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Joseph…
why would you expect Federations to give more per capita to orthodox schools than conservative, reform or non-denominational schools when the majority of Federation participants are not orthodox?
My listing was to refute akuperma’s assertion that Federations don’t support Torah institutions.
I’m no great fan of Federation, but OOT one is part of the total Jewish community, not just the frum community and one supports federation. They also maintain many cemeteries, pay for kosher supervision at colleges, nursing homes and hospitals and even salaries for the Jewish chaplains at local hospitals.
I mentioned the Yeshiva K’Tana in Waterbury, because CTRebbe had made a remark about Yeshiva K-tanas suffering at the expense of kollelim. The local Federation gave $45,000 last year, up from $33,000 the year before. You can be sure that 90+% of this money is coming from non-orthodox contributors.
akuperma……….
OOT Federations support orthodox Day Schools as well as Conservative
IN CT the Federations fund:
Chabad Day School in Orange
Ortho Day School in West Hartford
Ortho Day School in Stamford
Ortho High School in Stamford
Ortho High School in West Hartford
Yeshiva K’Tana Waterbury
Federations also support Orthodox institutions of higher learning. Looking at the IRS form 990 of the small Jewish Federation of Western CT I see $10,000 given to Yeshiva University
While many in this forum don’t consider MO as Chareidi. there is no question that YU is a Torah institution.
The Federation in Boston supports 13 Jewish Day Schools INCLUDING:
BAIS YAKOV of Boston High School for Girls
New England Hebrew Academy (Lubavitch)
Maimonides and Torah Academy in Brookline
Gavra………..
Your 400K gross would not suffer 50% tax bite for a couple with 10 children who would have 12 deductions.
Having a mortgage, property tax and other deductions it is unlikely the tax bite would exceed $100K
Thus the bottom line would be 130K not 30K
I’d also question a 4k per month mortgage payment in this low interest rate market
Health………….
I did not defend RBG in my post, so calling my defense pathetic is laughable.
As it happens I agree with her statement about Trump. The wonderful thing about appointed, as opposed to elected judges, is that they don’t have to be muzzled in fear of losing the next election.
I live and practice in a state where judges (with the exception of provate) are appointed, not elected. They are free to express their opinions without fear of political repercussion.
The judicial code of ethics deals with times a judge should recuse him/herself from a case. Members of SCOTUS do so when appropriate.
Health………………
and who made you the arbiter of which Supreme Court Justice can judge? Your use of the word ‘can’ is just plain wrong. Justice RBG can judge any case that comes before the SCOTUS. Can is a physical ability. As to whether or not RBG should hear/judge a case involving Trump is a different question.
Personally, I believe RBG has the ability to separate her disdain for Trump from the facts and issues in any case over which she might preside.
Furthermore, though Trump has many court trials ahead of him involving his associated companies or himself, it is doubtful that any would have issues that could rise to an appeal reaching the SCOTUS. Most are contract issues and it is extremely rare for for decisions in that kind of case to be appealed more than one level above the trial court. In fact Trump has a history of settling most cases rather than enduring a trial complete to verdict and award.
CTRebbe
I think the Yeshiva Tuition crisis really revolves around the difference of opinion as to whether men should become Kollelniks or Baal Batim.
I’m from the pre-WWII American Orthodox school of thought that this is a land of opportunity and you can succeed and make a good living while sending your children to yeshiva and college and professional school so that they may do the same for their children
I have sons and sons-in-law. All went to Yeshiva through high school. Places that offered competent secular studies., They continued learning full time for a year or two before college, then did college and professional school. All are professionals earning a healthy living while maintaining a learning schedule and sending their children to yeshiva. I did not underwrite the cost of their post college education nor am I paying for our grandchildrens’ tuition. B”H they can manage the bills.
That said, I give more than my fair/expected share of Tzedaka and I resent those who feel I should have less or spend less in order to fund salaries in assorted yeshivas.
By your handle I assume to teach in one of our few CT yeshivas. Chances are you don’t have any of my grandchildren in your school, but chances are I’m an annual donor supporting the institution.
And for our Brooklyn friends….surprise much of the funding for Day Schools and yeshivas in CT comes from Non-Frum Jews, Including annual allocations from Jewish Federations throughout the state. I fought for this more than 35 years ago when Federations started to fund the Schechter schools.
Charlie
I didn’t go through the list checking each school. I did just check Townsend Harris’ website in Queens and they still offer 4 years of Greek
I guess the list might be as ancient as the Greek being taught VBG
Charlie Hall……Surprise
“There are 13 Public Schools in the country that offer Ancient Greek
There are 67 Private Schools in the country that offer Ancient Greek
Public:
Belchertown HS – Belchertown, MA
Boston Latin School – Boston, MA
Centennial HS – Roswell, GA
E.O. Smith HS – Storrs, CT
Great Neck North HS – Great Neck, NY
Henry Grady HS – Atlanta, GA
Holbrook Jr/Sr HS – Holbrook, MA
John Handley HS – Winchester, VA
La Jolla High School – La Jolla, CA
Northeast HS – St. Petersburg, FL
Shaker Heights HS – Shaker Heights, OH
Thomas Jefferson School – St. Louis, MO
Towsend Harris HS – Flushing, NY
Wellesley Public Schools – Wellesley, MA
Private:
Belmont Hill School – Belmont, MA
Boston College HS – Dorchester, MA
Boston Latin Academy – Boston, MA
Boston University Academy – Boston, MA
Brooks School – North Andover, MA
Covington Latin School – Covington, KY
Crossroads School Arts/Science – Santa Monica, CA
Fordham Prep School – Bronx, NY
Georgetown Preparatory – North Bethesda, MD
Gilman School – Baltimore, MD
Gonzaga College HS – Washington, DC
Gustavus Adolphus College -St. Peter, MN
Highland School – Warrenton, VA
Horizon HS – Scottsdale, AZ
Jesuit HS – New Orleans, LA
John Carroll Catholic HS, Birmingham, AL
Logos School, Moscow, ID
Loyola Academy – Wilmette, IL
Maret School – Washington, DC
Menlo HS – Menlo Park, CA
Milton Academy – Milton, MA
National Cathedral – Washington, DC
Oratory Prep School – Summit, NJ
Phillips Academy, Andover, MA
Phillips Exeter Academy – Exeter, NH
Randolph Macon Academy – Front Royal, VA
Rockhurst HS – Kansas City, MO
Rye Country Day – Rye, NY
Seton Jr/Sr HS – Manassas, VA
St. Albans School – Washington, DC
St. Ann’s School – Brooklyn, NY
St. Anselm’s Abbey School – Washington, DC
St. Catherine’s School – Richmond, VA
St. Demetrios Greek America – New York, NY
St. Ignatius College Prep – Chicago, IL
St. Louis Priory School – St. Louis, MO
St. Mary’s Episcopal – Memphis, TN
St. Mary’s Academy (Anastasis) – St. Mary’s, KS
St. Mary’s Academy (Dredger) – St. Mary’s, KS
St. Paul’s School – Concord, NH
St. Thomas Episcopal School – Houston, TX
St. Timothy’s Hale School – Raleigh, NC
St. Xavier HS – Cincinnati, OH
Staten Island Academy, Staten Island, NY
The Episcopal Academy – Merion, PA
The Hill School – Pottstown, PA
The Roxbury Latin School – West Roxbury, MA
The Williams School – New London, CT
The Winsor School – Boston, MA
Wakefield Country Day – Flint Hill, VA
Westminister School – Augusta, GA
William Penn Charter School – Philadelphia, PA
I have a niece who attended Townsend Harris in Queens and took Greek…she just graduated Law School and works for the Justice Dept in DC. My sister’s youngest son attended Boston Latin where he took Greek and Latin. He is a Day School Principal…
As for the last century. My father A”H graduated Townsend Harris when it was still in Manhattan in Dec 1938 having 4 years of Greek and Latin. My mother A”H graduated Hunter HS in January 1940 having 4 years of both Greek and Latin. She continued on at Hunter College as a classics major with 4 more years of Greek. She spent more than 40 years as a school principal here on CT having earned a Doctorate in Classics Education from Columbia.
As I’ve written before I went to Yeshiva High School in the mornings and attended public High School in New Haven in the late 1960s. They did not offer Greek. I did take 4 years of modern Hebrew, Latin and two years of Yiddish. In all 12 foreign languages were offered at the time.
Out local public high school offers, Latin, French, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese.
Abba_S…
so if you are agreeing with me that the vast majority of NYC basement apartments are illegal why did you suggest the OP find and occupy one?
Abba_S
Chances are that the small basement apartment for $800 is illegal. Students should not e helping landlords to break the law. Unlikely to have a Certificate the apartment will not have its own legal mail and may have substandard and/or dangerous construction done by unlicensed contractors and never inspected by the city.
I remember my middle child moving to Brooklyn and showing me prospective basement apartments as possibilities. As soon as I asked to see the Certificate of Occupancy the landlords ended the conversation.
and why you consider a basement apartment whose windows are at street level secure is questionable…..
cherrybim………..
It’s a shame you had to cut down on staff and poor Jeeves has to double as a cook and/or footman.
We don’t have non-Jews cooking for us. Maybe we’ll have to hire a chef named Yankel.
BTW> a private pool avoids those separate swimming hours problems such as they are having in Williamsburg.
Avi K
They are schools. Campuses are closed for security reasons. Need I remind readers of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre 2 1/2 years ago…only twenty minutes from me and we knew some of the families who lost children.
Utilities, and Cable TV/Internet/phone providers are utilities cannot be free enterprise. The cost to build is so expensive that unless awarded a franchise none would exist. I spent 12 years as a Cable TV Commissioner in Ct and am very familiar with the industry.
I’m old enough to remember when the CT state legislature only met every other year and passed two year budgets.
Joseph…………..
Many of their publications were not copyrighted by HPC. Some were simply typeset by them copying siddurim from Europe.
US Copyrights expire.
All copyrights for things published before 1923 are expired. Things published before 1978 had a 28 year copyright if not renewed. Since 1978 new copyrights generally have 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation (whichever is shorter).
Sadly, HPC is defunct as a publisher, but some individual may own the name.
“Minute Steak” is NOT a cut of meat. It is a name used by butchers for thin cuts of beef that may go from raw to plate in a few minutes time.
I would not serve the cuts of chuck minute steak (with the center gristle) that I’ve seen in self service kosher markets to my family or guests.
In general, I buy primal cuts of meat and do my own cutting and grinding.
When I wish to serve small, quick cooking steaks, I’ll cut 3/8″ slices off a boneless ribeye and broil or grill quickly to medium rare.
In fact, if the rain lets up and the sun comes out I’ll fire up the BBQ and serve “minute” ribeye steaks with salad fresh native corn on the cob and sweet potato fries for lunch around our pool.
They made their money reprinting the same volumes for decades. Siddurim such as Shilo, Tikkun Meir. No new works came out since shortly after 1960.
The advent of modern computer driven printing/publishing made their library of set type obsolete and worthless.
The baby boom requirements of Hebrew and English texts for non-frum afternoon and Sunday Hebrew schools kept them viable until the late 70s.
They could not compete with the computer based type setting of newcomers such as Art Scroll.
Finally, they fell victim to cheap overseas printing and the availability of many resources on the internet.
AviK
No my town is not like your settlement. Students who are attending day school and don’t live in my town are dropped at the door by parents or bus and picked up at the end of the day. They are not permitted off school grounds during the day and do not shop for anything here. Even our public schools are closed campuses. Students are not free to leave and return during the day.
My call for centralization/regionalization is in a small state. Our entire state has only 3.6 million people…contrast that with the Borough of Brooklyn which has 2.6 million. We have 8 counties in CT, but no county government has existed since the 1960s. Simply replacing more than 150 small municipal fiefdoms with 8 governments makes sense.
As it is small towns currently rely on neighbors with mutual aid pacts for police and fire, There are 16 regional school districts combined pf 2 or more small towns with too few students and/or resources to run their own school systems. At least 12 towns don’t have their own high schools.
Waste processing is already regional, there are 27 Cable TV franchise areas in the state. No Cable company could bid town by town, it would be economic death to do business that way. Many towns have government composed of mostly part-time employees or volunteers and town hall may be open only one or 2 1/2 days a week. None of this makes sense in a modern world. Health and safety are hampered by one horse operations.
Unlike big states such as NY. Our state legislators are part timers who can not survive on the $28,000 yearly salary (which hasn’t been raised in 13 years). Most are employed or in business locally and in constant touch with residents.
I find state government more responsive than local in many towns. The workers are full time professionals and don’t care about your political party affiliation. In little towns and some of our big cities, one party controls government 100% and if you do not march to their commend you get no service..
Joseph…..
A CT town has both Jewish and Christian religious day schools, as well as public schools. The town’s residents pay property tax. That tax pays for running the public schools and providing bus service, school nurses, secular textbooks, special education services. Physical Education services, health department inspection and certification of the cafeterias, police and fire protection.
Every student in the public schools is a RESIDENT of the town and is funded by townspeople. Many of the students in the religious schools (more than 70% in the Jewish day school) are not town residents. They receive these town funded services, but their families pay no taxes to support the town. They pay in the towns where they live.
If we had a state run education system and a state school tax, instead of locally property tax to fund this, the burden would be shared equally on all state residents.
Note that the Jewish Communities in the US running schools and libraries are often doing it using Tax dollars and public services. I can’t guaranty that they are run more cheaply than local government run libraries and schools and they certainly don’t offer the same products/services/technology.
Our town provides the school bus transportation for students in religious day schools. We provide the Special Education and Physical Education for them as well. We even pay for and provide textbooks for secular subjects. We clean the snow from their sidewalks in winter, we provide fire and police service. Our health department provides the school nurses and does immunizations and eye screenings…all at no charge to the Jewish community.
AND>>>before you say the Jewish community members are paying taxes and not using the public schools. That doesn’t hold OOT. Jewish Day and other Parochial schools are regional. The local day school draws 80% of its students from outside the municipality who foots these expenses from local property tax. There is no ‘school tax’ in Connecticut.
@Avi K
Please don’t put words in my mouth or decide that I am supporting a particular view.
I am elected in local government, This doesn’t mean that I believe services should be as local as possible.
I speak to CT. A small state composed of only 169 municipalities. We did away with County Government back about 50 years ago.
I am in the forefront in the call for regional government and services. We don’t need 150+ Chiefs of Police (some towns don’t have their own police but a resident state trooper), we don’t need 150+ Fire Chiefs and Fire Marshals. We don’t need independent Health Departments and Boards of Education in every little town. We already have a few regional school systems and more are in order to save millions of tax dollars. What I’d really like is for one statewide Board of Education to exist with uniform pay for employees, and equal spending on students…no more individual fiefdoms. Our Town hosts the regional waste treatment and transfer station for 3 towns..no need for duplicative facilities.
As for your comment about not being paid and conflicts of interest. No elected official in our town may do business with the town, nor may an immediate family member or the official have a management position of ownership position in a company doing business with or lobbying the town.
Towns of less than 50,000 population could ill afford to pay what amounts to a living to 20+ members of their legislative body. In fact our town has only 4 paid elected officials, two full time and two part time.
as one of the few (if not only) members of the YW Coffee Room who actually holds an elected office in a Town Hall I resent being called a clown.
I and my fellow legislative body members deal with the budget,taxes laws/rules and regulations that provide Police, Fire, EMS, school buses, pave and plow the roads, library, public parks, pools, etc.
And not a single member of this body gets a cent for our many hours of service nor do we get reimbursement for expenses.
Working to make our communities better and safer places to raise our families does not make us clowns
@MDG………
Kudos to you.
As my earlier post stated I undertook the expense and responsibility for our shul’s coffee service more than 40 years ago.
I used to do the brewing and setup as well, but that task has fallen to my 2nd oldest son in the past 10 years.
I take great offense at you calling all shuls uppity if they use/serve brewed coffee.
Lots of us are old enough to remember when instant coffee was much more expensive than brewed coffee. Shuls could easily brew 40 cups from a 99 cent one pound can of Maxwell House…and accumulate free haggados.
I’ve never belonged to a shul that served instant coffee on any kind of a regular basis. That said, they do keep a jar of instant decaf in our shul…I’ve never seen it used and think it must belong to the sisterhood, not the shul itself.
B”H Mrs. CTLawyer returned home from the hospital after more than three weeks on life support in ICU. Her recovery is slow but steady. She even drove a few minutes this week. More surgeries coming, but with G-d’s help she will recover 90+ %.
Baruch Hashem! Thank you for sharing good news, may it only continue. -29
Many years ago (40+)when I was a young married, we joined the shul in our neighborhood and I started to attend morning minyan. The shammos served coffee after minyan. It was the most vile liquid I had ever tasted.
I asked a friend what was going on. I was told that the shammos took the leftover coffee from the Sunday morning men’s club breakfast and reheated it and served it all week. (this was the same shammos who would dry his teabag in a shot glass and reuse it all week…old habits from days of deprivation during the war die slowly).
I left for work and asked the office manager for the number of the coffee service we used in our break room. I called and arranged for a coffee maker to be installed in the shul kitchen and ordered a case of coffee, filters, cups and stirrers to be delivered each month.
It’s more than 4 decades later and I still pay the bill with pleasure, and I enjoy every cup I have after minyan.
Popa…
the travel; restrictions are not restricting travel. The travel restrictions prohibit donations of blood by those who traveled to the Carribbean within 30 days.
Yes, I donate blood through the American Red Cross. I’ve been doing it 4 times each year for 45 years. In fact I chair a blood drove in our CT town 4 times each year.
In 2003 I needed blood during surgery. Early this month Mrs. CTLawyer needed 4 units during her lengthy hospital stay.
Blood in CT is free. All collections are handled by the ARC. Patients are only billed for the expense of administering the blood by the hospital or doctor, not the blood itself.
As an FYI> effective late May, 2016 the minimum Iron level for donating males was raised to 13 from 12.5. This will probably cause most males to only be able to donate 3 times per year not 4. There is an acute shortage of blood in the US this summer brought on by travel restrictions caused by the Zika virus.
Back when I was president of an old-time (started in the 1880s) orthodox shul in CT. It was affiliated with the UOJCA. Our shul rabbi belonged to both the RCA and Aguda and each year his contract granted time off to attend the annual Aguda November convention in NY.
No,
They are not connected. The RCA started in 1935 by alumni of REITS (Yeshiva University). It expanded to take in alumni of Hebrew Theological College in Chicago.
For many years it was affiliated with the UOJCA and helped start its kashrut division.
There are members of many types of Orthodox Judaism including loads of Modern Orthodox.
Agudah is considered a Hareidi organization to the right of RCA.
Buffalo Kosher Supervision….the cRc says it’s fine
I’m not from the UK. Middle daughter works on a Megayacht in the Med. 3/4 of the crew including the captain and all officers are from the UK. They are terrified of the UK leaving the EU. The yacht makes at least 30 changes of country (port) within the EU each year. This would cause immigration and customs nightmares for the crew as well as it has tax implications for them. When docked more than 30 days, some host ports will tax non EU workers’ incomes differently than EU workers. Also, the crew has ease of flying home on leave with no customs/immigration restrictions. They can shop in port and bring items on the yacht without having to track purchases to declare when they get back to the UK.
If you are from the UK and travel and/or work in the EU regularly, BREXIT will make life more complicated and more costly. For those who never leave for the continent it may not matter.
Part of my post disappeared:
should read: Our family having arrived from Suwalki and Germany in the late 1860s there were no members left who learned Yiddish at home. It was not the Mameh loshen. We attended the local yeshivah high school in the mornings and took academics at the public high school afternoons.
Being fluent in both Hebrew (Ivrit) and German made learning Yiddish easy.
Zahavasdad………..
Things change over time. The postwar baby boom is over. When mys siblings and I went to school in New Haven, both Hebrew and Yiddish were offered along with 10 other foreign languages. Now there is Spanish and Chinese.
As for those who write about prewar Yiddish and post war Yiddish. 90% of the Yiddish I use is with people speaking the former and whatever reading is of classic material, not modern Jargon.
I learned Yiddish for business purposes. My father was in the clothing business and it was useful for buying trips in NYC. Our family having arrived in the USA in the late 1860s from Suwalki and took academics in the public high school afternoons. Hebrew and Yiddish assured that 2 of 4 classes were all yidden.
Joseph…it’s a typo, he left out the ‘a’and ‘n’
google Yidddish Language Lessons there are many free on line resources.
I took Yiddish as a foreign language at my public high school in New Haven back around 1970. They also offered 17 other foreign languages.
Last month our daughter who lives in France flew into JFK. She didn’t have a US sim card in her phone, so she used the payphone after clearing customs/immigration to let me know to pull to the terminal and pick her up.
I haven’t used a payphone in about three years. Prior to that, courts in CT did not permit phones with cameras in the building. I would have to check my cellphone with the judicial Marshal before clearing security and if I had to make a call while in the building I used the payphone. They had booths to provide privacy.
When it became almost impossible to get new cellphones without cameras the rules changed.
Sorry Joseph………….
Read my lips, no new taxes. Instead Bush gave us user fees.
There are many reasons Clinton won, don’t give all the credit to Perot.
I have always stood where the gabbai instructs me to stand. This avoids problems and possible insults to the minhag of the shul.
When I belonged to a Nusach Ari shul (non-Hasidic) they would leave the sefer torah rolled and covered on the bimah, so we stood to the side.
In the Litvak shul I grew up in, the sefer torah was dressed and put into a stand before haftorah, so we stood in the center of the reader’s table.
In my zaideh’s shul they leyned haftorah from a klaf so you had to stand in the center of the bimah in order to spread the scroll.
stinkweed
Mammale………
We have a bubble for the winter that makes the pool usable 12 months a year. I have no idea what safety reasons you write about. All of us in the family worked as lifeguards at summer camp over the years and are/were certified.
And this is just another reason I prefer to live OOT with my own private swimming pool in my completely private, fenced and tree obscured yard.
No depending on government to supply our needs
Zahavasdad…….
You are right. Many people don’t have these things, but many people have much more.
B”H this is America, land of opportunity. It is possible to have landed at Castle Garden or Ellis Island, or Idlewild and within a generation or two moved to a standard of living not possible for Jews in the alte Heim unless they were Rothchilds.
A great deal of this is about making choices. I prefer to live OOT, but close enough to avail myself of shopping, cultural events and schooling. Small town or suburban living is not for all Frum Jews, tho Chabad seems to expand to these areas and thrive.
The other thing, as I don’t know your approximate age, is something my parents Z”L told me and I told my children:
You cannot expect to begin you adult married life at a standard of living it took your parents 30-40 years to achieve.
mw13
I don’t agree with you at all. Buying the best you can afford and keeping it for a very long time does not make you materialistic. No one has the right to say I should do with less if I pay for it all myself, don’t go in debt to do so, give more than a tithe in Tzedaka and don’t flaunt what I have in the faces of those less able to afford it.
I laugh at DY comments about a 3 million dollar home, a 150K car, 5K watches and the winters in Florida and summers in Israel.
My home is worth 1/3 of that…granted I purchased it in 1991 for 100K and have made the expansions/improvements over time. True, if it were in Brooklyn it would be worth the 3 million. I drive a 12 year old car, my last single child living at home drives a 10 year old luxury car that used to belong to my wife. My wife got a new car this year just before taking ill and it was under 50K. As for the watch…I wear a Rolex day in day out. It cost me $1600 back in 1984…that’s $50 per year for its use and it will outlive me and go to my eldest son decades from now.
I do have a home in Florida, BUT I travel there to see my clients who are either snow birds or permanent residents…I am a member of the Florida Bar and it makes sense to have this home which also serves as my office..I’ve owned it since 1980. I don’t take $50,000 vacations or even $10,000 vacations.We make Peasch at home and cook from scratch, no takeout prepared meals as many in town Yidden often serve. In addition to Jewish education costs for my five, this poppa has paid for college and law school for many of them.
I don’t need to apologize for having what I’ve accumulated in life. I worked hard to get it. I’m not showy or in your face with these things. I don’t have an iPhone 6S..I have a simple flip phone. I don’t live beyond my means. I don’t have the largest most expensive house in town. I shovel snow, I cut my lawn, I’m the one who vacuums the swimming pool and drags the garbage cans to the curb on Sunday nights.
mw13……………
“+1. I’d add luxury cars as well.”
My Oma taught me “cheap is dear” ????? ??? ?????? for those more comfortable in the language of eastern Europe.
Always buy the best quality you can afford, it’s less expensive in the long run than buying lesser quality.
I drive a 12 year old Jaguar XJ8 Vanden Plas. It cost me $70,000 new in 2004. That was an expensive luxury car then (I won’t buy/drive German vehicles). It now has 60,000 miles on it. The only expenses besides insurance, tax, and fuel have been scheduled oil changes and maintenance and I am now buying a new set of tires. I fully expect that I’ll still be driving it another 8 years. $3500 per year to drive in luxury is not expensive. BTW…I didn’t finance or lease it. I buy what I can afford at the time.
Why should any of us have to drive a Chevrolet because someone else thinks there is a better way for us to spend the money I/we earn?
As long as I don’t ask to borrow from you, or scholarship assistance for my children and/or grandchildren and pay all my bills promptly while still giving appropriate tzedaka, then it is none of anyone else’s business.
I have found over the years that most people who make these comments about how the other person lives and spends are actually jealous, but don’t admit it.
BTW>>>we won’t be taking a Sukkos trip this year (not that we usually do), the out of pocket costs (after insurance) for Mrs. CTL’s ongoing hospitalization now exceed $40,000. B”H she is improving, is eating, talking and starting to walk….but even with Hashem’s help it will be a long recovery.
So, in the scheme of things, it’s only money. It can’t buy you health or happiness or a place in Olam Habah.
You must replace the joker with a 4. After that you can separate the run as you please:
1,2,3,4
5,6,7
or
1,2,3
4,5,6,7
or
1,2,3
4,5,6
take the 7 and add other tiles for a third meld
Broken record time:
As a small town resident Jewish American, Memorial Day is a big thing.
Most homes in our town are flying flags. The Town replaced the flags on the utility poles on the Main Street parade route this year, selling them to individuals in memory of loved ones lost in service to the USA. I bought 4.
I started my day at minyan and there was a special Kaddish for lost Jewish American soldiers. I had a great uncle killed while serving in the US Army in France in 1918, an uncle killed in Korea and two cousins in Viet Nam.
After shul I went back to the hospital to visit my wife. At noon there were ceremonies at the town veterans’ memorial park. Then at 2PM there was a parade (delayed because of morning rain). Jewish children marched with synagogue youth groups. There was a convertible with members of the Jewish War Veterans (WWII, Korea and Viet Nam).
It is only after these commemorations of the sacrifice made by service personnel for our liberty that family celebrations began. No one rushed off to the mall in the morning, they would risk scorn and shame by their neighbors.
Health…..
The Bar Overseers is NOT the Bar Association.
The name of the government agency that disciplines lawyers is different in many states. I went to law school in Massachusetts. There it is called the Board of Bar Overseers. Here in CT it is called the CT Bar Examining Committee. I don’t know the name in NJ. These are the agencies with power to fine, suspend or revoke licenses.
Bar Associations are trade groups, I don’t bother paying dues or belonging to them.
BTW>> I teach a law school course on Film and the Law. It is used to train lawyers what perspectives clients and juries may have gotten from Hollywood’s take on the legal system. I screen films from the Judge’s, prosecutor’s, defense attorney’s, defendant’s, and jury’s perspective.
I have been searching for a good film from the media perspective for years.
Newbee…
I’ve been a family law attorney almost 40 years. My experience is specific to CT and Florida.
Yes there are a few shysters out there who try to milk every dollar from clients, but they get slapped down by the Bar overseers after a few complaints.
It is always the horror stories that one hears. No one goes around talking about their great divorce experience. In the frum community there is little talk about divorce because it may ruin the children’s chances for shidduchim.
The telling point in Health’s post is that his ex-spouse had a lawyer and he did not. That is a major mistake. The couple is each too emotionally involved to represent themselves against emotionally detached professional representatives.
I wish I did no divorce work, but it is part of being a family law attorney. I tell my potential clients words taught me by my mentor 40 years ago (an old Italian-American Catholic Attorney). You must be fair with your spouse. He/she is not your enemy, you loved him/her enough to marry (and have a family). I will not destroy your spouse. the settlement must be equitable. If you have children you will be connected for the rest of your lives. You want to be included in family events. If you are not willing to share equally with your spouse, please go find another lawyer.
Health…….
New Jersey is a nightmare divorce state. A female first cousin of mine went through a 4 year nightmare divorce there.
Every state is different. Here in CT, no judge would listen to an attorney saying ‘counseling wouldn’t work.’ The divorcing couple is sent from the courtroom to a counseling center in the courthouse where they must provide full documentation of the failed counseling sessions..or schedule and have lengthy counseling through the court before the trial may go forward.
You are correct that if one of the couple wants a divorce, it will be granted eventually. No one may be forced to remain in a marriage by civil authorities.
Personal note: I have been mostly absent from the CR due to Mrs. CTL’s lengthy hospitalization. B”H last night after 13 days she has finally been moved from ICU to a regular room and I have been able to sleep at home in my own bed.
Thank you all for your prayers, mi she berach offerings and encouragement. We greatly appreciate it.
newbee……………
Don’t believe what you are told.
I am a family law attorney. I don’t encourage divorce. My clients have decided to sue for divorce BEFORE they contract my services.
Here in CT, state judicial procedures require couples to undergo marriage counseling, either private or through the court, before a divorce trial can proceed.
In my decades of experience, I have found that professional marriage counseling almost always leads to divorce, not saving the marriage.
A long drawn out divorce is usually not about increasing legal fees (I typically charge a set amount for a divorce) but endless negotiations over stuff or child custody/support.
90 percent of the divorces I handle go smoothly and take the minimum 91 days required by statute.
BTW, judges in our family courts regularly require the couple have a minimum of 6 months of marriage counseling before the divorce suit can go forward.
When there are children involved, costs go through the roof and the time frames lengthens considerably. Parents are required to attend parenting classes before the divorce and custody are granted. The court may appoint attorneys for the children and guardian(s) ad litem.
To keep it in perspective in recent years my fee for an uncontested, no children divorce with one court appearance for the granting of the divorce is about $3000 plus costs. Once there are children involved, custody/support disputes or property fights the fees/costs can skyrocket.
To keep our sanity and solvency, our firm only allows each attorney to take one contested or custody issue divorce at a time.