Gadolhadorah

This seems to be a rather silly debate….do whatever both of you (mother/father) are comfortable with and don’t feel bound by old bubba meisas, “its bad luck,” etc. stories. Most parents will respect the mother’s privacy and be more than happy with “she’s due about the 3rd week of February” or “just before the yom tovim” etc.

P.S. Its now FAAAN not FANG…..the publicly traded stock od Google is now called Alphabet (A shares and C shares),

Weather you call it a “segulah”, a “mitzvah”, or whatever, it still comes across as offensive in many advertisements where the solicitation implies the more you give the bigger the “dividend”. If you’ve ever mistakenly tuned in to some religious informercial in the wee hours of the AM where they literally claim a specific percentage “return” on your donation or some miracle healing (aka “healing of one paralyzed leg for X dollars and both for Y dollars”) . Whether promising marriage, children, a job or recovery from illness in return for donations is offensive to many yidden where it would seem that davening with real kavanah would have equal if not greater returns).

“Exactly how Sushi is related to Smartphones is beyond me…”

Its very difficult to order take out sushi on a rotary dial phone……most of the sushi places prefer you order online using their mobile apps

Shopping; You say “if you aren’t working you don’t need one..”
Among many really naresh comments, this truly is breathtaking….a smartphone is a source of access to information as well as a tool for daily life functions, whether you are frum or otherwise. Most government and commercial functions have either migrated entirely to electronic format or will do some within the next year or two. If you want to live in a cave and revert back to barter trade and isolate yourself and your family from the world, you are certainly free to do so and probably can cobble together tools to bypass the internet but most normal yidden have learned to adhere to Halacha while taking advantage of all the benefits of an electronic world. It has nothing to do with working (although I’m sure there are some that view the “W” word as much of a threat to their neshamas as the internet).

As a gadol haorah(ah), I can assure you that it is indeed possible to “trust oneself” with respect to using a smartphone for its intended purpose of accessing information without sneaking around and watching pritzus on a 6 inch screen on which I couldn’t distinguish Esther from Haman (even with my reading glasses). Obviously, many other gadolim and askanim concur since they are routinely phtotographed with smartphones in their hands and many chashuve rabbonim now prepare divrei torah that can only be accessed with a web-enabled device. If the Ebeshter didn’t want us using smartphones, Steve Jobs would have been ended up the pioneer of solar-powered shabbos blechs

Rebyiddel….
Chazal bring down in relation to the obligation of “ushmartem es nafshosechem” that we are not only required to care for ourselves in terms of what and how much we heat, but to “spread the word” about riskylifestyle practices that jeopardize our fundamental well being. Whatever you may believe about the virtues of meat on shabbos, in matters of nutrition, even my Rav tells me to listen to my cardiologist.

Not a vegie or vegan (although one of my kids has gone OTD with respect to meat and most fish)…but definitely trying to minimize my intake for health reasons. I spent yom tov in the UK (sadly not for the chassanah) and it seems that vegetarians are increasing in numbers over there as well….

For the growing number of yidden who have recognized (with their cardiologist’s advice) the sakanas nefesh derived from fatty meats and are increasing their consumption of tofu an other plant-based proteins, searing the tofu cubes is important but do so after you have first marinated them since searing will make it more difficult for the flavors to penetrate. Another option is to go 50/50 in terms of the mix of real meat and meat substitutes. Either way, marinating first assures better flavor. There are still some traditionalists who insist on having “basar” on Shabbos so throwing in a few shticklach fleish won’t hurt you in moderation.

Assuming the usual Joey trolling its sort of a fill in the punchline…..

1. Share your secret family recipe for Possum Chulent
2. Provide her with a daft pre-nuptial agreement whereby you commit to giving her a Get when she turns 16 if she decides to change her mind
3. Show her the photos of your 2 ex-wives and how happy they are today (albeit having gotten rid of you)….

There is no such thing as “frum” music. With modern computer AI software, you can link the musical fingerprints or audio DNA of portions of just about any nigun to a precursor song with goiyeshe origins. One of the prior posters said it best with regard the Kalever Rebbe, Z’TL endowing an old goiyeshe nigun with kedushah in his adopting of the old nigun.

Benny…..having too many choices offered by the siddur when davening is really hard on my kavanah which itself is already challenged. As to progressive lenses, I’ve been wearing them for years. I got them when I started skiing the more difficult slopes years ago and found it hard to read the smaller signs warning me of “pritzus ahead” while trying to avoid running into a tree.

This type of event is really not the kind of issue that the frum tzibur needs to be wasting time on or calling attention to this or similar events. As someone noted, its an indoor event not parading down a main street in yerushalayim, does not expose others to so called “pritzus” (which I think is a stretch anyway for Eurovision) and otherwise is not the kind of event that warrants creating a further schism with the secular community. Choose your battles strategically.

To CG…

Then try Reubenshtein’s herring flavored crispy onion rings…they come in “original plain”, “matjes” and “schmaltz” flavors…..much more economical and efficient

Apparently, the Eurovision musical competition in 2019 will be held at the King David Hotel in Yerushalayim which the Dan Hotel chain just announced will be renamed the King Donald Hotel in conjunction with this competition and his role in moving the U.S. embassy back to ir hakodesh.

Whats the chilul hashem of some goiyeshe/secular contest being held in EY? There are all sorts of sporting competitions, Christian bible competitions, dog shows, etc. that are are NOT items that the heimeshe tzibur really cares about but roughly 60 percent of Israelis do care about. If your not interested, “change the channel” so to say….stay home and listen to the newest album from MBD or Shloime Gavornlik

Most herring is cheap but the species “Herringus Schmaltzus” is on the endangered species list and there are annual catch quotas limiting supplies and increasing prices. There are some commercial efforts at raising the rare schmaltz herrings at fish farms but the results so fare have been mixed and the taam of the farm-raised fish lacks the natural onion taste of the wild-caught variety.

In the real world, authorized goiyeshe law enforcement personnel from the lowly meter reader, to the policeman, prosecutor and ultimately the justices of the Supreme Court certain do have the authority to adjudicate violations of the law by anyone in their respective jurisdictions. If you have any doubts, ask SMR, Madoff, Dwek or tens of thousands of yidden who have spent quality time at a federal penal institution. If you find that upsetting, don’t violate dina d”malchusa or even better, move to EY so you are more likely to be arrested and judged by yidden for the same crime you committed here in the golden medinah.

Only if she is from West Virginia or Kentucky .

While not explicitly stated, there is a concept of “rule of reason” that the McDonald’s analogy above makes very well We don’t blindly worry about how anyone might interpret anything we do….we use our sechel to reason which appearances would likely be misinterpreted by the large percentage of yidden, how that misperception might c’v lead others to repeat our inappropriate action(s) etc. , who else might be hurt etc. Walking on a public street in a heimeshe neighborhood with your wife/daughter where everyone knows everyone else and their family relationships isn’t likely to pass the “maris ayin materiality test”. For those who are machmir and hold by eruvim, perhaps hang a big sign on her back saying “I’m his wife/daughter”

A large percentage of girls graduating high school girls in EY speak both ivrit and and English so you shouldn’t have any difficulty finding a frum girl (if that’s what you want) who is bilingual . If you intend to move back to the U.S. soon, than hold off on your dating until you move since its a bit expensive to hop on El Al to share a drink with a prospective beschert. Finally, there are several thousand frum girls from the U.S. attending seminary in EY who are English speakers.