is grueling: 80 hour weeks including 24 hour shifts.
” If she abuses her intellect, then that’s another story.”
That applies to men, too!
‘Regarding optional mitzvos it may not be halachically permissive to practice if one’s intentions are “shloa lishma”. ‘
And that is pretty irrelevant to torah study because women are obligated in all but about a dozen mitzvot from the torah. It is not an “optional mitzvah” for women to learn torah. I my neighborhood we have many women who regularly attend either daf yomi or in-depth gemara shiurim.
“And if we happen to pasken like one rishon over another, we don’t call the other wrong. “
This isn’t a matter of paskening, this is a matter of facts.
“His theory is that men are intimidated by smart women and it is best to slowly let the man see your intelligence”
Not all men. My wife regularly beats me at Scrabble.
Lomed Mkol Adam,
In today’s Daf Yomi we learn that whoever learns torah for the wrong reason will eventually learn for the right reason.
“the Rambam paskens that it is a mitzvah deoraysa for us to have a king”
And as you certainly know, other rishonim argued strongly against that Rambam, in particular Abarbanel who had horrible things to say about monarchies.
“some of the other gedolim may have not agreed with the Satmar Rebbe was how to treat the zionist state ex post facto once it existed”
And some of the other gedolim were actually religious Zionists themselves! Read for example Rov Soloveitchik’s Kol Dodi Dofeik.
“I can’t imagine there are any legal issues in censoring comments”
Correct! If I don’t like the site’s policies I am perfectly free to start a competing site.
Why is this thread coming up again?
McCain was even more serious about Sen. Joseph Lieberman. I think that had he selected Lieberman he might have won.
“Why did you say this? “
Because today B”H we have many brilliant women who are learned in Torah.
“It must be conceded that girls going for advanced education do seem to have a more difficult time in shidduchim.”
That is a negative statement regarding frum guys, not the women.
“The truth is often not politically correct these days.”
You think we need to close all the kollels?
“Rashi says that women’s minds are not meant for serious Torah learning. “
And B”H he has been proven wrong.
In any case I’m not aware of any Torah community where women learn no T”S”B”P. And Modern Orthodox communities follow Rov Soloveitchik z’tz’l who *personally* taught gemara to women.
Another interesting A”Z shilah:
Alternate side parking is suspended today in NYC because of a Hindu religious festival. Are we permitted to park where we would normally not be permitted to, or is that taking advantage of the existence of an A”Z festival?
We vary a lot. But the main thing visitors to our home will note is that we do a lot of Indian dishes. Indian dal (lentil stew) preserves very well over Shabat on a pot on the blech. Much tastier and healthier than traditional cholent. And this week is a very good week to serve masoor dal (red lentils) ;).
” Or how even they decided in ’64 to turn over the whole religion “
Their business, not ours. Read Rov Solveitchik’s “Confrontation”.
“charlie hall, we do not chas veshalom pray to angels. if you r
talking about the slicha malachei rachamim , reb chaim volozhinert says not to say it”
That indeed is what I was referring to. You just can’t pilpul away the fact that it is a prayer directed towards angels. I personally follow R’Chaim on this, but most people do say it.
minyan gal,
That is great if you are Canadian but if you are a US citizen a Canadian lottery win will be taxable in the US.
gavra wrote,
“Explain please.”
I personally think Christian theology is inexplicable.
gavra,
And Christians will give you a similar answer when they pray to *their* intermediaries.
I’d pay the taxes, pay off our debts and give the rest away. It isn’t my money it is HaShem’s.
An even more significant issue is that Orthodox Christian Churches are among the largest private landowners in Eretz Yisrael.
Still more significant is that the embrace of political evangelical support by Jews has been interpreted by non-evangelical Christians as chas v’shalom an endorsement of evangelical Christianity over other forms.
Tam Mahu Omer wrote,
“I hate to make this suggestion”
Don’t worry, many others have made that suggestion before you.
Ben Torah,
You ignore the position of HaMeiri, which was supported by (among others) Rabbi Y. Y. Weinberg z’tz’l and Rov Soloveitchik z’tz’l.
Tam Mahu Omer wrote,
“It is avodah zarah to daven to something even if you believe its just and intermediary.”
Not true. We have prayers to angels in our own liturgy.
The old system was simpler and faster. Why did Bush and the Republican Congress force us to fix something that wasn’t broken?
“The Noda B’Yehuda says shituf is pure Avoda Zora for goyim. “
The Noda B’Yehuda is entitled to his opinion, but he is paskening against Rashi, Tosafot, HaMeiri, and the Rema.
In any case, indirect support of A”Z is extensively discussed in the talmud tractate of that name that we just finished in the Daf Yomi. I’m not a posek (!) but there is certainly room for a posek to find ways to be meikel in the situation described, particularly based on the comments of the rishonim I just mentioned. CYLOR.
“OK, no presidential election this year. We’re going to decide which electors we will appoint.”
No state has done this since the 1860 election.
“They could also appoint themselves, and the Governor, to lifetime positions as legislators and abolish elections for state office.”
The US Constitution prohibits this as was mentioned above.
“The winner would be pres, and the runner up would be vice pres.”
That actually was the system in the first four Presidential elections. Read about the election of 1800 and you will see why it was changed.
See Rabbi Y. H. Henkin’s essay in Hakirah, vol. 4, pp. 115-120. It is available online.
I often work all kinds of crazy hours. Thank G-d for Shabat!
One difference is that there are several Democrats who are running with the support of the Conservative Party.
An NCSY activist one told me of a Shabbaton they had years ago that was scheduled to start with bowling (co-ed as are most NCSY events) at 6pm. He was horrified until he realized that it was in a part of Canada in the middle of summer when candlelighting was at 9:30pm.
I don’t know what things are like today as I haven’t bowled in years but there used to be women-only and men-only bowling leagues and competitions. Sen. Barbara Mikulski’s aunt, also named Mikulski, held one of the local records at a duckpin ally I used to bowl at in Baltimore.
popa,
Obama does not qualify as “far left”. By European standards he would be considered center-right. He has been severely criticized by progressives for being too accomodating to business, particularly with healthcare reform. (That is a major reason the polls supporting its repeal should be taken with a grain of salt — a lot of people supporting repeal want it replaced with a single payer system.)
so right,
I’m unaware of any statement by Rudy Giuliani in support of public nudity (which, by the way, is illegal in New York State).
FWIW, Rudy Giuliani opposes same sex marriage. He is pro-Gay rights on absolutely every other issue.
I was in Manhattan earlier this morning and saw a lot of signs and campaign workers for the Republican Congressional Candidate (14th district) Ryan Brumberg. The signs all made a big deal of the candidate’s support for same sex marriage.
“However, they DID NOT advocate the welfare state, with Robin Hood-style economics and a paternalistic state doling pout welfare to the orphans and widows.”
No, but Torah and Chazal did. Communal authorities are required to provide for the poor, even levying taxes to do so.
The mitzvot that Chazal singled out that are to be taught to prospective converts are not Shabat, kashrut, and taharat hamishpacha — or even the prohibitions against abortion or homosexual sex — but leket, peah, shich’chah, and maaser oni. The reason is simple as I once heard from Rabbi Dr. Moshe Tendler: Non-Jews need to learn that their belongings are not theirs in the Torah world. Everything belongs to God and we are commanded to share and not be resentful about it. In the shemittah year anyone can come into your field and pick fruit from your orchard. In the pilgrimage festivals anyone can show up at your doorstep and you have to let them sleep in your bed. There is no such thing as permanent land ownership in the Land of Israel outside of cities. Overcharging and undercharging in business are prohibited, and when the communal authorities levy taxes for the poor, for education, for health, or for public works we pay them. This isn’t socialism, but it isn’t laissez-faire capitalism either.
‘Are you aware that Y”S attacked capitalism as a Jewish conspiracy and as a Jewish evil, just like Marx and Engels before him? Goebbels’ writings are full of vicious condemnations and attacks against the free market.’
This is correct — but being anti-free-market does not make you a socialist. Y”S and other European fascists such as Mussolini, Franco, and Laval believed in the Corporate State in which government aligned itself with the interests of big business and protected them from competition. Clement Attlee and Margaret Thatcher represent two opposite extremes of anti-fascism; one was a socialist and the other a free marketer.
Note that facist does not automatically mean anti-Semite, as the example of Franco shows. But Y”S and Laval certainly were anti-Semites and Mussolini might was well have been given his cooperation with Y”S.
I would add that all the religious parties in Israel were enthusiastic supporters of Ben-Gurion’s socialist economic policies, and with good reasons. The Torah is pretty demanding in terms of its insistence on taking care of all, and puts severe limits on free markets. And had Thatcher-like economic policies been in effect in Israel in the 1950s, it is likely that hundreds of thousands of Jews would have starved to death in the then-poor country.
“What Nazis are in the Tea Party?”
I don’t know that he is an actual Nazi or just a sympathizer, but the Republican and Conservative nominee for the US Congress in New York’s 18th Congressional District claims to be a Tea Partier. Russell’s anti-Semitic writings have been featured on David Duke’s web site. To their credit, the New York Republican and Conservative parties have disavowed him.
“Do you want NHS-style health care? Do you want to not be? Just speak to any Canadian or British citizen, who cannot access vital services, tests, and procedures and who are directed to palliative care when the government puts a price tag on their lives.”
Brits and Canadians are healthier and live longer. And their cost of health care is far less than that in the US. Either those “services, tests, and procedures” must not be so vital, or a lot of Americans can’t get them, either. And in fact the latter is true as there are tens of millions of Americans who can’t get health insurance for any price. The Republicans today are ok with that. (That wasn’t always the case: Theodore Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Bob Dole supported universal health insurance.)
“I really do wonder if Ludwigvanquixote is the same poster as charliehall. An investigation should be undertaken. “
No, he isn’t. I always use my real name when commenting.
Regarding toeiva: The Republican nominee for Governor of Florida, Rick Scott, was the CEO of a company that scammed $1.7 billion from Medicare. The Torah calls business fraud a toeiva but I have not seen a single Republican politician object to Scott.
I can’t lift the heavy bowling balls. I grew up in Maryland where we bowled duckpins with much lighter balls. But if you are in NYC you have to go to Connecticut for duckpin lanes.
Interesting that a Republican is now criticizing a Democrat for not spending enough! But you can be sure that if Turner and the Republicans win, there won’t be any funding for any Jewish organizations, or anybody else.
And Turner is an ignoramous if he thinks that he can force states to fund religious institutions. The US Supreme Court slapped that idea down in the 2004 Locke vs. Davey case. William Rehnquist, no liberal, wrote the decision. For New York to provide public funds to religious schools will require an amendment to the New York State Constitution.
mw,
Many shuls make a mi sheberach for the US Army. And last I checked, nobody is shooting at hatzalah.
I agree with Simcha. Those soldiers are protecting Jews. They need our prayers. It has nothing to do with Zionism.
Suppose the IDF were suddenly to cease to exist. How many hours before millions of Jews are murdered? How about some gratitude?
Folllow the instructions on the label unless a physician tells you otherwise.
Next thread.
so right and MW,
This is not about false allegations. This is about coverups of known perpetrators.
“Considering the fact that a conviction in Bais Din is not final until the execution is actually carried out, I might think that there may be grounds to re-open the case.”
That is not necessarily the case under secular law; courts have ruled that even evidence of actual innocence is not necessarily relevant if it was not brought up at the original trial.
“It is moral for innocents to be killed.”
I call that murder.
And you’d likely be a lot less smug if it were a family member who had been wrongfully convicted.
My wife asked a shilah of a rav and she was told that some sort of leggings under a skirt were “more than adequate” while riding a bicycle.
“High Deductible Health Plan “
This is not a bad idea even if you don’t have a Health Savings Account, as long as you don’t use it as an excuse to skip your preventive care and appointments. When you have going five years without ever filing a claim, bless your Creator for giving you such good health. Remember that insurance is to cover the *un*expected, not the expected.
“If a new machine is invented, we will want to use it. It will cost more.
As long as we insist that everyone must have access to the highest quality health care, costs will always go up.
There are two ways out.”
There is a third way: A lot of those new “machines” (drugs, too) offer little or no improvement in clinical outcomes. We desperately need comparative effectiveness research to sort out the wasteful stuff from the good. This is one reason why places like Canada, France, Israel, Japan, and Hawaii have better health outcomes at lower cost: The government restricts access to new technologies until they are actually shown to work!
Unfortunately some Republicans are campaigning to eliminate the kind of research needed to determine this, while at the same time screaming that health care costs too much. Their hypocrisy is costing us twice — by higher health care costs, and by not promoting the best health care.
“we can have market rates apply to health care “
We do! There are thousands of health insurers and there is a tremendous amount of competition. The problem is that health care is very expensive!!!