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Since the WHO and the CDC have both flipped on masks, it pays to research the underlying science. Wearing a standard mask may only protect everyone else from a sick [in most cases, with symptoms] person. The wearer will barely benefit if at all. If the wearer is not sick, there is really no point. If the wearer is wearing an N95 mask properly fit, they can protect themselves from other sick people as well. If they are not showing symptoms, and neither are the people around them, there is really no point.
There is no white supremacy. It’s all propaganda. Nobody is holding black people down. Trump definitely has nothing to do with it. What is true however, is the media fanning a race war that the extreme fringes of white supremacists could have only dreamed of.
The civil war has already begun. Contrary to what the FakeNews MSM will tell you, Trump supporters are being hunted down, not Black people. And cops aren’t doing the hunting, it’s psycho leftist ANTIFA rioters (no they aren’t peaceful protestors). A man was killed in Portland this weekend, just for his support of police. He was chased down by a mob and shot for absolutely no reason other than his support of the police and President Trump. Make no mistake about it, this doesn’t end well, especially for Jews.
I wouldn’t even take any US vaccine unless it was proven safe for over 18-24 months.
It’s time to realize the situation is untenable. 85%+ cannot afford even 4k per child. It’s absurd.
As a former teenager, I can understand somewhat. However, as mentioned above, we’re all responsible for ourselves. If a bochur of 22 cannot manage for a few months without a rebbe, despite being in a dorm with other similar-aged men, or with family, etc. there is a much larger problem here.
“You mean you never wondered if an African American professional you meet is truely qualified, or got the job only via affirmative action?” – if they are demonstrating lack of skills or professionalism, why not? The same is true for any person. Additionally, affirmative action (designed to help minorities) actually hurts them in this regard, because they are truly unqualified in some cases, yet granted admittance to university, and hired just because of their color (actual racism) and not because of their skills.
“You mean you never got nervous seeing a group of young, poor dressed, African American males walking towards you on a dark, uncrowded street?” Who wouldn’t? Do surveillance cameras generally show these people behaving properly? Do you usually see people in suits robbing and murdering people on the street in dark alleys? No. Google Don Lemon’s (CNN) rant against black people from 2013 – if anyone said that today, they would be deplatformed instantly.
“Did you ever feel uncomfortable traveling or shopping in an predominantly African American neighborhood?” – Our brains are trained to recognize patterns. Unfortunately an inordinate percentage of crime is committed by black people. They represent 13% of the population, yet commit 51% of all murders. Our brains take this shortcut in every case. Even with our own people.
The RaMBaN holds it’s a mitzva de’Oraysa if I’m not mistaken to live in EY and every 4 Amos of walking there a person is performing the mitzva.
Stop listening to fake news. Anyone who heard the comments first-hand, knows that he was asking the doctor if there are other ways to get rid of the virus. The comment regarding the UV internally was based on a recently released video that had come out several days prior to his comments. The media is lying to you. Stop being a sheep.
Ask your doctor about desmopressin. It’s taken about an hour before bed with no drinking allowed until morning. It slows urine production and helps eliminate bedwetting.
It’s a mitzvas aseh! (obviously, provided they are able to get along).
He seemed to be encouraging the people to react to the brocha. It seems common with Arabic music styles. I have no idea why he did it in middle of a brocha, but it can’t be worse than the ay ay ays, singing, clapping, and dancing I’ve seen some sects do in middle of davening.
Let’s not forget Romney is involved in his own shady dealings and is a huge swamp rat. Trump can’t stand him and rightfully so. Huge mussar watching him and Pelosi allow anger and revenge to get the best of them.
My Rov, who is a talmid of R’ Moshe told us that when it gets to the point that the person is suffering tremendously and there’s really no hope, one should daven for the person to be niftar with quickly with rachamim. Maybe it depends on the sickness and situation.
Jersey Jew is right. Just because we “can” carry around bags or buy reusable, doesn’t mean that we should. The left continues to erode our rights for nebulous reasons. The bogeyman of climate change is the newest one. We “can” also walk to many destinations in NYC – maybe we need to ban cars and buses and force people to walk. We “can” survive on just bread and water, why not ban other foods?
The government rarely gets it right. They still haven’t admitted to the colossal failure called the food pyramid. It’s likely the cause of the obesity epidemic in the USA.
We have already seen NYS’s plans with Yeshivos. They will stop at nothing and will continue to destroy the world with their stupid ideas. Communism killed over 100 million people, most suffered immensely before being allowed to finally die. The left is bent on bringing it back; and just like boiling the frog, slowly, they will. And we will just get used to it as it gets worse. We must stand up against these silly policies, because they are just the beginning.
It’s not far-fetched to imagine Alexa or some other digital spy listening to all conversations in a home and realizing that people are cold and raising the heat without being asked to. Same for turning on lights. Shabbos goy no longer needed.
The world isn’t affected by plastic bags. The sensationalized news about plastic in the oceans is due to countries that are acting irresponsibly, but not the US. The stupidity of leftist ideologies like banning plastic straws citing data from a 5th grade science project is just one example. See what rivers in China and India look like. They are the polluters of the world, yet the left wants to penalize the US. Do me a favor.
Like all leftists ideas – sounds/feels good; in reality, silly, annoying and expensive. I now believe S’dom was a leftist utopia and we’re witnessing how it all began.
The “year” estimates are at about 2-3 hours of usage a day. Judging from all people I know, 8+ hours/day is much more common. Hence, 22 years is really around 3-5.
Sleeping person can only be included at some parts of the Tefilah. I believe he also is required to have been awake at the start.
Acceptance of the proposed statehood is the long-con. This will demonstrate that the other side is utterly uninterested in true peace and earning recognition through good behavior. Instead they truly want to terrorize Israel and remove all Jews from the land. The protesters openly admit it, as they chant in campuses and rallies across the world “From the river, to the sea; Palestine will be free”.
There’s another issue, namely the yeshiva environment for kids. Since the kollel families are moving to Lakewood and other lower-priced areas they can afford, classes have less “ultra-frum” families. The ones remaining in Flatbush, often have different hashkafos, priorities, and standards – even in the same schools. There is still a wide range.
My proposal – Daf @ the gym. Treadmills, bikes and ellipticals. Shtender or projector. Daf @ 6, Shachris @ 7. I’m 80% serious. Flatbush.
I don’t believe the status quo can continue for much longer. Leaving for Lakewood, Toms River, Jackson, or anywhere else can help somewhat. In general the costs of being frum and keeping up with the frum-Jones’ is getting out of control. If people can handle EY, it’s wonderful. There is a huge culture and standard of living difference. If they move to the “Americanized” areas, where they will likely encounter much of the same as where they left from.
A side observation is the size and frequency of simchas. As the community grows B”H, simchas are becoming much larger and people feel obligated to invite an ever-extending circle of people. Many people are “obligated” to attend several simchas that they really would rather not. Some pop in and out just to say Mazel Tov and be “yoitze”. I’m not sure how this can be fixed. Takanos are not going to help outside of communities that don’t obey a central authority.
End of rant (for now)
People are being priced out of Brooklyn. 40 years ago, a house in Flatbush cost about 1-2 years average salary – median household income Jan 1980 was $51k.
2019 median household income is about $64k, while family sized houses are $800k (12.5 years) and up. At the same time, standards [and therefore expenses] have risen astronomically.
Anyone have ideas for long-term solutions? (Besides mass immigration to Lakewood and its environs)
My guess is an FCC issue. A license isn’t cheap.
Start shmoozing with them. Your wife will stop inviting them. ;-p
Sephardic weddings are not always in a shul. When they are, the Choson and Kallah face the Aron, instead of turning their back to the Aron. Otherwise, as was mentioned by “i love coffe”, they face the tzibbur.
Regarding the “Avram Siz” – I’ve never heard of that. It’s called a “Shabbat Hatan” and is the week after the wedding (unless the couple is not too frum and runs away on a “honeymoon”, then it’s the week before). After the Choson’s aliyah, they read a few P’sukim from Parshas Chaye Sarah “Ve’Avraham Za’ken”, where Avraham makes Eliezer swear to not bring back a Canaanite girl for Yitzchok. This is read by 2 separate people, one with the parsha and one with targum. After davening, they have a “sebet” (Shabbat in Arabic?), which can often be a large [second wedding] – full meal with family and sometimes many guests.
Teimanim are close, but even their’s is not likely how Moshe Rabenu spoke.
I read Rabbi Yaakov Hillel’s book Faith and Folly (Tamim Tih’ye in Hebrew) and it was an eye opener. He basically knocks all of the ideas of Kabalah and Mekubalim that people tend to believe in. I highly recommend reading it. It’s a quick read.
Mailing before Shabbos is fine. Specifically ordering the goy to deliver on Shabbos may be an issue. In the case of Amazon, even if you can consider the click “Amira”, it goes through many layers of computers and several goyim and would be considered that one goy told the other, which is fine.
Haimy, let’s say Bolton was consistently leaking to the media to pressure Trump to listen to him. Would you agree that Trump be justified in his reaction? I would say it was much softer than necessary if that were true.
but at the end of the day wehther you look at states or (western) countries those whit h stricter gun laws have fewer gun deaths
Where are you getting this from? States with stricter gun laws don’t always have fewer gun deaths, unless you are counting suicides by gun. Most honest people will agree that the “national discussion” is not about suicide, rather about crime and violence by guns.
Additionally, comparing against other western countries is not a fair comparison, as none have a 2A, nor the deeply entrenched gun culture. There are over 300 million guns owned by US Citizens, 1.2 guns per legal citizen (wikipedia). No other country in the world comes close. If legal gun owners were the problem, you’d know about it.
This reminds me of a chapter in Rabbi Akiva Tatz’s book (not sure if World Mask or Thinking Jewish Teenager’s Guide to Life). He discusses how society requires each person to respect the others’ rights. When that breaks down, society cannot function. I may have a right to listen to music, but if I do so at max volume in middle of the night, that affects my neighbors’ rights to sleep. Common decency and mutual respect are necessary to have a happy functioning society. America used to be live-and-let-live. It seems those days are fading away.
I believe that today many are concerned with their “rights”, but ignore their own requirements to respect others’ rights as well. We see this with the “gender” language trying to police other people’s speech. The same is true for many talking points like “free education”. One’s right to free education will be funded by someone who previously worked hard and will now be taxed additionally for that right to be conveyed. Same for health care.
It’s easy to demand rights from others, but if it’s not a two-way street, society will break down.
As I understand, elevators are designed with a counterweight equal to the elevator filled to ~40% capacity. The elevator is not actually “lifting” or “lowering”, rather just sliding one side over to the other in a mostly balanced system. There may still be some additional strain on the motor, but nothing close to the force required to actually lift a human being.
In an empty elevator with a single rider, the motor would have to hold back the force of the weight, which is attempting to pull the elevator up, whereas lowering the elevator in the same situation would require force to lift the counterweight, but not the person. If the elevator was filled above 40%, the exact opposite would be true. Raising the elevator would require more force, and lowering would require less force.
Regarding elevators on Shabbos: I was personally against this for many years, having quite a bit of understanding of electronics. After further research, I discovered that most elevators are not actually lifting, but rather sliding the elevator that is balanced against a counterweight. The net effect of anyone’s specific presence in the elevator is negligible.
I oddly feel reminded of this statement:
“Some people are so open-minded, their brains fell out” – Rabbi Avigdor MillerActually, this may be genevas da’as. The mechaber paskens that a person cannot open a bottle of wine in front of a guest if he was originally going to open it anyway, without telling the guest ‘I was opening this anyway, I’m not only doing it for you’. Event though the issue is all in the guest’s mind, and the owner said nothing specifically.
I see this chickpea pasta case as even worse, since it appears to be something it is not. Let’s not forget that there may be other allergy/digestion issues that the guest may want to be aware of before consuming something they aren’t used to.
IIRC, According to the Ari”Zal, kissing the hand (specifically of his mother) prepared the hand for the Brocha that she was about to give him.
@Yabia Omer, I never heard that. Interesting.
Many Sfardim can trace themselves back directly to David Hamelech.It is brought down by Sefarim. See this from Sefer Bayis Ne’eman:
ונציין עוד, שאף מנהג [הספרדים] אנשי ירושלים, לנהוג במנהג זה (ראה שולחן העזר, פ”ח, סעי’ ח, סק”ג). ובפרי האדמה (לרבי רפאל מיוחס, ח”ג, הלכ’ שבת, פרק ל) מביא בטעמו של דבר, על פי שיטת הטו”ז הנזכר, שאף באופנים שאין חופה מועילה, מועיל ההולכה לביתו, ולדעתו ההולכה היינו דוקא כשמוליכה בידו. ומאידך בספר שער המפקד (מנהגי ירושלים, לרבי רפאל אהרן בן שמעון, אב”ד קהיר. הלכ’ קידושין אות יב), חולק עליו, ולדעתו אין בזה משום קנין חופה, מכמה טעמים – עיי”ש. ולדעתו טעם המנהג לאחוז ביד, מקורו במנהג שנאמר אצל האבות, “ויביאה יצחק האהלה שרה אמו…”. עיי”ש רמזים נוספים.
ובשלחן העזר (שם), מביא טעם נוסף, בכדי להרוויח את קושית ‘המקנה’ (קו”א, סב, א. מובא פת”ש שם), שהקשה על הסוברין שברכות נישואין נאמרו ‘עובר לעשייתן’ לפני הייחוד, דאם זה עולה על הייחוד הלא הוה ההילוך בין מקום החופה לחדר הייחוד הפסק, כדעת הפוסקים (ראה או”ח ח) דהליכה הוה הפסק (ע”כ תוכן קושית המקנה). ולזה הנהיגו שיאחז החתן את הכלה תיכף ממקום החופה עד למקום הייחוד, שלא יהיה ההילוך הפסק.And here’s a quote from Hidabroot:
יש מביאים, שהמנהג הוא שאם הכלה טהורה, שהחתן והכלה הולכים שלובי ידיים מן החופה לחדר היחוד (ראה שו”ת פרי האדמה חלק ג’ סימן י, ושלחן העזר דף סז אות ג, ובמה שציין בזה בספר שרשי מנהג אשכנז חלק ד’ עמודים 502-515).
אולם יש שכתבו, שיש לבטל את המנהג, מפני שבימינו נכשלים הצופים בהרהורי עבירה הקשים מעבירה (ספר שושנת העמקים על חופה וקידושין עמוד רפז בשם הגרא”מ שך, והגרש”ז אויערבאך, והגר”ש וואזנר זצ”ל, ויבדל לחיים הגר”ח קניבסקי. וכן ראה בספר מנחה לחיים על חופה וקידושין עמוד רסד, שהביא תשובת הגר”ח קניבסקי שליט”א שכתב, שהחזון איש זצ”ל לא היה מרוצה ממנהג זה. וע”ע בספר דרכי טהרה עמוד 314 סעיף יב שדעתו שהדבר אסור מעיקר הדין).
Should be said before davening. If I remember correctly, the HID”A says that it opens the gates to allow the Tefilos to go up.
Try to be more proactive in even the most silly of things. Dave Allen points out in “Getting Things Done”, that any task that takes less than 2 minutes to accomplish, will waste more time if delayed. If you try to follow that rule, you will help train yourself to be less “lazy”.
IIRC, asking a second Rabbi for a psak after another Rabbi already gave one, is against Halacha. Additionally, looking up / learning in order to find a specific outcome, is considered Lo Sa’te Mishpat.
Overeating is a huge killer – see RaMBaM. Should we appoint police at people’s tables?
Government should not be involved in minutiae of people’s affairs. Poison, that will cause a direct, immediate harm, that’s one thing. Otherwise, what’s stopping this from encroaching on ice cream, candy, etc. where eating one or seldom is fine, but indulging has long-term ill-effects?
When your priorities are based on your own whims, your world will be upside down.
Tom’s has strawberry with an OU
@Joseph are you implying the Ashkenazic community was closer? It is well documented that the Sephardic communities in Spain and throughout the Middle East were in constant contact with the Geonim and maintained an unbroken chain of Mesorah.
The Biur Halacha quotes the Meiri :
וז”ל המאירי חייב אדם להרבות בשמחה ביום זה ובאכילה ובשתיה עד שלא יחסר שום דבר ומ”מ אין אנו מצוין להשתכר ולהפחית עצמינו מתוך השמחה שלא נצטוינו על שמחה של הוללות ושל שטות אלא בשמחה של תענוג שיגיע מתוכה לאהבת הש”י והודאה על הנסים שעשה לנו וע”ש מה שמבאר דברי הגמרא. וז”ל הח”א כיון שכל הנס היה ע”י יין לכן חייבו חכמים להשתכר ולפחות לשתות יותר מהרגלו כדי לזכור הנס הגדול ואמנם היודע בעצמו שיזלזל אז במצוה מן המצות בנט”י וברכה ובהמ”ז או שלא יתפלל מנחה או מעריב או שינהוג קלות ראש מוטב שלא ישתכר וכל מעשיו יהיו לש”ש עכ”ל:@joseph – In general I find Sephardim are meikel in Shabbos, Pesach, Time of start of “night”.
Ashkenazim seem to be machmir in almost everything else except for food.
Also, Sephardim don’t believe in adding new “gezeiros”, while Ashkenazim seem to have added quite a few over the years.