kollelman

lesschumras- 25% increase is in average. So if an average day sees 1,000 heart attacks nationwide, Monday after DST sees 1,250. People traveling between time-zones are know to experience jet-lag and the stressful effects are well-documented as well.

Always check for sources. Believing in random unproven Sgulos may be an Issur D’oraysa, as per the Rambam.

Doing anything dangerous is an Issur D’oraysa as well. Taking risks to one’s or one’s charges’ lives are unacceptable in Judaism.

As far as nurses, as long as they are dressed properly (as is your responsibility as a Jewish mother), why would they pose an issue to his neshama?

Thank you CTLawyer. I was not thinking of the abuse angle. Doctors and nurses similarly throw significant others out of the room to ask personal safety questions as well (often under pretext).

The media needs a visit from the “Islamic truck of tolerance”. They sometimes wise up after that.

Since insurance companies cannot reject pre-existing conditions, their risk (and with that, the premiums) has gone up significantly. Now the young, healthy people can’t afford the high premiums and would rather pay the IRS penalty. The people signing up are often the people who need the insurance and couldn’t obtain it before, due to pre-existing conditions. The cost to cover those people are much higher, since their premiums will never cover the cost to the insurance company. Insurance raises rates, more young people drop out and the death-spiral continues. It is another unsustainable situation.

Neville: I researched it for you. Yalkut Yosef Chelek 1, Siman 19, Se’if 2. Loosely translated:

Many have the Minhag to not make a Brocha on a Tallis Koton at all for several reasons; and they have it in mind when they make the Brocha on the Tallis Gadol.

There are several reasons:

– Maybe isn’t large enough – doesn’t have Shiur because it shrunk in the wash.

– Maybe one doesn’t make a Brocha on a garment not worn in public (it’s worn under clothes)

– They don’t want to enter a Machlokes regarding which Brocha to make on it.

– They don’t want to enter a Machlokes if the walk from home to shul is a “Hefsek”

However, tehnically, one is allowed to make a Brocha on it, if it the correct size and the tzitzis didn’t rip….

Neville: Some incorrectly wear it as a scarf, mostly due to lack of education. I don’t believe anyone holds this is correct. There are some who wear it in a way where it wraps their back until their elbows – sort of like a large shawl. This may or may not have halachic footing.

As far as Sephardic custom – many boys begin wearing a Tallis around 2nd or 3rd grade (7-8 years old) – as they progress in learning to daven the entire Tefilah.

As a side point, Sephardic men generally rely on the Brocha of the Tallis Gadol to cover them on their Tallis Koton – possibly because there is a “Safek Brochos” on it. Children that don’t wear a Tallis yet, are generally trained to make a Brocha on their Tallis Koton – until they get older and wear a full size Tallis.

There is another issue, namely that the jammers cannot be confined to work in a specific area. The jamming signal will escape the shul and negatively affects neighbors, people walking nearby, cars on the road, first responders in the neighborhood, etc. This is why the FCC has been actively pursuing anyone using these jammers.

PLEASE don’t attempt to do illegal activities to bring kavod to the shul. When [not if], the feds arrest the people involved, the Chillul Hashem will not be worth it. We don’t need more “Hasidic Jews” or “Rabbis” in the news for doing illegal things.

It absolutely sickens me to see the reaction to Zionism and the labels of goyim, apikorsim, “chardak”, etc being applied to righteous Jews, just because they act or believe a certain way that doesn’t fit [name your sect] narrative. As if all the other Mitzvos are worthless, and the most important thing is this oath in a Medrash mentioned by the Gemara.

How people can base their entire existence (at least to outsiders, it seems that this is a very serious part of their culture and hashkafa) on this one Ma’amar in the Gemara is beyond me. What’s worse, is that it’s used as an excuse to rob, trespass, embarrass, defame, physically injure, etc – violating explicit halachos, many of which are clearly mentioned in the Torah.

If someone doesn’t eat kosher, does that give us a right to publicly embarrass them anytime we see them? If yes, why not publicly shame child molesters too? If not, why is this Chazal more important than the entire written and oral Torah? Especially, when it’s clear to all they must have erred in their interpretation of said Chazal.

Something is off…

Since it involved Jews – especially “Hasidim” – it hit several new sites…Obviously, the driving force behind the lawsuit is most likely anti-semitism. However, I was surprised to see that many anti-semitic views were overshadowed by normal people. They understood that this is not a religious issue, since it is not exclusive to Jews – all women can swim. Additionally, they said there are many, many federal and state pools with similar women-only hours.

Women in general may find it more comfortable to avoid men and children. This is no different than kids only hours, or laps only hours, which is extremely common. Each pool and municipality caters to the people they serve.

gavra_at_work: I agree about schools making rules, but the level of rules and the all around lack of privacy is very disconcerting. From what I understand, some schools are able to see entire browsing histories. There are many reasons this is a breach of privacy (medical condition, private family issues- divorce, therapy, etc.). Coupled with the fact that they are using “Man in the middle” to decrypt secure traffic, means they can technically log and access any account – be it facebook, a bank, or anything else. This is seriously slippery slope territory, besides the inherent security issues.

Shopping613: I agree completely about the filter being there for safety, but I believe we need to bolster ALL of our middos (myself included). Life and the world has changed extremely quickly over the past years and our children (and adults) need tools to deal with it. I don’t think Middos training will ever fully compensate for a filter, but locking down parents’ phones or spying on them is not the proper solution either. Let the parents choose their levels – just as they choose their level of Kashrus. Kashrus has just as much effect on our Neshama.

I mentioned Middos as an aside, since we all live in the world, with all its dangers, we need to learn to deal with it. Not everyone lives in their 4 amos. There are many other forms of danger that seem to be be completely ignored (drinking!). All I’m saying is, we all need mussar. Better to start it from young and inspire our youth to act properly, rather than just ram academics (Torah or otherwise) down their throats – after all – Derech Eretz Kadma La’Torah

I wonder what would happen if people actually responded to deceptive practices just like in the real world. What if everyone acted as a “customer” – let the Shadchan sell the product – instead of being sold to the Shadchan. If they trick or lie, why treat them differently than a store selling unkosher as kosher.

As an aside, I find it despicable that when it comes to exposing bad behavior – molesters and other serious offenses, people suddenly are concerned about the “lashon hara” aspect. When a store suddenly loses hechsher, which is sometimes only caused by non-payment or getting a different agency, there is no fear of taking out FULL PAGE ads in several newspapers to inform the public. WOW! Talk about mistaken priorities!

Rabbi Avigdor Miller used to say something along the lines of:

If one sees a dead animal in the street (cat, squirrel, etc), he should say ‘Hashem I am not going to eat that animal, because You commanded me not to eat it [due to it being a non-kosher animal or nevela]’. One who verbalizes his intentions will then receive a Schar (reward) for his avoidance. If he just walks by, although he surely has no desire to eat the animal, he will not receive any reward for his avoidance of eating it.

I’m not sure of his sources for this, but I definitely heard him say it.

What we learn from here is:

1- everyone is Chashud (suspected) for stealing

2- sometimes we’re too naive and don’t ask for what’s rightfully ours until its too late

3- torah morals and middot are HARD to come by

4- teach our kids not to expect anything from anyone—if its yours ASK/DEMAND it

5- beis dins do exist…. hint hint