DaMoshe

Maybe it wasn’t really fifty dollars, but five dollars? After all, it seems clear you’re not sure where a period (or decimal) should go, so maybe you were wrong? Maybe it was fifty cents?

As haifagirl said, please study English some more. I’m sorry about the situation you’re in, but that’s not an excuse for the grammar (or lack thereof) in your post.

Of course I do! I’ve gotten into trouble for protecting some of my younger siblings, but I didn’t care. Family is extremely important. Yes, we argue at times, but they’re still my siblings.

The tablecloth and candlesticks are set up on Friday afternoon. Usually my kids enjoy putting on the plates and silverware while I’m in shul. In the summertime, they’ll do that on Friday afternoon also.

147: Oh please. Maybe anyone who uses the Ponovezh Rosh Yeshiva as their Rav and didn’t listen to him will lose their chelek. But most people don’t rely on him, and therefore are not bound by their psak.

dhl: Wow, we share a birthday (although not the same year, I’m quite a bit older than you!)

gavra_at_work: As someone who learned in R’ Bender’s yeshiva, I can attest to that! I well remember on my first night there (for dormitory orientation), R’ Bender spoke about the security guards who were there for our protection. Many of them were black. He said that if he ever heard anyone saying anything racist about them, there would be immediate consequences, even if it wasn’t said in front of them. He said if he ever heard someone say the “N” word about them, it would mean an immediate expulsion, no questions asked.

I don’t remember where I saw it, but I once learned that gay marriage is a distortion of the way nature is supposed to be. When this becomes commonplace and recognized as legitimate, it causes the derech hatevah that Hashem set up to change. So yes, it can be that gay marriage causes more storms, earthquakes, etc.

Do I know 100% for sure that it caused it? No, but I know it’s a possibility. As for it being our fault, it might be. I did write to my representatives urging them not to support it. I guess I could have done more.

We need to show that we will not support it no matter what, and no matter what other things these people do, as good as it may be. When Bloomberg was trying to get support in NY for it, Agudas Yisrael honored him at their dinner, for all his help funding yeshivos. This must stop! If someone supports it, do not show any honor towards them! Hashem will get us the money we need, but we need to show our opposition to such groups.

I wish I was in a position to help, but unfortunately I’m not. My wife has been unemployed for a long time, and our savings have dwindled to next to nothing.

One thing I can offer as advice is this: try to help others! You never know how it can help you later on. Here’s an example.

The wife of a friend of mine has helped out numerous people with various things – marrying off kallos without money, baalei teshuva, she helped a geyores with no money get new kitchen utensils, etc. They’ve never been rich, and just make ends meet, so she says she volunteers her time since she can’t help with money. She approaches various people she knows and gets donations of money, items, and other things.

A few months ago, their Shabbos hot plate broke. They tend to have a lot of guests, and had a very large, expensive hot plate to keep the large amount of food needed warm for the meals. They weren’t sure they could afford to buy a new one. So she called a store she had approached for various cases in the past, since she knew they sold them. She said to the owner, “My hot plate broke last week, and I need a new one. The one we had was very expensive, and I don’t have the money to replace it. Can you recommend a similar one that might be cheaper?”

The owner called her the next day and said, “I’ve spoken to you numerous times where you were always helping out others. I found out that you never took a penny for helping them. Now it’s your turn!” He sent them a new hot plate for free. Not only that, she had called a few stores to shop around for the best price. 2 other stores did the same thing! When she called to tell them she didn’t need 3 of them, she was told to keep them anyway – she could have one for Pesach, and one as a spare in case it was ever needed.

They kept one for Pesach, but true to her usual self, she gave away the 3rd one to a baal teshuva who was just starting to keep Shabbos!

My point is, if you help other people, Hashem will help you when you need it too.

When I go to davening during the week, I make sure to dress appropriately. Even if it’s a Sunday where I was doing housework, and was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, I’ll change for davening into a nice button-down shirt and regular pants.

On Shabbos, I wear a suit and white shirt. The white shirt is my item that is special for Shabbos. I won’t wear one during the week unless it’s for a special occasion.

That depends on how much you can afford to pay. Request what you can’t afford.

golfer: On my trip, we didn’t have to worry about reheating. The food was always fresh, whether a the hotel or stopping at a restaurant with a hechsher. It was never reheated.

Another thing to bear in mind is water. If you go in the summer, make sure to bring extra money for water. You don’t realize how hot you get because it’s a dry heat, but you can easily get dehydrated. On my trip, our bus driver sold water in 1.5 liter bottles. Make sure you have money for it!

There are a few reasons brought down for nittel nacht.

The Korban Netanel says it’s a form of aveilus.

The Chasam Sofer rejects the opinion of aveilus, and say if that were the case, we’d be allowed to learn hilchos aveilus. It also would last the entire night, not just the first half. Instead, he says that the Christians would go to church at midnight for services. If they were running to pray and the Jews were sleeping, it would look bad for Jews. However, if the Jews got up at midnight, it would look like they were copying the Christians. So they instituted a rule not to learn the first half, but to stay awake doing other things. At midnight, they would begin learning.

The Sefer Kedushat Tziyon says it’s to teach us a lesson. Jesus was a student of R’ Yehoshua ben Perachya. Before he turned bad, he was an accomplished and learned talmud chacham. He’s an example of the mishna in Avos, that says Torah learning, while important, is not the primary goal – actions are (living the Torah, not just learning it.) Therefore, on this night, we suspend learning to practice the actions.

In any case, most of these reasons don’t apply anymore. Only the last reason does, and playing cards or chess is certainly not the actions that the mishna in Avos refers to.

The Chazon Ish criticized those who held of nittel, and made sure to learn extra that night. The Steipler learned as well, and even told others not to let him know when nittel was, so he wouldn’t be distracted from his learning.

Well, I wrote my hate post. The mods didn’t publish it. Mods, why can people write terrible things about MO, but I write something about chassidim and it won’t get published?

When I bought my house, the washer and dryer came with it. The washer was a GE model. I had a problem with my dryer, and had a repair guy come to fix it. He noticed my washer and told me that GE is not a good brand for washers/dryers, and I could probably expect to be calling him again soon for it.

Sure enough, about a month later, it started making loud noises, and shaking like crazy while running. By that time, I had a service contract with PSE&G, so I called them down. The guy said the bowl inside had cracked, so water had leaked, and the whole inside frame was rusted. The machine was finished, couldn’t be fixed, and I needed to buy a new one. I avoided GE at all costs!

Health: I looked up what R’ Moshe wrote about an eruv in Manhattan. He originally wrote that he held it wasn’t good. However, he wrote that yesh al mi lismoch, and he would not be against those who used it, because they did have a valid opinion to go by. He even wrote that this is a machlokes in halachah and Hashem is rejoicing over it!

Later, R’ Aharon Kotler wanted to sign strongly against it, and asked R’ Moshe to join in signing a letter. Out of respect for R’ Aharon, he signed. He write a letter saying that while he initially wrote a different opinion, he signed that letter for R’ Aharon.

So to the claim that nobody can argue on R’ Moshe, even R’ Moshe himself said that he understood the opinion that the eruv was good even though he didn’t agree, and felt there was nothing wrong with relying on those opinions.

I did some more digging into the gelatin thing with R’ Ralbag.

He does not allow regular gelatin. He allows Kolatin, which is gelatin made from properly shechted cows. It also has the OU hechsher on it.

R’ Ralbag was contacted regarding Trident gum, some of which had his hechsher. He stressed that regular gelatin is not kosher, but said a special run was produced with Kolatin in it.

I once went to daven Mincha at Rabbi Landau’s shul in Brooklyn. I was looking for a parking spot. I was getting a bit nervous, because it was getting close to shkiah, and I wanted to catch the last minyan.

I finally saw a guy getting into his car to pull out. He pulled out, I pulled in front of the spot, with my turn signal on, and shifted into reverse. Suddenly, a guy comes and zips head-first into the spot. I got out of the car and asked him, “What do you think you’re doing? That was my spot!”

He replied, “It’s almost shkiah, I need to catch the last minyan! Sorry!” and he ran off to the shul.

I’m sure Hashem really appreciated his tefillos that day.

I think I’m going to write a hate post also. Not necessarily what I believe, but enough facts to make it legit. I’m gonna start working on it tonight. Let’s see if the mods post it.

The yeshiva that my kids go to keeps the doors locked. There is a security guard who needs to buzz you in, and he sits right by the door, so he can escort you somewhere if necessary.

If he’s not there, like if he’s using the restroom, you’ll wait. I’ve had to wait before to be buzzed in because he was away from the desk for a moment.

The school also has regular drills with the local police to know how to handle a shooter in the school.

When a terrible person gets convicted of a crime, yes, I will be happy. Not because there are problems in the Jewish community, but because the problems are on their way to being resolved. Instead of the years of cover-ups that happened, the issue must now be dealt with. Instead of sacrificing innocent children to protect some animals, the animals will be taken care of as they deserve.

That’s why I’m happy. I wish we didn’t have the problems with these sick people to begin with. But they are there, and I want them to be dealt with.

HaKatan, I don’t think that’s a good answer. Years ago, R’ Gifter gave his famous speech attacking YU. He said they did what they did to get government funding. He said the money comes from Hashem, not the government, and you can’t go even one bit against what is right for government funding. I think if he were alive at the time Bloomberg was honored, he would have been dead-set against it.

Health: Not everyone is against him, and even if most are, it doesn’t speak to them. It all comes down to one person – the Satmar Rav in Williamsburg. Most of the people will go by what he says, even if they disagree. If he’s wrong, it flows down to everyone else. With regard to the whole Weberman case, he was wrong.

You wrote “Hatzolah (if they responded)”. Hatzolah was called. They refused to respond because of who he is. They can lose their license for that. No doubt people will cry anti-semitism, but it’s only because of their hatred for this hero of a man.