gavra_at_work

My 20 year old daughter who was vaccinated had her blood tested and long and behold, all the vaccine benefits were gone (except ofcourse the chickenpox which we didn’t give her).

Not uncommon, as they change recommendations (such as MMR) and immunity can wear out. Your daughter did the smart thing by checking, now she should re-vaccinate.

edited

It is cultural, not halachic.

Most new things that people claim are “Halachic” are really cultural anyway. It certainly wouldn’t shock me that sunglasses are unofficially “banned” (i.e. your children will not be allowed into school), even though there is no Halacha involved. Like DY said, it is a cultural thing, and culture often trumps Halacha.

Nisht – For the same reason that women driving, bicycles, metal eyeglasses, and other “non halachic” items have been banned. Another non Halachic ban is expected.

P.S. I am very interested in Dr. Hall’s opinions, even when I disagree (often). He argues from the facts, not by pointing to authority, which (unfortunately, and due to their own actions) loses credibility by the day.

Joseph – good point. Perhaps as someone who uses the CR and YWN, I am suggesting to the owners a revenue opportunity 🙂

And another thing, directed to the males : ARE ALL OF YOU SO FIT AND TRIM??????? Or even well-groomed? Just sayin’…

Why bother? In the Yeshiva shidduch system, having a Y chromosome is usually sufficient to get married.

yeshivabochur123 – It is unfair to the girls, who have such a hard time as is, to disallow them from getting married. So I have a better suggestion:

No hiring unmarried girls as Morahs.

State law doesn’t permit a tax increase without a voter referendum approving it.

Like Lakewood, if the options are stark, at least no one can complain when busing is taken away if the increase is not passed.

P.S. I read yesterday that over 8% of all Lakewood NJ properties are exempt from property tax, as compared to 1.5% in neighboring Toms River. Perhaps that is something that can be cracked down on in East Ramapo as well to raise revenue.

I think they are the only district in the state asking for this for the reasons they specify.

When reading about east Ramapo, there was another district in Long Island (ROOSEVELT) that came up that got a bail-out.

Nisht – you probably know more about this than me. My only point was that the additional lawsuits should not cause any additional deficit for the school board, now that the SB knows what they can pay per hour.

Abba_S – I imagine that the new lawsuit will have the fees covered by insurance, since they are now working with an “above board” law firm.

I know that it is politically incorrect to suggest that the United States might benefit from looking at what other countries do, but in Ireland, almost all schools below the university level are run by religious organizations and funded by the government. As a result, religious schools must accept students not from their own religion and teach other religions. The one Jewish school has many Christian students and teaches Christianity and past chief rabbis developed courses in Judaism to be taught in the Catholic and Protestant schools.

Fascinating (raised eyebrow).

Thank you for sharing.

A critical chiluk that y’all are missing is that most yeshivos (even what Joe calls “Charaidi”, which they most certainly are not) are not an issue, including YTV & Chaim Berlin, or even Riverdale and Philly. It is only a small number of yeshivos (which from Ezra being the PR guy, I would imagine strongly Chassidic) that don’t teach the minimum requirements, and there are questions if they can continue to get funds such as books, bussing, and attendance. In addition, students may be required to independently verify that they understand required material, similar to homeschooled children.

So when you all bring in your own experiences, they aren’t relevant to the article or discussion.

As they make USB WIFI adapters, so you would have to get rid of the USB ports as well. It certainly is feasible.

Why does your 5 year old need a computer? Perhaps you could get a similar result from a gaming console or word processing device.

Gavra, apparently for the frum schools. Why can’t the frum schools hire someone to be their spokesman?

Or YAFFED, who wants the Chassidim to fight. Or the Catholic schools, who also don’t want an investigation. Or DeBlasio, who wants the whole thing to go away. Or someone else.

Any way you look at it, a PR person will say whatever he gets paid to say and has no credibility in his words. So I’ll choose (and others can choose otherwise) to dismiss the words of a paid spokesman as a “bad messenger”, just like his paid-for “piece” (which is not an “opinion”, as his opinion is “show me the money”).

If he were honest, he would disclose whose opinion it was. If he were really honest, he would disclose how much he got paid to write this.

But Ezra is included, as he is the main subject. My comments apply to him (the “bad messenger”). I’ll agree that someone who is is not in the PR business has no reason to speak with these guys.

🙂

Ezra Friedlander is the CEO of The Friedlander Group, a NYC and Washington DC based public policy consulting group.

So we have a PR lobbyist hack telling us not to accept the message due to deficiencies of the messenger.

Kettle, meet pot.

The rebuttal by YAFFED basically says to Ezra (who agrees there needs to be changes) to sit down with them and discuss how changes can be made.

End story, Ezra can spin however he wants. After all, that is what he was paid to do.

seriously, How do you cope with such lack of funds you have to consider priorities – shall I buy cheese or yogurts etc.

I know it is a nisoyin etc but find it hard to cope with. Any ideas??

1: Daven. God is bigger than your budget issues.

2: Make a budget, and figure out where the money is going.

3: Speak to your creditors. Often, people to whom you own money will accept less than the full amount if you can pay now. Borrow from a Gemach to pay less, and pay back the Gemach over time. Others may accept payment in kind (such as doing work) or objects.

4: Come up with a plan. Move somewhere less expensive with a better job market. Think outside the box. Open a business, try getting hired by a chain (e.g. WalMart) or the government. Have one spouse work the night shift to save on babysitting.

5: Rely on family for temporary help. They may also hire you for odd jobs (think babysitting) if they know that you need the money, instead of hiring someone outside the family.

6: Daven. God is bigger than your budget issues.

To everyone else: Everyone has to deal with spending priorities, even if it is “do I give to the Meshulach or to my local Yeshiva”. Recognizing the there are limits for everyone is critical in life.

The public schools accomodate special diets all the time so kashrus does not HAVE TO BE an issue.

Actually, religious accommodation falls under the first amendment, health concerns do not.

I propose that Abba_S be required to withdraw from the discussion due to Godwin’s Law.

can/should a frum male be going to mall frequented by non-Jews in the summer months?

Not in the winter either!!

Of course there is a massive increase in the tax revenue, but it is all being used for the public schools!

That is an assumption that does not hold up logically. Enrollment in public schools should be down significantly, so costs should remain the same or go down. Unless you have specific numbers how public school costs have gone up commensurate with tax intakes (for East Ramapo and Lakewood) I don’t see how this is possible.

However, the additional funding would mostly be covered by the additional housing that is being taxed while not using the public school system. The incremental costs that are not for school costs are being covered by the increased tax base.

So ask yourself why the huge amount of housing being built in Lakewood is not causing a corresponding huge increase in tax revenue.

I don’t know why not, but (obviously) it isn’t.

As far as public school funding, that is a red herring.

In a majority Yeshivish town (such as Lakewood, or Ramapo), the costs of an exponential birth rate should get paid by higher taxes on owners, whether those children go to public or private school (as there are additional costs such as busing and Special Ed). The problem is that the Jews refuse to pay the taxes needed to support the services that are required by their exponential birth rate (and you see it in Ramapo as well), so services that public school children (usually minorities) are used to having get cut, which is politically unacceptable once you get out of the small daled amos of your little school district. So yes, public school vs. private is a red herring. It is the members of district that is unwilling to pay, and now realizing that they (the majority) may have to lose out on services as well.

If they don’t want Jews because the Jews do things that are uniquely Jewish, that I would call anti-semitism. But even if you are too shy to call it that, call it what you want, but Jewish growth isn’t going to stop because some locals don’t like it.

I believe his point is that they are against large families, not Jews. Is being a member of the “anti-natal society” inherently anti-Semitic? How about if a Jewish retirement community opened up and didn’t allow children (as most don’t). Would they also be “anti-Semitic”?

Abba_S – which all leads to Lakewood being overcrowded. Mazel tov. If you don’t like it, you can create the next Ir HaKodesh.