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I’ve visited three times- once on a summer program, once with family, and once with school- and am now living in E”Y for the year. I come back to the States in June.
“Then don’t bring your unacceptable lifestyle to a people steeped in Torah, who find this an abomination.”
Will Hill, I don’t know you, but I’ll assume that you are not a Gadol, nor Mashiach, nor any sort of official representative of Am Yisrael. (And, certainly, you are not Hashem.) With all due respect, what gives you the right to classify my lifestyle as unacceptable, and to exclude me from the nation? I truly feel hurt that you have judged my actions as abominable and against the Torah. I am not “bringing” my lifestyle “to” a people; I am part of that people! I am a Jew! I have no problem with you disagreeing with me, but can’t you do it in a more sensitive way?
When a person dies, we say “boruch dayan haemet.” Hashem is the True Judge, the only One who is really qualified to evaluate our behavior and pass judgment on it. Only Hashem can make rulings about my lifestyle. It is not for you or anyone else to do.
mw13, I, unlike Obama, am close with most of my aunts, so I know more about what’s going on in their lives than he does about what’s going on in his aunt’s life. (Also, all of my aunts are “full” aunts, not “half” like his.) If my aunt was physically deported, I’m sure I would know about it, but if she had only received a deportation order and had not left yet, I might not. If my aunt chose not to tell anyone about it- and I can see why she would make that choice- then how would I find out?
What difference does it make to this issue that GMAB holds a particular position on a different issue? You could also say to GMAB that his “only ally” here wears red clothing. That would be just as illogical as telling me that he is pro-choice. These are separate issues and have no place in this discussion. This may surprise you, but I happen to be pro-life (with a few exceptions for certain circumstances; I won’t go into detail about that here.) Even so, I respect GMAB’s opinion and I would never call his views anti-Torah; he simply follows a different interpretation of the Torah than I do on that particular topic. All of this has nothing to do with a discussion about Obama, and I certainly don’t think less of GMAB for his pro-choice views. (Clearly, you do, just as you think less of me for my wardrobe choices. I don’t think that’s fair on either count.)
Jews *need* more money for tuition and kosher food.
It doesn’t mean we get it.
“Your post says volume (sic) about the average liberal and his/her IQ (and overactive imagination.)”
Whoa, that was a big leap. You can’t take one person and say “he’s a liberal, he believes x, therefore all liberals believe x”. I’m sure you would object if I tried to do that with conservatives- or with Jews! I could say that yoshi is a Jew, and yoshi eats meat; therefore all Jews eat meat, which is clearly not true.
No, I don’t; I’ve never made it, but tasted it many times at friends’ Shabbos tables. I recommend you try it. There are probably some good recipes on the Web.
Have you ever tried vegetarian cholent?
Ah, I see. Sorry about the misunderstanding.
Thank you, anon.
Joseph, I believe you are ignoring certain demographic realities. The African-American community tends to be heavily Democratic in general, just as the Jewish community does (one might think the opposite from some of the posts on this website, but remember, a very small percentage of Jews in America are frum). I’m not saying that there was no race-based voting, only that African-Americans voting for Obama cannot be attributed to that only.
Sorry, but where’s the humor there?
Excuse me, I did not “drag” anything into this forum. I shared what I thought at the time was a humorous anecdote, never dreaming that it would provoke this storm of criticism. And by the way, I didn’t post it in this thread, nor another thread where the subject has again been raised.
It’s fine that some people here choose not to wear red, but to attack me and my mother for our lifestyle is unacceptable. Furthermore, it has now become an stock answer in threads outside of the one where I originally posted the story for users to disagree with me by saying “well, who cares what she thinks, her mother wears red” rather than addressing my actual points.
I’ll take that as a compliment.
No, I would consider it trespassing.
And yet my father, a healthy nonsmoker, contracted a fatal case of cancer. It’s best to stay away from these risk factors, but nothing is a guarantee.
I don’t believe it would be classified as a “break-in” if the car was unlocked.
Oh yeah- and an Arab.
I am so angry I will not respond to your comment for fear of what I might write. I have only one thing to say to you: leave my mother out of this.
Of course you can cry, but it won’t do any good. Obama the nutcase (NOT) will lead the country for the next four years. Stop whining and let’s see what happens.
Feivel, please don’t patronize me.
Since when is homosexuality “immoral according to common reason”? (This is a serious question.)
And since when did Kayin commit manslaughter as opposed to murder?
Well, tomorrow’s the big day!
I asked why *shouldn’t* high school girls be online.
havesomeseichel, you said before that “all bullets for hunting have lead in them”. I have never owned nor used a gun and know nothing about them, but from your phrasing it sounds like bullets that are not used in hunting guns do not have lead. Therefore, if you own a gun to protect yourself and not to go hunting, you should not be affected by this law even if you do live in one of the Dakotas.
Furthermore, if the law only applies to Tuesdays, there is no way the government could confiscate hunting guns. What would they do, force citizens to drop off their guns at an office every Tuesday morning and pick them up again on Wednesday morning?
(I searched the Internet and could find no reference to or information about this law in the first place. Your recollection seems shaky, as you couldn’t remember which state it was. Is there a possibility that you are wrong about this?)
That’s fine, but you didn’t respond to my quote from the Gemara. (And by the way, R’ Waldenberg is a renowned expert on medical ethics, so I would trust his opinion over others’.)
It’s true that most women don’t find out that they’re pregnant until after forty days. But if they do find out before then, I don’t see a problem with terminating the pregnancy.
I had a PC (a Dell Inspiron 8600, in case anyone’s wondering) for about four years and hardly used it because it was incredibly slow, would freeze without warning, and crashed several times. I had to get the motherboard replaced once and the keyboard replaced twice. It was simpler to just use the desktop computer in the basement most of the time.
Over the summer, I purchased a MacBook Air. Yes, it was expensive, but I view it as a good investment (and it came with a free iPod Touch.) Despite its slimness, it’s very durable, and I haven’t had a single problem with it. Safari is very easy to use, iTunes works like a dream, and with my built-in webcam I can, from Israel, Skype with my family in America.
I knew I needed to replace my laptop and might have just gotten the newest Dell model if it hadn’t been for my six-week internship at Moment Magazine last spring. Thanks to a generous donation, Moment has switched entirely over to Macs, and since my internship involved a lot of computer time, I got to know the operating system quite well. I decided that since I needed a new laptop, I might as well try a Mac.
There’s a world of difference between this computer and my old one (and it’s not just Dell; I’ve used my brother’s Gateway a couple of times and noticed the same things.) My MacBook Air is faster and more powerful, not to mention aesthetically superior and easier to carry around (because it’s so light.) It’s gorgeous, with its rounded edges, little door that pulls down to reveal the ports, and small space for the adapter to magnetically “snug” into the laptop. The backlit keyboard is great for those late nights when my roommates are sleeping and I have to work in the dark. Most of all, I love that I know how to use it. Sometimes when you own something, you don’t *really* “own” it until you figure out how it works and can actually take advantage of its functions. (So it was with me and my iPod Nano; I have no such problems with the iPod Touch.) I’m very much technologically ignorant (although I picked up some useful skills at Moment, such as how to use a scanner) so I was shocked by the ease with which I can operate this laptop and get all my work done without having to consult the manual every five minutes. I’m very satisfied with it; the only drawback is that it doesn’t come with a CD drive. I spent $99 on the external SuperDrive, which plugs into the USB port, but actually I’ve found that I don’t need to use it very often, so the lack of a built-in drive isn’t really a huge issue.
Good one, oomis.
kitzur_dot_net, why shouldn’t high school girls be online?
Stupidity? I don’t think so.
R’ Eliezer Waldenberg permits abortion of a fetus with a life-threatening illness such as Tay-Sachs until the end of the second trimester, and abortion of a fetus with an illness that would cause it to suffer until the end of the first trimester.
The Gemara says that a fetus is considered “mere water” and not an actual life until it is forty days old.
mazal77, it’s not so simple. If you try to deny something to your children entirely, they will look for it elsewhere. Better for them to have safe Internet access at home- with inappropriate sites blocked- than unlimited access elsewhere. No matter how hard you try to make it impossible for them to get onto the Internet, if they are determined enough, they will find a way.
Even supposing GMAB is “at home with his parents”, what difference does that make? He’s not doing anything wrong. If you knew that he were, say, forty-five years old, would you still say that he’s “up to no good”? Or are children and teenagers just not allowed to have independent thoughts and opinions?
As I said, I’m going to monitor how much coffee I drink so that it doesn’t become an addiction or a “bad habit.” No, there’s no mitzvah to drink coffee. Can you honestly tell me that every action you take in life is a mitzvah? I don’t believe that’s possible.
Squeak, that’s not funny.
Tzippi, this doesn’t come close to winning the prize. My vote goes to the “How to Block the Internet from my Children” thread, but there are plenty of others.
As a side note, this thread should really be called “*Are* 3 Cups of Coffee a Day Too *Many*” and not “*Is* 3 Cups of Coffee a Day Too *Much*”. (Nitpicking, perhaps, but I’m a grammar enthusiast. Yes, one of those.)
I had coffee again this morning. I definitely like it, but I will monitor how much I drink.
“Totally nothing to be proud of, on the contrary you don’t know what you’re missing!”
I just tried my first cup of coffee yesterday and really liked it. I drank it with lots of milk and sugar, so the flavor wasn’t quite so strong, which made me realize that that’s also an important factor to consider. I don’t know how you all take your coffee; maybe you drink it black, in which case this isn’t relevant. But aside from the nutritional value of the coffee itself, it’s important to monitor the amounts of milk/cream/sugar/half and half/splenda or whatever else you put in your coffee.
Even having discovered that I like coffee, I would never drink more than one or two small cups a day for fear of addiction.
Smartcookie, it’s not a fair analogy, because peppers don’t come with any dangers of addiction or other health risks. I happen to love peppers, and I could tell you that you don’t know what you’re missing, but I recognize that people have different tastes. So it was with me and coffee until yesterday.
“now that the dude is prez” Thanks, that made me laugh.
havesomeseichel, why are you concerned with ND’s or SD’s law against using lead bullets on Tuesdays? Do you plan to buy a hunting gun to protect yourself, or did you actually want to go hunting?
srf611, I suppose I have a lack of hashkafa according to you. I don’t think it’s wise to make a blanket statement like that. I’m not staying in America because I have a comfortable home, I’m staying there because I don’t see a need to be worried. (Actually, I’ll still be in Israel for Obama’s first four and a half months in office, but then I’ll return to America.)
Alternative treatments are generally very unreliable, because once they have been proven to work, they tend to lose the label “alternative” and become mainstream.
Theoretically, he could be right, but I can’t allow for any more than a tiny fraction of possibility. Doesn’t it seem like too much of an easy answer, a “quick fix” for a problem that has plagued humanity for so long?
Ashrecha Yisroel, I think you have missed the point. Did you read all of suburbanite’s post, including the part that says “I am not, chas v’shalom, belittling the qualifications or accomplishments of the distinguished Rabbonim who were mentioned with that title”? Regardless of whether or not you happen to agree with him about the overuse of the term, I think he still has a “right to comment” and his point is certainly historically valid.
Zalman, would you mind translating for those of us who don’t speak Yiddish?
Thanks head. What you say makes a lot of sense, although I don’t think anyone I know personally would refrain from responding if I said “Good Shabbos” to them. Then again, I do travel in different circles than most of the people on this website! Certainly, if I knew that a friend of mine had chosen to take on this stringency, then I would not greet him. (Although, in that case, how could we be friends in the first place? And if it were a relative, what would be the problem?) I will add, however, that if someone I knew personally did not respond to me, I would be far more hurt than if it were a stranger.
“and you wear pants, and are proud of your mother’s red wardrobe, and proudly use an ugly word for an ism that has stood in direct opposition to the Torah for 50 years”
Yes, I wear pants; in fact, I’m wearing a pair of khakis right now. Az mah?
As I have stated before, I am not “proud” of my mother’s red wardrobe (which, by the way, she doesn’t own anymore; this was thirty years ago), nor do I think that it’s anything of which to be ashamed. This too is irrelevant to the current topic.
As also stated before, feminism as I view it (I add this because your conception of what feminism actually is seems to be dramatically different than mine) is actually an integral part of the Torah and could never oppose it. I think feminism is a beautiful word, and it stands for the way I live my life (call it a “modern derech” or whatever you want, I don’t care.) Feminism has been around for a long time. What changed 50 years ago that suddenly made it unacceptable for feminism to coexist with Torah philosophy?
I’m not quite sure why you put the word “learn” in quotation marks in reference to my statement that I have spent a great deal of time studying Torah. I’ll assume that you meant no insult by it. I haven’t attended seminary, or Stern, or Drisha, or any such institution that might give me “credentials”, nor do I feel that I have “goyish attitudes” which I justify through my Torah study. (I don’t generally like to use the terms “goy”, “goyim”, or “goyish”, since they have derogatory connotations.) I’m sorry that I’ve somehow given you this image of myself. Weren’t you the one who said in a different discussion that I seemed to have good middot?
“You are just another unfortunate Yid destroyed by Golus, and you are so absorbed by it as to be proud.”
Wow…it’s interesting that you feel qualified to make the assessment that I am “destroyed” given that you have never met me. I am quite sure, however, that I am indeed “absorbed” by the distractions of galut to some degree- aren’t we all? I don’t know what your pride reference is about, though; do you think that I am proud of this absorption, or proud of my “destruction”, or proud of my lack of “credentials”…?
“i’m somewhat sorry if this is harsh, but when you dare try to use the Torah HaKodesh to defend your anti-Torah outlook, I am unable to just sit by such sewage quietly.”
I somewhat forgive you.
I see nothing “daring” in living a Torah-observant lifestyle, which for me necessarily includes feminism. I have already been called “anti-Torah” (although never outside of these boards) so I am not really surprised that you chose to paint my views with that particular epithet, but I am still saddened, and quite offended. Imagine then how I must feel when you call my entire belief system- which is carved out of years of Torah learning- sewage.
I’m sorry that you feel that you can’t just “sit by quietly” and refrain from attacking me, but I must reiterate the sentiment that has been expressed on this website far too often already- that we must all imagine as we type that the person to whom we direct our comments is standing in front of us. These are not just words on a screen; they are people’s lives and emotions, and we must all take special care to avoid alienating and offending our brothers and sisters of Am Yisrael. Because we are all one family, and I hope that if the two of us were to meet in person, you would not treat me as you have done here.
You seem to feel that I have overstated my point; I think you have understated it in saying that an unreturned greeting causes an “unpleasant” feeling. I must respectfully disagree with you here. “Public” is your word, not mine. It doesn’t matter if the street is completely empty save for myself and the man I have just greeted; I am still embarrassed when he fails to respond. Embarrassment has nothing to do with the presence of other people.
I see from your posts that you feel I am too sensitive, but I believe that men who don’t return greetings are acting insensitively, and I’m not going to apologize for this belief, no matter how many times you tell me that I am “deadened” or something of that nature. This is not about my wanting to control the way men behave or injecting “alien philosophies” into their behavior, but it is a matter of simple courtesy.
I am well aware that a smile and a few words can have a great deal of power. So too can a LACK of a smile and a brief greeting. I think the problem here is that you cannot see the tremendous damage that is done when men refuse women basic acknowledgment.
One final point: I think it’s highly presumptuous of you to suggest that you know better than I do the “underlying reason” behind my words and actions.
Very funny. (Note that I voted for the candidate with the male running mate. I voted for him back in the primaries when Hillary Clinton was still in the running, too- so don’t think that I base my voting decisions on feminism.)
That’s well and good for us, but CHRISTine Quinn is obviously not a Jew. Why should a Torah prohibition of homosexual acts be applied to her?
I also voted a while ago by absentee ballot.
Really? We “don’t know” who Obama “is”? From the emphatic posts on this forum, I thought we indisputably knew everything about him. He is an unpatriotic, inexperienced, traitorous, Jew-hating loser- isn’t that right?
Obama.
(And if not, it will be a huge embarrassment for the Democratic Party.)
Joseph, have you ever seen the documentary Trembling Before God?
GMAB, translate please?
I think you misunderstood me.
I’m not trying to “make Hashem what I think He should be.” Rather, I am comparing my conception of Hashem- which is formed from Torah study- to this reality of frum men who ignore my greetings, and they don’t seem to match. The God I know does not want this to happen. I know you’re going to jump on me again for using the phrase “the God I know”, but you have to understand that I’m starting from the Torah. I’m not starting with my own “modern attitudes” and looking for ways to fit them in with God. I have spent much of my life studying Torah and based on this study- and not on anything else- I think that what these men do is wrong.
Those sources do not demonstrate a clear prohibition, as is demonstrated by the posts further down the page.
Eliezer, you call us liberals “narrow-minded”, yet it is you who are narrow-minded when you refuse to see us as individuals and stereotype us as “self-hating”. Barack Hussein Obama (for the last time, what difference does it make what his name is?) couldn’t be further from your description of him as a “lying, cheating Arab.” Maybe if you took the time to educate yourself, you would know that. My eyes are wide open, and I can clearly see that Obama is a friend of Eretz Yisroel and of the Jewish people, not an enemy.
So was I! I was so upset when he dropped out of the race. (This, of course, was before the public knew about his infidelity, but that’s another matter. Anyway, it doesn’t really affect my view of him as a political candidate, just as a person.)
Question: what exactly would “proper nussach” be?
I agree.