jewish unity

@Always Ask Questions,

Yes, my experience was pretty similar Baruch Hashem.

I don’t have any other specific opinions re the letters Rav Pfeffer brings from gedolim. I’ll just note that Rav Pfeffer is a major talmid chacham and serves as a dayan on Rav Asher Weiss’ Beis Din.

My issue is not with translations cart blanche, but specifically the translations being advocated on this thread.
Parts of Torah that are likely to be learned by balabatim have a stronger value in being translated (though it’s important to acknowledge Nomesorah’s point–many have made strong arguments for how translations have taken away from limmud HaTorah).
Parts of Torah which require much more iyun should generally be part of a much longer learning seder, and someone aspiring to be in yeshiva full-time should acquire the requisite Hebrew skills.
(PSA: I’m a balabus so not saying this from an elitish yeshiva perspective)

I have an email from one of Artscroll’s publishers which, effectively, says that only stories/biographies/cookbooks are selling nowadays. If you look, even books like Nishmas by Sruli Besser which one might think is a learned commentary, is largely stories.

I will say that I find Koren is publishing quality material and while Ktav was sort of out of it for a few years, it seems they’re once again publishing quality books as well.

I will agree that he was one of the greatest Jewish figures of the 20th century and he was clearly a talmid chacham as well. His work The Sabbath is timeless.
That said, most readers on this site would not regard him as one of the Gedolim, and they would have decent cause not to.
I am definitely no expert by any means, though, so feel free to disagree. We can also agree to disagree.

@rightwriter–was tracking it because I had a strong interest in it, but wasn’t ready right away to buy it at such a high price (~$70 may be less than $900, but it’s still a lot!!) . More recently been tracking it for an older acquaintance who’s interested in it, though it’s looking less likely he’ll ever buy it unless it gets reprinted lol.
I would definitely agree with @It Is Time for Truth that it is a superb book.

@CTLawyer, it’s absolutely correct that being offered at a given price doesn’t mean it actually gets sold.
That said, I’ve been tracking this book for years and whereas there used to be like ~15 copies available on Amazon, now there’s only 8, so some have definitely sold (albeit not at as high of prices, since they used to be under $100, which is still a lot). So I’d guess that’s why now they’ve gotten even higher….

Popa: Once again, yes, groups should be excluded at certain times. Examples would be a Yom Ha’atzmaut parade, at which it would be downright mind-boggling to see a chassidish Rebbe. Or if there was a conference to limit/eliminate secular education in schools, it would be wholly unnecessary and even chutzpahdik to have someone MO to speak. But not at the Siyum HaShas-this is about limud haTorah!!

DY: There is clear and fundamental difference between something b’yechidus and b’rabim. The point ‘far east’ is trying to make, is that we have no buisness imposing our beliefs on others who practice something b’tzina. It does not follow that one should be fine if someone’s shittah is to embarass people publicly and that we have to accept that. Why? Because that’s b’tzibur! That becomes everyone’s responsibility to respond to. Ma she’ein kein, when someone comes to speak about limud haTorah, and nothing about his beliefs of Eretz Yisrael, there is no reason to take to task for those beliefs.

Toi, Sports, and others: For all the talk of lending credibility by attending, besides my post about lack of identity above, if any Rov or Rebbe actually found value in rising above these machlokos and coming together for the Siyum haShas, they could easily do so without creating such problems. Because if their mere presence can cause such large assumptions to be made, kal v’chomer that if they gave a shmuz pre or post-siyum that their attendance in no way speaks of their haskama of religious Zionism, then their Chassidim would have no confusion of the Rebbe’s beliefs. So far all the power everyone’s ascribing these Rebbeim, do they not have enough power to get up give a shmuz to give clarity and avoid the machlokes?!

popa, if u truly believe what you just said, that is very sad.

All I said was that it doesn’t have a specific hashkafa…don’t know why that’s a bad thing.

Anyhow, yes, there is a difference between the Bais Medrash and the High School.

Although there wouldn’t be something specifically wrong with asking the guy, it’s probably better to ask the other girls. As an aside, I couldn’t tell if this is another question you have, but I think it’s davka a good thing to talk to the non-jewish girls. I think it’s low-risk high reward. There’s very little that can go wrong-obviously no relationship issues and i dont think they’ll be a bad influence b/c if they’re those kind of ppl I don’t think they’ll really want to associate with you. On the positive side, I think you can learn a lot from the different perspective on life they can offer, and I believe it’s a tremendous opportuinty for a Kiddush Hashem. Good luck with whatever you do!

Rednails…that was beautiful. And even for the people who don’t feel that way, please respect those who do, and maybe even pick up a Praying with Fire.

Fly southwest…Midway is not that far. Really. They have free bags and no extra charges. Other than that look at kayak.com and try to be flexible.

As our secular society as advanced, I think the negative components of it have advanced exponentially quickly. As such, I think each sect has become more extreme in their fews, and becoming more resistent to the other. Of course, I don’t think this helps anyone.

I’m a guy so I can only tell you from my perspective. First of all, I think it’s vital to find that person in your life who you feel comfortable talking to about anything. The longer you keep those questions/issues inside you, the harder they get to deal with. I actually happened to be talking to a girl (cousin) about this recently, and I think for most people you will natuarally be more comfortable talking in a serious manner to a mentor of your own gender. You might be more willing to open up to the opp. gender, but it’s difficult to do this without having any ulterior intentions.

yoyo-this is like the fourth thread you’ve started about this. You should really find someone in real life whom you can pour your heart out to-it would be really helpful (I know from experience). Anyhow, I don’t think the situation is as bad as you make it seem…I think you’re focusing on yourself a little too much. However, you should know that as a teenage female you will get plenty of looks when you go in public. No one is stalking you-its just in a guy’s nature. Once you pass each other, he’ll never think about you again.

Pacman- the answer to your question comes from Chazal. When talking about kibbud av v’em it mentions the father first and when talking about morah av v’em it mentions the mother first. Why? Because a person’s natural inclination is to fear your father more and respect/honor your mother more. So the Torah mentioned the opposite one first to teach us to work harder on it since its not natural. And thats the reason the goyim celebrate mothers day more….we naturally honor our mothers more (and who celebrates a day honoring someone they’re scared of?)

cherry bim- Theres a whole piece about that in the Journal of Halacha in Contemporary Society…I dont remember exactly what issue…around 2007 or 2008. But they dont give a psak at the end so I recommend you asking your LOR, not us in the CR.

observant teen-you said the point of tznius is to not attract the att. of strange men….i disagree. At its best, the point of tznius is to attract the att. of normal men also:)

no…i dont qualify…do you?

Hi yoyo…assuming what you’re saying is true there is definitely a problem: either someone is really stalking you or even if not, in your head someone is stalking you. Tell me if I’m wrong, but it seems that you’re uncomfortable talking to the people in your life who you might ordinarily talk to and that you would rather talk anonoymously. Don’t worry its normal…i also had a serious issue and didn’t want to talk to anyone about it…B’H it was figured out. But if this is the case, is there a way yoyo could talk anoymously to someone here whos in the CR. I don’t think I would be the right person, but maybe someone else could step up…Aries?

P.S. if you’re making this up, you don’t even want to hear my opinion of you.

the mods decide if and when u deserve a subtitle??

SJSin NYC- i noticed ur post was completely edited. Could you tell us in a way acceptable to the mods what you said?

Where’s the article?

shlishi-there’s a couple of problems with that. First of all, it’s lying. That’s not what the Torah wants from us. Second of all, it demonstrates that you’re not strong enough in your yiddishkeit to say straight out “my religion doesn’t permit this” and to be proud and confident of it.

I don’t think I’m really qualified to answer what it is to be professional since i’ve never been in the professional workplace-but i’ll pitch in anyways:) I would imagine it’s just to be courteous, respectful, and cooperative. I think in the professional fields (medical, lawyer etc;) their standards on these things won’t contradict the Torah (usually) so basically follow their standards in these areas (unless it comes to directly contradict the Torah of course and then deal with those situations on a case by case basis)