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I work with frum neurologist who specialize in epilepsy. They have many frum patients. I will ask one of them if they know about any support groups like this.
I’ve had two different rabbis tell me that it is not permitted for a Jew to serve on a jury on a capital case in the United States because the standards for administering a death penalty fall far below what the Torah requires even for Noachide courts. I would presume that a prohibition of a doctor participating would be a kal v’chomer.
A spectacularly example of uplifting “non-Jewish” music is “Va, pensiero”. It was written by the non-Jewish but philo-Semitic Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi. It expresses musically the composer’s feelings about what Jews in Babylon must have felt while in exile longing for their land. I find it as moving as Psalm 137.
I just got the H1N1 vaccine today. I am considered high risk because I am over 50 and have asthma. I would have gotten it sooner except that it wasn’t available.
We don’t take influenza seriously. Tens of thousands of Americans die from seasonal flu every year. Millions died in 1918-1919. Vaccines offer quite a bit of protection and the risk of serious adverse events in people in whom the vaccine isn’t contraindicated (such as people with allergies to eggs) is miniscule. I will accept the protection, as should anyone without contraindications.
I would recommend the frum novelist Herman Wouk’s three works of historical fiction set in and around World War II: *The Caine Mutiny*, *The Winds of War*, and *War and Remembrance. (The first is not Jewish-themed.) Wouk also wrote two great non-fiction books about Judaism, *This Is My God*, and *The Will to Live on: Reclaiming the Jewish Heritage*.
Praying for the end to the epidemic without getting vaccinated — and getting your children and family members vaccinated — is like praying for a shidduch while never going out on a date. HaShem often gives us the tools but we have the free will to decline them. The yetzer hara is very strong.
Do we really require a shliach tzibbur to be of sound levels of observance and morality? I’ve been in many, many minyanim in which someone they’ve never seen before walks in and asks to daven from the amud because of a yahretzeit. I’ve never seen the request refused on an ordinary weekday unless someone else was celebrating a yahretzeit. How did they even know the guy is Jewish at all, much less shomer Shabat?
shaatra,
If Arabic is such a bad language, how come so many important sefarim were written in it?
And how is Aramaic holy? None of chumash is written in Aramaic, almost none of Navi, and just a few sections of Ketubim.
Insides are more important than outsides. There are some amazing talmidei chachamim in Israel who always dress very casually.
I will sing Hallel eight days in a row.
The fact is, America’s health system will continue to be totally dysfunctional until everyone has insurance. Even the health insurance lobby agrees with this; they support mandatory insurance. Israel has universal health insurance; Theodore Roosevelt promoted it 97 years ago! It is high time the United States did this, too.
Regarding permitting music in general (not just Jewish music): Rov Soloveitchik permitted all classical music, even when a woman was singing, and even opera. He said that it elevated us. And he meant it as halachah le’maaseh: Yeshiva University held a fundraiser tonight at the Metropolitan Opera and has been doing so for many years, and my own rabbi, a talmid of The Rov, attended an opera last spring.
As to the “What’s the point”? I would think that Torah would be the point — these are both Orthodox yeshivot!
What I would really love to see would be for Rabbi Mattisyahu Solomon to debate Rabbi Hershel Schachter on Zionism.
I don’t own a gun and don’t particularly want to. Once in my life a friend who is a prosecutor took me to a shooting range and I discovered how hard it was to hit a stationary target with a handgun; kal v’chomer a target like an intruder who does not want to be hit. Furthermore an awful lot of illegal guns started out as legal guns and were stolen, as rosnr points out; it is critical that legal guns (the only kind us Jews should ever own) be stored in a very secure locked case. Another problem is that your gun might be used against you; the father of a dear friend was killed by his own handgun. The chance that a gun will be of any use to me in this relatively safe city of New York are very small.
It should be pointed out that the scare about vaccines causing autism in children was based on one tiny study that appears to have been faked. The authors are under investigation for scientific misconduct. Since then, millions of dollars have been wasted on studies all of which confirm that children who get vaccinated develop autism at the same rate as children who do not. Yet people still believe the falsehood. There never was any *real* evidence that vaccines cause autism, and it has now been proven conclusively that they do not. If you don’t believe it you should never bother going to a doctor or a hospital for anything, because very little they do is as clearly understood as the fact that vaccines do not cause autism. Get your children vaccinated!
I think it is great that more people will learn Arabic. It will allow us access to the original writings of (among others) Rabbi Saadiah Gaon, Rabbeinu Bachya, Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi, and Rambam, without having to rely on translation!
YCT is Orthodox; I know a number of students there. And I know a Lakewood-trained rabbi who has had YCT Rosh Yeshiva Dov Linzer give shiurim at his shul.
I personally think joint appearances with rabbis from two yeshivot that have different hashkafot is very dangerous. If we religious Jews actually can get along with each other while disagreeing, that might bring mashiach. We can’t possibly permit that!
I am going to get it myself as soon as I can; kal v’chomer for children who have no immunity to strains similar to H1N1. (Those who received the 1976 swine flue vaccine may have some protection against H1N1.)
This is serious. folks; tens of thousands of Americans each year die from the normal seasonal flu, and H1N1 may be more dangerous. This is no time to be spreading misinformation or putting your children at risk.
Cantorial music concert, Saturday, December 5, 2009, 8pm, at Park East Synagogue in Manhattan, with music by Cantors Yitzchak Meir Helfgot and Sol Zim, accompanied by the Park East Synagogue Choir and Cantor Daniel Gildar on piano. 163 East 67th Street. Contact the synagogue for further information. (I’d post a link but YWN doesn’t allow outside links.)
I can’t believe that people here suggest that it is good to cut short our communication with our Creator!
The tune usually used for “Maoz Tzur” is a German tune used by none other than Martin Luther HaRasha for Christian hymns.
I once spent a Shabat at Mikveh Israel, the old Sefardic congregation in Philadelphia that has been existence for over 250 years — and is famed for refusing to permit any departures from its minhagim. The tunes were very much in the style of 18th century American colonial music.
So just what *is* “Jewish” music as opposed to “goyish” music?
And he suggested I show it to a rabbi because this year we don’t fulfill the d’oraita commanment of lulav and it might still be kosher for the d’rabbanan.
Enjoy one of HaShem’s amazing creations, and stay away from the casinos.
If you are up to it, drive through some of the less well off parts of Niagra Falls, New York. It is actually the most depressing place I’ve ever seen in the United States — worse than the South Bronx, the rural South, or Applachia. It causes me to appreciate the blessings that HaShem has bestowed on me.
“Why is anyone so intent on disproving the scientific statements of Chazal?”
I’m not. I’m objecting to people who insist on *proving* the scientific statements of Chazal when the halachah has been since the time of the Gaonim that we *don’t* follow their science.
“Could not Hashem have created a universe that was billions of years old?”
Of course the answer to this is yes, but that is a Christian idea with no basis in our mesorah. In our mesorah we find opinions that follow the apparent pshat which would be that the universe is thousands of years old (see Seder Olam Rabbah) and other opinions alluded to by others that say that the universe is much older. There is no psak for aggadata.
“in the gemara you will find math and science too “
Correct.
“perhaps it is not an halachic issue, so we should not be so concerned about it”
Correct.
“So if they misspoke about lice and its source, or if they understood it differently, big deal. They still knew what was treif and what was kosher. “
Correct again.
Day 1: Start 8:15am. Finish 1pm. 10 minute sermon.
Day 2: Start 8:15am. Finish 1:30pm. 25 minute sermon.
Joseph,
Regarding the “evidence” for a young universe, that position is not specified directly from the Torah but from Seder Olam Rabbah; there are other sources from our mesorah that would permit an ancient universe. Rambam, Ramban, and especially Rabbi Avraham ben HaRambam all agree that there is no chiyuv to believe the literal truth of any particular midrash/aggadata. Rabbi Avraham’s position is very clear that on that is not the purpose of midrash/aggadata and this position is accepted as seen by the fact that his essay forms the preface to the Ein Yaakov.
Joseph,
If someone tells me something is permissible and it isn’t, but I do it anyway, I’m over the aveirah, not the person who tells me it is permissible. *I* am responsible for my mitzvah observance. Other rishonim argued with Rashi on that comment, and I’ve seen Rabbi Hershel Schachter write that if was are certain that a rabbi is mistaken in his psak, we MUST not follow it. (Such situations would of course be very rare, and any rabbi would take very seriously any report of a frum Jew telling him that a kosher slaughterhouse was replacing cow with pig meat!)
We are blessed that two blocks from the home we moved into two weeks ago there is a Yomim Noraim minyan that prohibits talking and provides low cost child care for families.
Joseph, I’m stunned.
“Smarter than the Rema, the Maharal, Aruch Hashulchan, Chasam Sofer, Rabbeinu Bachyai, the Alshich, the Radvaz, and the Chida combined?”
Probably smarter than none of them individually, certainly not smarter than all combined. But today we have access to information they did not have.
As an example, Rabbeinu Bachya in Chovot HaLevavot has a proof of the existence of God that involves severaly descriptions of the concept of infinity. Many centuries later, it was discovered that his description of the nature of infinity were not accurate. Today any good high school calculus student understands this material. Does that make thousands of high school calculus students smarter than Rabbeinu Bachya? Chas v’shalom! That proof is not necessary for the important spritual truths contained in that sefer.
The sceptics will use this to disparage everything from Rabbeinu Bachya and to disparage our sages in general. We must not allow this to go unanswered! But denying that our sages did not have access to all the modern information we have at our disposal today is not an valid argument.
Joseph,
Would you eat a piece of meat that the author of one of your sources had told you was kosher, when you yourself had seen it taken from the carcass of a pig?
None of the people you cite lived long enough to hear of the discovery of the cosmic background radiation, which proved beyond any doubt (1) the big bang, and (2) the ancient universe. We cannot conjecture what they would have said had they lived into the 1960s and studied the data carefully.
ames,
I wasn’t offended at all, but thank you. There *are* indeed scientists who are anti-religion; I’ve had disputations with them in the past. They abuse science by trying to make it do things it can’t do.
But just as science can’t prove or disprove our basic religious principles, religion can’t disprove empirical facts!
May all our conversations be in pursuit of spiritual and empirical truth.
An example of where modern science expands our awe of our creator: The pshat of Seder Olam Rabbah would indicate that the universe is approximately 6,000 years old, but that is contradicted by empirical evidence, which clearly shows that the universe is billions of years old. The evidence shows that HaShem’s creation is far more vast than Chazal could ever have imagined. We should tremble that even our greatest sages could not comprehend the power and majesty of our creator; kal v’chomer must we feel humble as a result! How appropriate for this time of year to meditate on this in order to improve our yirat shemayim.
ames is not correct in saying a scientist can “believe any theory”. Scientific theories have to be consistent with empirical fact. The truth is, we *don’t* know the mechanism by which HaShem created bacteria.
I am a scientist and I accept 100% all empirical scientific facts. I’d be an absolute fool not to! And I also accept 100% that “there is a god who created this wondrous universe” and indeed that is one reason I dedicate my life to studying it. But there is a lot of ignorance about the nature of science that unfortunately pervades the frum community as well as the non-frum. Science can neither prove nor disprove the existence of HaShem or the truth of His Torah. And the Torah is not a book of science or history but a teaching of how to live. The scientific material in our mesorah is not to be used as science lessons but as instruction for us in how to live. Proof that we are not to rely on the science of Chazal is that relying on their medical knowledge was prohibited back in the time of the Gaonim!
The best explanation of this distinction was actually by a non-Jew, Galileo: Religion is about “how one goes to heaven. not how heaven goes.”
I found the “Top Ten” I think onlyemes was referring to by typing “Top ten basic astronomy facts” to Google. All are based on empirical facts, and empirical fact can not contradict Torah, chas v’shalom. Therefore they is not a threat to Torah, which of course does not require belief in anything that isn’t true. Acceptance of empirical fact is essential to Jewish observance.
artchill,
You make an interesting point. With resources that are not infinite, we can’t support every kollel, nor every kiruv effort. For example, which is more important: Keeping adult men learning for years in kollel, or keeping schools open? Would the answer be different if we knew that more frum families will be sending their kids to public schools as a direct result of allocating funds to kollel or kiruv organizations?
I don’t have an answer but someone should at least be asking the questions.
Another idea: While in the US there is essentially no governmental funding for religious education, there is governmental funding for other communal institutions such as social service organizations. Agudath Israel itself even gets some government funding! We could push for substantial increases in social welfare spending that would be directed towards our communal social service organizations and redirect our resources towards education. We could do the same with emergency medical services, getting the government to better fund its fire and rescue services so that Hatzalah didn’t need as much Jewish funding — or even give direct grants to Hatzalah. There are probably other examples.
Joseph,
You are wrong, there was a vote on proposed constitutional revisons in 1967 and the main issue was the Blaine Amendment. I’d provide links but YWN doesn’t permit outside links. Do a little research for yourself and you’ll learn the truth.
“The greatest obstacle to it, by far, are the teacher’s unions. “
This is incorrect; the greatest obstacles are (1) voters who don’t want to pay higher taxes, and (2) the ghost of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison who spent much of their careers trying (mostly successfully) to separate religion from government. Attacking the principles of Jefferson and Madison is considered un-American by most Americans.
A better method than union-bashing would be to get the unions to join us! Most Catholic schools in NY and NJ are unionized; why not Jewish schools? The unions would then support aid because it would allow for better pay, benefits, and job security. We have been going down a dead end path by aligning ourselves with the right wing crazies who want to destroy public education; aligning with the Catholic clergy and educators would be much more likely to show positive results.
Neither Maryland nor New Jersey has a Blaine Amendment. However, California, Illinois, and Florida do. Back when I was a high school student in Maryland in the 1970s there was a big push, led by the Catholic church, to get direct state aid to religious schools. It never went anywhere.
There was an attempt in 1967 to repeal New York’s Blaine Amendment; I think it got 29% of the vote in the required referendum. There has been AFAIK no real attempt since then. Most voucher referenda have lost by similarly landslike margins everywhere they have gone before the voters in the US, not a single one has passed.
“I believe in upholding all minhogim regarding limud haTorah, tefilah, levush, having the right hashkofoh”
I am a modern Orthodox supporter of religious Zionism, and I believe in all those things, too. And I hold a PhD and am being promoted to full Professor at a medical school.
” why isn’t there anything left of the old Yekkishe world, where it wasn’t weird for a person to be truly shomer mitzvos yet also have a high-level secular education?”
You can find that in the many communities in America inspired by the rabbis of Yeshiva University. I don’t know how much of that has moved to Israel, but one who did is Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein who studied with Rav Hutner and holds a PhD in English from Harvard. He frequently uses examples from literature and history to make Torah points; it is worth getting a good liberal arts education just to understand his Torah! Don’t rule him out just because he is a Zionist!!!
“he also holds Masters degrees and a PhD in psychology and fiscal law from the University of Amsterdam! Why is such a thing normal in Europe, yet completely out of the question in E”Y?”
That is a very good question! It is a not well known fact that from the 15th century to the 18th, hundreds of frum Jews including many rabbis attended university in Europe. I’ve seen no rabbinic objection prior to the 19th century.
I only have time to point out two errors in Joseph’s many posts — but severe errors they are.
The first serious error is regarding his understanding of science. It is not true that it is necessary to reproduce results in a laboratory for something to be empirically true. For example, it is beyond any doubt whatsoever that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer in humans, but chas v’shalom we ever force any human to subject themselves to such an experiment. The idea that we can only falsify but never prove was essentially proposed by Popper, but he was not a scientist!
The second serious error is that he presents a 150 year old Christian argument regarding the creator creating an ancient universe that looks young that has no basis in our mesorah. Chas v’shalom that a Jew accept such an argument from a competing religion. I can’t believe that YWN’s moderators allowed such to be posted on a frum site.
“Your science is outdated and has long been replaced by Einstein.”
Actually, Zach knows what he is talking about. Einstein’s explanations are identical to those of Newton for the motion of the earth around the sun.
And neither he nor I “reject the Torah”. Acceptance of modern science is completely compatible with Jewish belief.
Squeak,
There is one other reason to care about respecting science: When belief about nature are driven by ideology or ignorance rather than facts, people can die. I’m not exaggerating here; people died after part of the South African government bought into the nonsense that HIV doesn’t cause AIDS, and Jewish children contracted measles when parents bought into the lie (possibly spread through out and out fraud) that vaccinations cause autism. The stakes on global warming are rather high: If global warming continues unabated, hundreds of millions of people could be made homeless by rising sea levels, but if we over-react, too-stringent regulation could result in serious economic hardship. We need the best science, untainted by ideology. The discussion here is not part of the solution.
Notwithstanding the many opinions to the contrary, Rabbeinu Avraham’s essay now appears in the introduction to the standard edition of *Ein Yaakov*, showing that his opinion is actually the *normative* approach to Chazal’s aggadata! It is one of the many examples where a Daat Yachid has become the norm.
Jothar,
Just a hundred years ago, the average American born then could expect not to live to age 50. The average American born today can expect to live almost to age 80 — and the average Israeli even longer thanks in part to their superior universal health care. Most of us consider that to be a huge benefit.
SJSinNYC,
There is no question that the earth has gotten warmer over the past 125 years. That is as much an unquestionable fact as that fact that a pig is not a kosher animal. The scientific question is of what *caused* that warming, in particular, to what extent human activity was responsible for the warming.
Hitler wasn’t elected; he *LOST* the Presidential election in 1932 to Hindenberg. He gained power without bloodshed because a coalition of right wing parties couldn’t agree with each other and ignored his awful message.
And to compare any American politician (with the possible exception of David Duke) to Hitler is way beyond the pale.
“are you suggesting that a boy should marry a girl that he finds unattractive because to not do so would be acting like the goyim”
No, I’m saying that it is the goyim who put physical appearance about everything else. We are supposed to value other things!
Believing that “thin” is necessary for attraction is acting like the goyim.
There is no “Democrat” party.
Cynthia McKinney is not a Democrat — she was the Green Party candidate for President
this year!
Earl Hilliard and Fritz Hollings are long out of office. Neither Jackson nor Sharpton have ever been elected to anything. Moran is problematic, but you can thank the Republicans in Virginia for carefully gerrymandering a congressional seat just for him.