Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
There are several yeshivos that offer varying degrees of secular/college level studies but those are probably not considered in the “upper tier” from a purely lamdus perspective. A chavrusah is an organic thing that exists through the interaction of its participants, not on the shteiging skills of any one person. If the chemistry isn’t right, any chavrusah will have challenges even if the participants are individually the “stars” of that particular institution
While the focus of the legislative language is to tax “imputed income” from tuition discounts provided to graduate teaching assistants at “liberal colleges” (obviously not so worded in the bill), the IRS rules could easily sweep in imputed income to kollel yungerleit who might also be teaching in a cheder affiliated with the kollel or any of a number of situations. Most kollel yungerleit are not making big bucks (even if the wife is working) and with the expanded personal exemption for a half dozen kinder, probably not much risk of big tax exposure. If so, the mosdos will have to gross up the compensation to offset their increased tax liability (absent a rich shver to pay the tax bill).
Even the most ardent misnaged will acknowledge that the work of the Chabad shalichim has brought more yidden back to torah-true yiddeshkeit than any other segment of the tzibur. Chabad shalichim are non-judgmental and see every yiddeshe neshama as worthy of their time, attention and energy. For most frei yidden, they have no knowledge of any of the dozen or so chassidus represented in the United States, much less the litivsh communities other than Chabad. You can have legitimate disagreements with the shita of the rebbe on some issues or aspects of their hashkafah but don’t ever suggest that Chabad isn’t unique and constitutes the spearhead of Hashem’s army.
Three hundred plus postings and a gazillion words later, no one has yet provided a convincing argument as to why a woman shouldn’t follow the guidance of her Rav or posek as to whether a real haired sheitel, a faux hair sheitel, a tichel, a snood, or a paper bag with holes cut out provides the appropriate hair covering for a bas yisroel. While yiddeshkeit provides considerable opportunity for individual hashkafah, apparently those in CR are of the belief that women must adhere to whatever chumrah/kulah they hold by and failure to do is is apikorsus and leads to all sorts of pritzus.
Why would you ask a poishete dentist when you can get the opinion of so many experts on everything here in the CR….you get the world’s best eitzah at zero cost from those who aren’t afraid to opine on subjects they know nothing about and do so with great passion and without equivocation.
I don’t think anyone considers the new age Breslovers as real chassidim. The litvishe Chassidus seem to be distancing themselves from Chabadniks in both their lvush and hashkafahl as well as their politics. For Lubavitch, the more years that go by with no “rebbe”, the less it has in common with the Litvish chassidus where the centrality of the current rebbe;’s personality is a key component of their hashkafah and minhagim.
Solar panels physically cannot “consume” electricity. An incorrectly installed meter, whether a “smart” meter, time-of-use meter, load differentiated meter, etc. for customers with net-metering arrangements can show absurd amounts of energy or record capacity use during peak hours that will ratchet up the bill, especially if the highest marginal peak hour price (which can be 5x to 7x times the off-peak price) is applied across all consumption blocks. All of you who have these ridiculous bills should retain a billing consultant who will come in and figure out for your the source of the problem and engage with the utility billing department. There are several qualified energy auditing firms in the Atlanta area if you are an AGL customer.
Alternatively, you may have simply signed an abusive contract with the solar provider under which you are being charged some absurd fixed monthly G&A type charge which presumes an order of magnitude higher load than net-metered or contains some other provisions which no sensible customer would have willingly agreed to (unless you didn’t read the fine print). There are a lot of scams out there which have nothing to do with the utility but are entirely bilateral agreements between you and the solar system intaller. Sadly, you may be locked in since stupidity is not normally considered an event of force-majeure’
Yossi….either you are misreading the electric bills, have a broken meter or are not accurately conveying information in what you are posting. Your characterization of the facts doesn’t make sense. The output of the rooftop array on a net-metered basis was expected to be deficient relative to your load from an energy perspective. No utility company “charges” a customer for energy self-generated to offset load or injected to the grid via a feed-in tariff. Perhaps type slowly and accurately state whats going on.
The IDF has probably the lowest sartorial-focus among advanced nations in the world, yet no one would questions its efficacy as a fighting machine. Most IDF units have a hard time marching in step and many young chayalim look like they just fell out of bed and wearing uniforms two sizes too small or large with many ad-hoc fashion accessories. Likewise hashem’s army doesn’t need to be dressed like a bunch of penguins if they are able to shteig more effectively wearing a different colored shirt.
What possible reason could there be for not allowing a clean and sharply ironed beige or light blue shirt versus white..? This mindless focus on trivia rather than midos and lamdus seems to be counterproductive
Yossi….
you are either misreading the billing statement or you are not accurately stating the provisions of the the PPA…your post doesn’t make sense. If your load had nearly tripled according to the meter and you haven’t installed new appliances or charging a car in your garage, the meter is incorrect.Its one of those rare occasions where I think Joe’s point is well taken. If you have a good relationship with your rav and respect his judgement, no reason not to consult with him on ANY important decision in your live, halaachic or otherwise. In today’s world, we get information overload and often want to make a decision but have some hesitancy and are unsure how to resolve. A rav can simply be a good person to bounce ideas off and also may be a great networking source who might refer you to others in the tzibur with subject area expertise you might not have been aware of.
One person’s kulah is another’s chumrah….there are so many inyanim where varying degrees and forms of observance span a broad spectrum. What passes for hidur mitzvah among some is the baseline or starting point for others. A simple recognition of these variances w/o being judgemental would go a long way towards breaching the gap that seems to arise over so many nonsensical issues. Recognition does not mean “acceptance”, “endorsement” etc. It simply means that others rely upon a different rav with a different view.
“Are there many frum people without a rav??””
Actually, a fairly nuanced question. As Sarah Palin would say, among “REAL Frummies” they “go by” the Rav of their chassidus/yeshiva/shul/beis medrash etc. A study a few years ago by some YU professor found that among MOs (aka Young Israel types), they tended less to always use the rav of their local shul as compared with being their “own Rav” and intellectually researching whatever inyan was of concern and making their own decisions w/o consulting anyone. Obviously not what chazal had in mind in re “aseh l’cha rav”.
There could be problems with the inverter or wiring that could easily result in metering issues. Also, make sure the higher bill is for the energy (kwh) component of the bill and not for the capacity (KW) component which may in some cases may be ratcheted up for peak useage. Also, if you are some type of “net metering” program you may not be getting credit for energy fed back into the grid.
As to leaks, call a good roofer, not the electrician
DY….brilliant in its simple elegance and total transparency. Perhaps when you move beyond the beta version and roll out the actual product you might add a fourth option for “Joe’s World”…..
Seems like this would be more useful if they provided some indication of which hotlines are likely to offer chumrahs/kulahs on specific areas of halacha. This would facilitate Joe’s concerns about wasting time shopping around or cherrypicking before a poishete yid with limited time gets a Rav or Posek on the line who will provide the “right answer”
There are many chassidish hashgachos that provide supervision outside of the larger concentrations of frum yidden, to the extent a local establishment wants to be able to offer the assurance of high standards of kashruth to its clientele.
Its very difficult to “call up” a local vaad or hashgacha agency and “ask them” about their reliability….what are they going to tell you.. “Of course, our mashgichim are big talmeidei chachamim and yirei shamayim and are able to stay awake most of the time to assure that no treifus walks through the door…”. Your best bet is to find some local chassideshe hashgacha, if one if available, and either patronize their establishments or ask them to opine on any others. Some will disagree, but in the large percentage of cases, you can’t go wrong with chassideshe hashgacha.
Joseph Says
“This new age idea that men should keep out of women issues, popularized in political culture in debates about abortion and other contemporary liberal thought, is entirely and completely a goyishe train of thought.:
No Joe…its NOT “new age”…your constant effort to denigrate women in the name of Halacha is fairly transparent but most of the time, ignored…nor is misogyny a goiyeshe concept. More and more bnos yisroel are getting an education, becoming more informed of their rights and responsibilities under both halacha and civil law and and no, its not apikorsus to disagree with those who would keep women in some dark virtual cave and allowed to come out only when their husbands or fathers gave them permission. You paint a very sad picture of any women in your life by your commentaryTo Meno…
And what other “chiddush” (aside from the nexus between the mitzvah being all about tzinius) do you wish Rav Moshe had been aware of??..”which poskim bigger than Chacham Ovadiah disagreed with”…
We should have some sort of rule that if you are going say Gadol X is “bigger” than Gadol Y or that the holding of Posek A ” trumps” Posek B (except for Ungarashe yidden living in Bnai Brak)…etc. you have to also post your Gadolim ranking or Posek “top 10” listing….this A is bigger than B stuff is both silly and not especially informative since no one has a clue as to the criteria you are using and generally, different groups have different perceptions as to who is the gadol hador (not that I would know). That’s why we have our own local rav or posek to hold by, and generally we take their guidance. However, one of the great gifts of the YWN CR is that if you carefully scroll through the archives, you can always find some attribution to some gadol or posek who will hold the exact position you are hoping to legitimize.
A. There is always somewhere that yidden need rain/wind/dew or other meteorological interventions (and there is even a ski area on the Hermon whose parnassah requires ample snowfall)
B. Given the reality of global warming, its not clear that any of this matters anyway…we hold by the shita of R’ Al Gore but not all do.I’m sure you can find both frum men and women wearing just about ANY color (although various shades of black have been the “in” color at the fall and spring runway shows for men for the past several hundred years). Yes, you will find some niche chassidus wearing white bekeshes and knee sox but those seem to be an exception….in some other cases, the standard chassidishe lvush prescribes that only the rebbe is wearing white (or white stripes) but the masses are still dressed in standard penguin garb…
Joseph!!
Yashyer koach on your mathematics and analytical skills…..impressive
After 100+ postings, no one has yet made a convincing case that a marrid frum woman should not wear a sheitel if that is the guidance she receives from her rav/posek. While thre are certainly many rabbonim an poskim who prefer a tichel, and they are entitled to respect, seeking to marginalize or denigrate those who chooe otherwise would likely result in alienation from yiddeshkeit rather than raising the madregah of observance. The “assur everything” crowd obviously will disagree but they seem at times to be clueless as to the real world and the effects of their words and actions on those who are struggling wih their hashkafah.
If you go down the “gematria” route, you can probably prove that yosef=???? we could have an entire thread devoted to the numerology of what nouns and adjectives would work with the yud,…..etc.
A mesorah can change over time…..one metric of that change is how a large segment of the Tzibur evolves in their observance, as informed by their own rebbeim and poskim. This is not the exclusive form of change, and we could have a one-time edict from all gadoyley yisroel that a change in mesorah is required. However, the inyan of ervah/tzinius with respect to a sheitel vs. snood vs. tichel etc. is materially different from debating whether our mesorah includes eating chicken A versus chicken B.
Forget about the Hikinds….they are “done”….not clear he will even run again for assembly given the cloud hanging over him….he should hang up his Fedora while many still have some positive memories of him from his earlier council days where he was good on constituent services and before he developed an obcessoin with jumping in front of every camera in sight and holding self-aggrandizing news conferences to opine on issues unrelated to his elected office.
Perhaps there should be serious consideration to hold one final “mega-asifa” focused on the theme of assuring all future asifas since they result in an incredible amount of bitul torah if one accounts for the time spent traveling to and from the event as well as the event itself. Further, consider their efficacy given that several recent surveys show continued growth in the use of smartphones computers and other internet connected devices among the frum tzibur as well as a rapid growth in the some of website clearly affiliated with frum mosdos or advertising focused on the frum customers
Perhaps its because so many YWN readers have O’d on “Asifas: dealing with the internet….time fo a new round of “assur this, assur that”.. so we can have some new and original asifah subjects.
In all my years on YWN, I don’t believe I can recall anyone dismissively characterizing the views of R’ Elyashiv, Z”TL as “daas yachid” (aka an outlying opinion) that should be ignored in favor of a more prevalent view among other rabbonim. Nor have I heard R’ Belsky characterized as a second tier posek in comparison to someone else. In any event, we hold by our own LRP and its up to him to advise us as to which of the gadolim he relies upon for the guidance he provides to us.
Just like we have a chavrusah for learning, in some cases it makes sense to have a similar chavrussah for fitness and exercise. Not only will it provide really important incentives to exercise on a regular basis, running or biking with your friends may give you needed chizuk to pursue your fitness goals and share ideas/suggestions on how you might exercise more efficiently. Several of you might also be able to afford (as a group) to hire a trainer one day a week or something like that. Exercising by yourself is good for some men and women but “group” efforts are more likely to keep you committed to your “exercise chevrah” for a longer term.
To Joseph:
“Yeger had initially started running against Chaim Deutch…..In addition [he was] attempting to take away a Yid’s job, which isn’t halachicly permissible….”Generally, there is a kernel of substance in your trolls but your comment above is really inane. If a politican has done a lousy job for his constituents, yidden or otherwise, a yid should feel obligated to run against him and replace him and do a better job for the tzibur. Are all the religious party politicians in EY who seek to displace the secular politicans violaitng halacha?? Are all the gadolim (real ones) who endorse their candidacies also indirectly engaged in violating halacha. Oh. but a talmid chacham like you would argue that maybe its ok in a parlimentary system where you don’t directly run against another candidate but insteadi ar te trying to maximize votes for your slate of candidates…
My point was simple and I think you know it (especially if you live in BP, Willy or any other major urban area….the way women dress on the street may not be much different than the gym….perhaps your one of the ehrliche yiddne who are like those big tzadikim that YWN ran the story about who wear some sort of bag over their heads when flying on commercial airlines. If you believe that the women at your local gym are dressing especially provactively, than I agree with you 100 percent but a my gym, most of the women are wearing oversized sweats and loose baggy tops that do not challenge the yetzer hora.
Not sure why a “men only” gym is a real issue. In today’s world, you will not see a woman dressed much differently in a gym than you probably see multiple times a day on the street or in the park on a warm summer day (in fact, possibly worse on the street than in the gym). Keeping yourself healthy is more important than possibly someone on the treadmill not being dressed tziniudik. There are plenty of exercise videos on line with men only…we cannot post web links here but just google “men’s fitness” videos and you will get plenty of options. Much hatzlacha with your fitness efforts.
Only if says “i Voted [for the frum guy from BP who lives in daddy’s basement who has zero knowledge of NYC public policy issues]….in the latter case, it is a per se acknowledgement of substance abuse or someone in need of intervention
If all the collective energy and passion that the MEN here in the CR devote to women’s sheitels and other issues concerning women and ervah, tzinius, were focused instead on self-introspection and inward directed musar, there is a very high likelihood we would have seen z’man moisiach by now. Its a lot easier to vent about a woman’s sheitel or a perceived decline in tzinus on 13th Avenue than to really look inside oneself and undertake truly transformative changes in one’s lifestyle and own hashkafah.
To Joseph:
Perhaps Monsey, Lakewood, BP and Willy can all go on Icelandic time so those coming to the late maariv minyanim can stay over and daven vasikim shachris….but I guess that might not work because the maariv will also move back a few hours or is that forward…
CT Lawyer correctly describes the status of a senior LA/Paralegal in a small number of firms….the large percentile of LAs in many large New york and Magic Circle firms spend long-hours in mind-numbing work in document review, due dilligence etc. In this new age where most lawyers do their own document drafting (aka typing) and many of the younger lawyers do their own legal research as well, the lines between the old legal secretaries (many of whom took “dicatation”), legal assistants and law clerks have blurred. Some large firms now have a 5:1 or 6:1 ratio of lawyers to secretaries and LAs are pooled across practice areas.
It can be good work if your working for CTLawyer but I fear the large percentage of opportunities are not nearly as exciting, rewarding or challengingIf an unatrractive married women with unattractive hair goes out and buys a really machmir-type fake hair sheitel that satisfies even Joe’s farblungete psak (or that of the Shtieblach Rebbe he seems to rely upon for his psaks) and suddently this plain looking baas yisrel looks like a princess,, is that really what anyone believes chazal had in mind with their concerns over the inyan of ervah in a married woman? Just when I think he is making some semblance of sense, he takes another twist and turn in tto the rabbit hole
With respect to NY milk regulations, perhaps an innovative marketer could sell one gallon containers of a mix of 50% cholov yisroel and 50% cholov stam and label it with a catchy name, something like “Half and Half”…this might help bring down the cost and further confuse the situation. Also, think of how many new threads Joseph could start as to why any Rav who gives it a hashgacha is probably some nitwit “shtieblach rebbe”.
We learn from the admonition of “aseh l’cha rav” to rely upon our local rav/posek to NOT “cherry pick” a psak from among multiple rabbonim that best fits our own inclinations but to identify our “own” rav and follow his guidance, even when inconvenient. Joseph tells us to ignore the guidance of what he disparagingly refers to as our local “corner shteeble rov” and instead follow a bona fide gedolei posek? Well, given that we don’t have a website listing Joseph’s approved “gedolim” (and even if he did, I probably wouldn’t get honorable mention), many of us will continue to follow our LRPs (who we assume are aware of what some “gadolim” may have said in some kol koreh) in matters of Halacha arising in our daily lives.
Much better to go for a date on Thursday nights when many kosher places have their unlimited chulent specials. Both you and your prospective beschert will have fond memories of that date through at least motzi Shabbos and maybe longer.
Is there a good location for a dairy farm in Willy or BP?
Outside of NYC which has some really quriky regulations on all milk sales, the priciing varies considerably between smaller “heimeshe” markets and larger, modern kosher “supermarkets”. The latter have increasingly been using really low prices on chalav yisroel (competitive with chalav stam in some cases) as a “loss leader”, to attract shoppers to the market. The heimeshe markets simply cannot afford to match those prices because they purchase and sell in much smaller volumes, are less efficient in their storage and cooling facilities etc.
Flipping houses in Baltimore?? Now thats what I consider a low risk investment for a Bubby. Perhaps she should also consider investing in one of the new Chopsie’s Chulent franchise locations
I understand the question but was curious as to how or why the issue would arise in modern times when wearing tfillin all day is not common even among most gadolim…threads on eruv tavshllin are a bit more relevant to poishete yidden since they deal with it several time a year. Was not meant to be critical or negative….