Popa: Actually, it was made law by act of congress. Since the justice department wasn’t prosecuting it anyway, they made it illegal for the justice department to prosecute. The politics behind the drug war are ridiculous.

Build a beis medrash onsite, hire some homebrewer friends and expand.

… Oh wait, I thought you said Brooklyn brewery.

Battle Hymn of the Republic for Melech Elyon, the popular “vayehi b’yeshurun melech” for Hashem Melech, the Israeli tune for Unesaneh Tokef and the popular Modzitz one for ein Kitzva (1922, I think); Yedid Nefesh for V’chol Ma’aminim and a Chasidish march (I forgot what it’s called) for the Yom Kippur Imru L’elokim; I don’t recall a tune for the Rosh Hashanna one.

rebyid: that’s what a proof is.

Like most Time articles about minority cultures, it doesn’t say much worth reading.

Health: As was I. Why would I say something like that if I didn’t get the joke?

So yesterday, I was Popa. I got to say “??? ????? ????? ???” to a woman named Chulda.

The definitive sefer on the subject has already been written.

http://www.hebrewbooks.org/10217

Popa is a dolt

Now let’s try to be serious. A lot of the arguments here, and between shomrei torah in general, happen at the 6th decimal place. Last Rosh Hashana I noticed you could even read that into “????? ??? ??? ????” from Musaf. In that vein, here are some broad things we all agree on with the parts that we fight about left vague enough to satisfy everyone.

God runs the world (“runs” not defined so nobody has to give up their favorite Rishon on Hashgacha).

Jews should pray (deliberately broad enough to satisfy all the people who say yeshiva bochurim shouldn’t be bothered about minyan).

Jews should keep shabbos (NO FIGHTING ABOUT THE RIGHT WAY TO MAKE TEA)

There is such a thing as derech eretz that need not be spelled out by a se’if in shulchan aruch but is obligatory anyway.

^Tznius for both men and women sometimes under the above.

Any more?

Here’s the youtube link if the mod’s allow it. (If not, it’s the first result when you search ??? ??? ???? in Hebrew.

Oh, are we still doing this? We need to work up some good Second Temple era sinas chinam.

The rav hamachshir is in the business of certifying fleishig restaurants that are owned by Jews and open on shabbos (and in at least one case I know, serve wine with no shomer shabbos staff). As far as I know, all his hashgacha is good for is that all packaged foods used by the restaurant are certified by someone else and that they sell their chametz for Pesach (if Jewish).

I know it’s b’feirush in Rambam (issurei biah 21:17) but don’t know where in shulchan aruch. I suspect it’s just one of many takkanos which we no longer follow for whatever reason. In the same perek, the Rambam forbids living with your father in law which was very common in Europe.

Note that Elite makes two kinds of instant coffee. One of them is identical to Taster’s Choice/Folger’s (except for minor difference in taste). Do you know if he’s paskening about instant coffee in general or about Elite’s fine powder “Israeli Namess”?

Since everyone here is a great expert on the importance of beards, I have to ask: I was thinking of trimming my beard for shabbat. Should I do it myself or go to the barber. Sources in sforim would be appreciated 🙂

DY, please don’t call Charlie & co. yeshiva haters. Dr. Hall is one of the most civil people I have ever met both online and in real life. Plus, as a opponent of the yeshivish hashkafa, these people are too moderate by far! 😉

Regarding the actual point, in line with the Be’er heteiv who says ‘not the kappel you wear inside but the big hat you wear in the street,’ whenever I actually am wearing a dress hat I keep it on for davening. Usually the “big hat I wear in the street” is my kippa though sometime even I will be found in a fedora (though my current one isn’t black)

mik5: Your “simple explanation” is the one that Lubavitchers tell as a joke.

Dash: Some people find minhagim interesting. For example, did you know that some Hungarians still say slichos on 20 Sivan for tach v’tat?

Per Sefer Haminhagim, #1 applies to korbanos as well.

#4 has an interesting story behind it, it came about (from the dan l’kaf zechus perspective) as a way to preserve shalom.

#6 is slightly misleading. The Lubavitcher rebbe z’ya told people not to be so frum and think that they can have kavana without eating before davening shacharis at 10 am. I highly doubt he told balabatim who daven early to eat breakfast first, and most Lubavitchers who I know don’t on weekdays.

I was hoping someone would rant about men’s jeggings…

First of all, many people do believe in what you call strawman da’as torah. Some of them even have jobs in chinuch, but we aren’t going to talk about them; alas, your community does not have a monopoly on stupid people.

The way you describe non strawman da’as torah seems to actually be a modern Orthodox value considering that one of the things that generally defines modern Orthodoxy is the belief in ethics beyond Halacha ¹. (This might be truer for some individuals than others. My earlier posts here, both deleted and not contain many rants on the subject.) If you believe that the ratzon hashem is confined to what you can be convinced a particular set of seforim tells you to do, then there is nothing to gain from trying to discover the ratzon Hashem in whatever you’re doing, whether you call that discovery da’as torah or something else.

—

¹ A broader — and probably more accurate — definition of ethics would take Bein Adam Lamakom into account as well.

Birdson: For a long time Rav Amital didn’t have a car and Rav Aharon did because he commuted from Yerushalayim, so whenever the two of them went to visit talmidim in the army, Rav Aharon would drive. Since he was clean-shaven and driving and Rav Amital had a long white beard, he often got mistaken for the driver and told “The Rav can pass but you have to wait outside.”

Glad you got to say it. I’ll have to wait a few more days.

PBA: Wow, a serious post from you, and one I agree with, no less! Thanks! The only thing I take issue with in your post is that you hope that we can understand that these are only small differences. I disagree with that bit. These are very big differences, but even so, what we have in common is much greater. Your ruchniyus does take a hit by not going to the army, and even more so if you treat the army as an unmitigated evil. Refusing to go, or at least to identify with and support the people who do go, is an act of secession from the Jewish people which trains you and your segment of klal yisrael (this “you” is totally generic, I’ve lived in communities on both sides of the issue) to feel like the rest of the Jewish people is an alien “other.” I can understand if you weigh everything and decide that the best option for your ruchniyus is not to go, but you really are sacrificing something by not going.

That’s just my two cents as someone who lost a lot of sleep when I ran back to America instead of joining machal to serve along with my chavrusa.

Is a satyr kosher if it’s maaleh gerah?

DY: Thank you. I might add another safek whether even if swallowing without chewing might be derech achila according to ml’m, it wouldn’t be if the thing being swallowed is never “eaten” any other way and is not eaten for nourishment in any case. After all, we’re talking about something that is essentially refua and the question is the description of how the refua is administered. AFAIK Rav Moshe, Rav Tendler, Rav Asher Weiss and many others pasken that swallowing something not meant to be chewed is not derech achila (the determination being talui in the pill as well as how it’s taken) but I don’t claim to know anything at all about medical halacha.