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Getting good medical/dental advice from the Coffee Roomers is like pulling teeth.
If a rabbi and his family are kicked out of Russia, maybe it will inspire the others in his community to follow him out. Everybody wins.
Bungalow colony is a state of mind.
To the opening poster: You are working too hard for your pet. Check with your local orthodox veterinarian on the need to chew your pet’s food.
Snickers and cold borscht with or without sour cream.
To catch yourself: If you like the so-called Jewish music, enjoy it. But I think it is an embarrassment (but not a Chillul Hashem) to yiddishkeit. My children (under age 8) make “Jewish” drawings and paintings at cheder, but it is not art – at least not yet.
To the opening poster: Did anyone ever tell you about saber-tooth tigers or woolly mammoths? Same thing will work for 21st Century tigers.
The more difficult question? That evolution thing, which ties into saber-tooth tigers, 21st Century tigers, and antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. Sarah Palin thinks dinosaurs accompanied us out of Egypt.
Being kicked out of Russia is way less scary than being told you cannot leave Russia, or that you have to relocate to eastern Russia.
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Can someone tell me whether a classical symphony, even if not by a Jewish composer, and performed by gentiles and non-frum Jews, is assur?
Would anyone be interested in the thread about a booglaloo colony?
Turns out those non-slip tallises are phony. I wore mine all day but I still slipped on the ice. I got a conk and the head, but I’ll be out of the hospital as soon as the double-vision stops.
If it is icy out, like it will be tomorrow, is it permissible to wear the no-slip tallis all day, to protect against falling on the ice?
Jews can sit on Naugahide furniture, so I am sure Noahide music is OK.
I was going to say that there are too many gaonim, but then I realized that since Hashem decides who is a gaon, the number must be exactly right.
Re CTLawyer’s post re telemarketing charities: Yes, charities are exempt. But is a telemarketer who gets a commission making a charitable call, or conducting business? The charity is exempt, but if the caller is an independent contractor (which charities may call their solicitors to cut down on the expenses of being an employer), is she/he not making a business call for her/himself? Is an independent life insurance agent calling to earn a commission for selling me insurance any different, legally, than an independent solicitor calling me to earn a commission for inducing me to make a contribution to a charity?
To LilmodUlilamaid: I know that unsolicited callers are “just doing their job,” but their job is to invade my home, and I don’t like it. And if they receive a commission for getting me to buy/donate, they are conducting business, and I am on the “do not call” list, so they have absolutely no right to call me.
And speaking of “Chinese” auctions, I have no idea where the term comes from, but I suspect it has an anti-Chinese twist to it. And speaking of twists, has anyone ever heard a gentile use the term “Jew curl,” referring to hair that is curly or slightly unruly? It did not sound like a compliment to me, and if the objectionable hair is on a gentile’s head, how can it be a “Jew curl”?
I am mystified by the feelings of some people (starting with my spouse) that one cannot simply hang up on an unsolicited caller. A phone call is an interruption in the callee’s home or business. It is rude and, generally, unwanted.
And for those of you who want to give a polite answer to a rude interruption, try this: I am sorry, but I do not give personal information to strangers over the phone, and I do not give money in response to strangers calling on the phone.
Of if you want to be a wiseguy, say: I can’t talk now, but if you give me your number, I’ll call you back when it’s convenient for me. And they never give a phone number, because they do not want to be annoyed.
Re Joseph’s question about high school diplomas: You make a good point, but a high school diploma is a step toward not-stupid.
Because “Ladies and Germs” is too Borscht Belt.
What is a non-frum prepper?
To the opening poster: Do careful research before using an abbreviation. PSA means, among other things (and especially to people my age), prostate-specific antigen, and any reference to PSA having to do with halachah is confusing.
To nyu stud: You are correct, Pres. Wilson used the phrase “America First,” but a major part of the meaning of the term comes from the isolationists/hands off Germany crowd of the 1930’s and ’40’s.
“America First” cannot be considered a benign phrase today, because of its linkage to the anti-Semitism of the 1930’s. Someone with a brain as great – believe me – and Donald Trump thinks his brain is should come up with a phrase to describe his policy without invoking an anti-Semitic past.
To nyu stud: From your screen name I am guessing that you are under 25. You need to learn where the phrase “America First” comes from. In part, it comes from the 1930’s, when fear of war in Europe led many Americans to put “America First” and stay out of the impending European wars. German-Americans were big supporters of America First, because they had no interest in seeing the US oppose their ancestors’ homeland’s master racist.
I have no idea whether our president is aware of the connection of this phrase to ugly parts of America’s past – he is not a student of history unless it includes himself. But the phrase invokes some of the ugliest – and most anti-Semitic – portions of American history, and I fear that the president may be aware of that much.
Re FuturePotus’s first comment: You need to bone up on your history of anti-Semitism. Jews in the US in the first half of the 20th Century (and earlier, and perhaps even today) were suspected of bringing all sorts of ills with them. According to the anti-Semites, we are bloodsuckers, usurers, business tricksters, fraudulators, poisoners of drinking water, kidnappers of Christian children to obtain their blood for our matzah, divided loyalists, gangsters, criminals and rapists (like Mexicans). And there were small handfuls of Jews who in fact fit some of these descriptions. There are a handful of Muslims who are terrorists, but most of the terror in the US since 9/11 has been in your and others’ minds, not in the behavior of the vast majority of Muslim immigrants.
It was wrong to keep out Jews. So how is it right to keep out Muslims?
And, please, don’t tell me I am self-hating. I’m fine with myself, but I am not so sure about some of the rest of us. Some of us are making the mitzvah of Ahavas Yisrael more difficult.
Joseph’s opening post makes sense to me. It gives me hope that any day now, our new US president might make a sensible comment. And by the way, everything our new president says is no more than a comment.
Re opening poster’s question: Yes.
To CTLawyer: I did not intend to present an alternative fact, but I unintentionally presented a mistake. Thanks for the correction.
And I figured out that OOT stands for Open Orthodox Tribe. Some other posters think otherwise.
I’ll give Joseph a hint in answering yehudayona’s question about the last time someone contracted polio: it continues to happen, in the backwards parts of the world where there are no vaccines available against polio.
And as far as I know, polio vaccine and smallpox vaccine have reached Boro Park. Williamsburg is trickier – some of the hipsters there are vaccine-averse, but I am pretty sure Williamsburg residents can get vaccinated if they want to.
“Ignorant of science” is not a sect of anything.
Democratic-Farm-Labor Senator from Minnesota in the 50’s and 60’s, ran for president in 1968, lost to Tricky Dick.
Three pints of Haagen Daz.
To CTLawyer: Thank you for your informed comments. What is “OOT”?
And may I recommend the Wikipedia article on JH Hertz, which says he attended Union Theological Seminary in New York, which is Conservative, not orthodox.
Would everyone please stop worrying about Ivanka Trump’s observation of halacha. No one is holding her up as a model of frum womanhood. It’s unfair to her, and unfair to OJ’s (orthodox Jews).
And just to be clear, I am a registered Democrat, an unregistered liberal, and I expect her father to continue to be a liar, cheater, fake phony fraud, and will be the worst president the US has ever had. I also hope I turn out to be wrong. (I was wrong once before, and I got over it.)
It amazes me how one person (President Trump) compares the US intelligence services to Nazis.
Don’t go mistaking paradise/For that home across the road.
“Snuck” is for … informal speech. Do not use it in formal writing.
“Sneaked” is the correct form for the past tense and participle of the verb “to sneak.”
And Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Converse, Puma, Keds, et al., do not make snuckers – and not just because it sounds like jelly.
“Open Orthodoxy” is what Moses said the first time he tried to open the Ark. He saw some pagans saying “open sesame” to clear the entrance of a blocked desert cave, and he thought something like it might work on the Ark. But no. You can look it up in Mishnah Mishugah.
Re Avi K’s first post: You mention YCT, but there is no such thing as Yeshiva of Central Toledo.
Some of the commenters who consider Muslims to be “animals” or “subhumans” should weigh in on the question presented by the opening poster. And don’t make me name names, because I can (but I am lazy).
There’s no such thing as a free verse.
And the advertising pays for it, so it’s not really free.
CTLawyer: Sounds like your brother’s business could use a credit analyst (which, 40 years ago, was called a “credit man”).
CTLawyer knows his Jewish social history.
If Chasidim moved to Houston and established a neighborhood or town like Kiryas Joel, Houston would adopt zoning laws in a New York minute.
And that would be the safest outcome for the Houston Chasidim.
This is one of the stupidest Coffee Room topics ever. And everyone should do as I do with garbage bags – throw them away after they are full of garbage.
It is sometimes hard to separate honest objections to new developments in any community from objections based on the expectation that some locally (or nationally, or universally) unpopular ethnic group will occupy the development.
I don’t know enough about Ramapo/Monsey to determine whether there is merit to the objections of some developments. And as populations continue to grow, there will always be pressure everywhere to make room for all growing groups, whether frum Jews, Mexican immigrants, or left-handed one-legged soccer players.
A lot of posters seem to think jury duty is a chore best left to others. But consider this: suppose Jews were exempt – or excluded – from jury duty. That would not be good for the Jews.
So stop looking for ways to weasel out of jury duty. If you have sincere halachic objections, so be it, and do what you have to do to comply with your beliefs. But if your objection is that you don’t want the inconvenience, or the loss of pay (with which I sympathize), please suck it up and participate in an important part of American democracy.
I have been called several times but never was chosen to serve on a jury. (I like to think it’s because I look to smart.) The courts have done a good job of stream-lining the process and waste as little of your time as feasible.
Joseph: What is your source for your statement that Barack Obama eats live shrimp (or were you talking about Jared Kushner)?
Geordie613: The Obama family is living in Washington after January 20 to enable one of the daughters to finish her school year. Thereafter, he has said the family will live in Chicago. As for former presidents living in Washington, since Eisenhower, I know that every former president has left Washington at an early opportunity. I believe their retirement homes were located as follows:
Eisenhower – Gettysburg, PA
LBJ – His ranch in TX
Nixon – Northern New Jersey.
Ford – Southern California
Carter – Plaines, GA
Reagan – His ranch in So. Cal.
GHW Bush – Florida and Kennebunkport, ME
Clinton – Chappaqua, NY
GW Bush – Crawford, TX, then Dallas, TX.
When I find wallets on Shabbos, I have to remind myself not to spend my finder’s fee until after Shabbos.