mentsch1

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Viewing 50 posts - 151 through 200 (of 688 total)
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  • in reply to: How smart are u? #2141054
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Avirah
    Just use Sefaria ! šŸ™‚

    in reply to: How smart are u? #2141037
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Avira
    SA 182:4 Certainly extends pagum to those sitting at the table (though granted he brings it as a machlokes)

    in reply to: How smart are u? #2141010
    mentsch1
    Participant

    here is my question to all those who are makpid on pouring water into the wine bottle
    Are you careful to not pagum after kiddush?
    bc you aren’t supposed to drink from the kos, then pour it into other peoples cups – thats pagum
    In order to not pagum, you would need to pour off first, then drink (plus it’s more hygenic)

    in reply to: A tweet on Yeshivas Mir which should be publicized #2138941
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Always
    Iā€™m assuming that youā€™re referring to the fact that once they went to Lithuania, technically it was the Russians that they were worried about.
    But the reality is that mir was destroyed by the Nazis. So their whole reason for going to Lithuania was running away from the Nazis. And ultimately Lithuania was also destroyed by the Nazis. So arenā€™t you splitting hairs?

    in reply to: Democrats secret weapon #2138505
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Sam
    your 2nd and 3rd paragraphs are somewhat contradictory
    In the 2nd par. you are arguing the political likelihood
    In the 3rd you point out that statistics and likelihood are irrelevant

    in reply to: Meikil=Less Religious? #2136062
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Back on topic
    At least one example of not only not being better, but a person can get punished for being machmir
    When itā€™s מחזי כיהו×Øא

    in reply to: POR’s comment #2135713
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Shimon
    Nice way to kill a thread
    Anyway because it always pays to verify I just googled it
    Regular members of Knesset only pledge to be loyal to the state of Israel
    The president, Prime Minister, and all other ministers pledge to fulfill its laws
    But there is definitely nothing in there about supremacy of its laws

    in reply to: New Torah approved club at YU #2132487
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Ym
    I am disturbed by the optics
    Even if they were going for that angle i donā€™t see the toeles
    It sounds like capitulation and endorsement

    in reply to: New Torah approved club at YU #2132404
    mentsch1
    Participant

    True
    But since the press release makes it sound like a kiruv club, I find it hard to fault them
    Besides
    Another plus, it seems to have irritated the LGBT crowd. That alone tells me it must not be what they are looking for
    I would like to think this is the roshei yeshiva trolling the LG’s

    in reply to: King Charles and Queen Camilla #2129403
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Always
    Iā€™ve been to China on business
    You will see /hear more cops in a day in the us than a month in china
    Their homicide rate is a fraction of ours
    So yes, you donā€™t have the same freedoms but is being able to say and do anything the true Torah value of success?

    in reply to: King Charles and Queen Camilla #2129400
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Always
    Or America is really a failed experiment as indicated by our ignorance and values
    We did have a brief moment. But we seem to be in quick decline
    In either case
    My point has always been that the Britā€™s were ahead of us as a social /political ā€œenlightenment ā€œ. I do not dismiss British evils. They continued expansion into the early 1990ā€™s. But they where still ahead of us. They werenā€™t a Wild West Country all they way through the 1800,s. They didnā€™t fight a civil war that killed half a million (their civil war was in the 1600ā€™s) had we stayed as colonies in all likelihood many of the early evils of America would either not have happened or came to an end earlier. In stead it was their example that was a light unto the nations and forced the reckoning that caused the war to finally end evil.
    And you canā€™t dismiss that the founding fathers were hypocrites

    in reply to: King Charles and Queen Camilla #2129399
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Ujm
    Avadah
    We would be having a whole different discussion
    But we would also need to have a discussion about how those people became slaves to begin with
    Iā€™m reasonably sure the raiding of African villages to kidnap and supply the slave ships is a violation of ā€œlo signav ā€œ

    in reply to: King Charles and Queen Camilla #2129360
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Always
    First. Whether or not their political theories were of value it doesnā€™t change the fact that they were mored bmalchus and started a war that killed thousands for political reasons.
    Two their written reasons (federalists papers) arenā€™t going to be intellectually honest and say ā€œhey we want to keep slaveryā€
    I found this nice quote about the fathers complaining they were ā€œslavesā€ because of a lack of representation
    The irony in using this sort of language was not lost on many British Tories, who called out these rebel hypocrites. ā€œWe are told, that the subjection of Americans may tend to the diminution of our own liberties; an event, which none but very perspicacious politicians are able to foresee. If slavery be thus fatally contagious, how is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?ā€ wrote Dr. Samuel Johnson in 1775. Indeed, these sentiments not only labeled many of the American leaders as hypocrites, but it also took a swipe at the very notion that America was founded on principles that were universal for all humans

    in reply to: King Charles and Queen Camilla #2129359
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Ujm
    Nothing about American slavery was a Jewish value. We both know that.
    Besides for the examples that I already stated, it is estimated that 2 million people, about 20% died on slave ships. As I said that was the cost of doing business.
    Slavers were evil men they werenā€™t doing G-ds work.

    in reply to: King Charles and Queen Camilla #2129202
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Always
    The only thing snarky is your founding fathers statement
    I am simply presenting an alternative understanding of the founding fathers (happy now?) actions through, what I believe, to be the lens of the torah
    It is very easy to buy into the idea that somehow america was founded by people rising up against a brutal regime (an idea expressed by a poster)
    but it simply isn’t true
    In some respects the “brutal ” monarchy we were fighting against was certainly more humane than the govt we created. Slavery, trail of tears, Jim crow. We could be a very brutal country. On the slavery subject we were many years behind the more civilized monarchy.
    It was certainly a haven of sorts for the yidden but only to an extent. We all can agree the closed borders in 1939 where catastrophic. And those yidden that arrived before the war were decimated by assimilation. I stand by what I said.

    in reply to: King Charles and Queen Camilla #2128873
    mentsch1
    Participant

    2
    Can we at least agree that from a hashkafic point of view the founding fathers were ā€œmored bmalchus ā€œ and started a war that got thousands killed all for political reasons?
    After all, it isnā€™t as if the colonists were being abused.
    So wasnā€™t it amoral ? Arenā€™t they responsible for the bloodshed?
    And there are plenty of eyewitnesses to the horrors perpetrated on slaves.
    Mark Twain wrote of seeing a live slave hanging from a meat hook inserted between his ribs.
    The average slave ship accepted ā€œlossesā€ of 1/3rd of their cargo each trip as the cost of doing business.
    This is what was considered normal back then.

    in reply to: King Charles and Queen Camilla #2128660
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Truly enjoying this thread and still waiting for ujm to tell us why he is so knowledgeable in these matters

    But I need to take issue with Jackk
    our rejection of the monarchy is American propaganda written by the victors.
    The truth, we were paying a pittance in taxes that went to a standing army that protected us
    the reality is that our forefathers wanted to protect the slave trade.
    The brits had already outlawed the trade and even after independence enforced it by boarding american ships
    There is a confirmed story of a british warship boarding an american vessel suspected of slavery. The captain tied his slaves to the anchor and when it became apparent that the slave ship would be boarded, he dropped anchor which removed all the slaves (drowning hundreds ) from his ship. The brits couldn’t arrest the captain because the slaves where no longer on the ship.
    These are the “men” we look up to as the founding fathers.
    Their names grace building like Browns university (family money made in the slave trade)
    Say what you want about the monarchy but it is only in the last 50 years that America has earned the right to call itself a relatively moral country

    in reply to: Succos In Israel-whose money? #2127138
    mentsch1
    Participant

    I donā€™t begrudge people traveling to Israel under any circumstances.
    On the other hand a Pesach program in Egyptā€¦.
    If you are going to kvetch pick your battles

    in reply to: Eliminating secular subjects from yeshiva curriculum #2125506
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Emes
    Addressing your two points
    2) do you really think the state will attempt to prosecute tens of thousands of chassidim? Even if they just pick a few handfuls to try to make a point, do you not think they would rather go to jail? And thatā€™s not very good optics for the state. I donā€™t see them being able to win that battle. If it was me, I would gladly sit in jail.

    2) again. All they can do is pull funding. Either from Yeshivos or various programs. But then it looks like they are singling out Jews and what politician wants to be labeled an antisemite?

    The way I see it, the only thing they can do ( besides pulling the funding) is the clear that a high school does not meet equivalency and therefore the graduate will not get a GED/diploma
    But as I said above they just donā€™t care. So what is the big concern here?

    in reply to: Eliminating secular subjects from yeshiva curriculum #2125446
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Iā€™m not sure what the big fuss is here.
    As ujm noted, the parents of these schools wonā€™t comply and itā€™s not like the city can win this battle. For these parents itā€™s yaharog vā€™al yaavor. The only thing they can do is yank funding.
    As for not getting a diploma, I can assure you that is already the case of a large percentage of yeshiva boys. A good percentage of Yeshivos in Lakewood donā€™t even offer English. I do not know anyone in Lakewood who has been arrested for truancy.
    One of my kids who graduated HS a few years ago in Brooklyn, he was the only one to take the SAT and one of 4 graduates with a regents diploma.
    So if a kid wants to go to college he can get a GED. But most of these kids have no interest in college anyway.
    So what is the big fuss?

    in reply to: Heter meah rabbanim #2124317
    mentsch1
    Participant

    pepper
    The case in question was an institutionalized woman. Everyone learning in MTJ signed.

    I personally know a case of female get refusal where the husband got a local brooklyn BD to grant him a HMR. The wife continued to refuse the get (it was deposited at the BD) even after the husband remarried. What the exact circumstances were? why did they allow him to circumvent the cherem? I can not answer.
    But my thinking is, that once the marriage is deemed unsalvageable (and taking into account that the seforim pasken leniently on the cherem) then a hmr is an option.
    But clearly the Rabbanut is being machmir. I would love to know their criteria. It seems apparent that the criteria is not the same across the BD spectrum.

    in reply to: Heter meah rabbanim #2124042
    mentsch1
    Participant

    The real question here is what is the position of the rabbanut
    As I mentioned on a different thread, the Rabbanut (as of 2017) had 800 cases of get refusal with almost 60% of them being women.
    So why does the rabbanut not allow more frequent use of hmr when women are refusing?
    After all, as we discussed on a previous thread on the topic, In this day and age the cherem is treated in shaylos seforim as being minhag and many leniencies apply (I mentioned Rav Moshe allowing bachrum to sign. I do not believe you need to travel to different countries anymore)
    So they are seemingly being machmir, why?

    in reply to: Shofar Maintenance #2122908
    mentsch1
    Participant

    For what itā€™s worth I bought my shofar from the famous beitar maker (he is featured in the ā€œpicture thisā€ Feldheim book)
    At the time I asked him if any care was necessary and he said no. Though he recommended keeping it in the cotton bag that he sold it to me in.
    Iā€™m just not sure why people feel vinegar is necessary. As Iā€™ve stated its use (among other methods) is to remove the smell. But why yearly treatments are necessary escapes me. My fatherā€˜s shofar is 50 yrs old and still sounds/looks the same with no treatments or cleaning.

    in reply to: Shofar Maintenance #2122906
    mentsch1
    Participant

    So a half hour after blowing in shul this am, for the sake of science and my brothers in the CR, I just ran a gun cleaning patch through my shofar.
    These patches are soft white cotton and anything will show up on them.
    At the mouthpiece it was completely clean. Internally after I reamed it through with a bent wire hanger a little bit of shmutz did come out.
    Iā€™m guessing that itā€™s been there since it was manufactured, but I will have to repeat the test in a year to know for certain.

    in reply to: Shofar Maintenance #2122554
    mentsch1
    Participant

    rightwriter
    Ever try out a shofar in a store?
    who knows how many lips were put on that.
    and if you borrow the shul shofar and think a quick wipe is all it needs, since I am in the health care field, I can tell you that’s not how it works
    So definitely not for the faint of heart
    But it’s my shofar, why is there a need to clean it?

    in reply to: Shofar Maintenance #2122477
    mentsch1
    Participant

    In general I would think it is a mistake to soak a shofar
    Even though it is fairly solid, it will absorb and I can not see how this will help the sound, it would probably detract (and probably smell like vinegar)
    I have made a few shofros as a hobby (that doesn’t make me an expert) and I can tell you the shofar has a smell at the beginning
    The vinegar method is one method to reduce the smell, but I can not see the benefit of doing it regularly
    I certainly don’t
    I do not clean my shofar at all, after all you are blowing it and I assume the dust will be blown out
    But I will run a few cotton patches through it to see

    in reply to: The process of asking for money for a wedding #2111812
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Ujm
    Iā€™ve got relatives in EY marrying off daughters.
    I can tell you that they turn down shidduchim all the time because of the question ā€œwill you buy the couple an apartment ā€œ
    The answer is no and that is that. Itā€™s not ā€œmore or less the sameā€ as here. Iā€™ve never heard of anyone having the chutzpah to demand that here

    And OP
    Where do you live that it is only once every two weeks?
    Here in Flatbush itā€™s a daily occurrence

    in reply to: The process of asking for money for a wedding #2111726
    mentsch1
    Participant

    I would like to think it is only tremendous pressure that would drive someone to do something so humiliating.
    And therefore I would like to think that all these cases are one of great rachmanus and we should give accordingly.
    That said, since I know of the ā€œminhagā€ of some people in EY demanding that the Kallahs side by an apartment for the couple, it is difficult for me. Bc I didnā€™t buy my kids houses, so why would I buy some other kid real estate?

    in reply to: Talmeidei Chachamim with kids not like them #2109744
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Yungerman
    Though what you say is true, it doesnā€™t explain how so many families have a kid off the derech.
    Why would the same parent/role model have several ā€œregular ā€œ kids and one off the derech when they all had the same role model ?
    A few years ago I went to daven in an EY kollel with my brother. I saw the Rosh Kollel learning with a heavily tattooed young man. I commented to my brother how nice it is that this talmid chachum does kiruv. He said ā€œthatā€™s his sonā€
    Itā€™s a plague and I donā€™t think Iā€™m ready to blame the parents.

    in reply to: Gun Control #2106642
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Menachem
    Thatā€™s exactly what the Maccabees did.
    Gave up their weapons and davened.
    Certainly our history is not replete with examples of our small armed ragtag army fighting (and winning) against superior governmental forces.

    in reply to: Gun Control #2105166
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Ubiq
    I recognize there is a greater question of hishtadlus here. I just take issue with the idea that there is something not hashkafic about ownership
    And Jackk
    If you want you can subscribe to the NRA and get their magazines. They have a section on all the newspaper clippings of people who saved themselves with guns. I know two frum people whose lives were saved. Now we can argue that their lives were meant to be saved anyway, even without a gun. But as someone else has already said. Areas with people carrying guns tend to be safer.
    We need to focus on getting the guns away from criminals. Stop and frisk etc. if we arenā€™t doing that , if we are allowing BLM protests etc. please donā€™t strip me of my right to protect my family.

    in reply to: Gun Control #2105160
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Ubiq
    Your comparison to roe is limited at best. Roe was bad law with no constitutional backing.
    The second amendment does exist and logic is on the side of private ownership.
    But feel free to pack the courts with liberals who overturn the second amendment sometime in the next 50 years. By then we will have another 200 million guns in the hands of Americans. Then what?
    I think we can all agree on some measures. Especially mental health and background checks. And I fault the NRA and states for not implementing these measures.

    in reply to: Gun Control #2105159
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Jackk
    As I have said earlier in other threads it makes sense to make it harder to get weapons. Especially since goyim canā€™t be trusted.
    But your understanding of guns is limited if you think banning ar15 will solve the problem. As has been said before the assault rifle term is one that is cosmetic. You would have to ban all semi automatic rifles of 9mm caliber or larger to really remove military grade rifles from the population.
    In todays climate that is not going to happen.

    in reply to: Gun Control #2105158
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Ubiq
    The tanach argument is fallacious. Bottom line they were armed. Iā€™m not arguing that they also had to daven., of course they did. But they all had weapons. ALL OF THEM.

    in reply to: Gun Control #2105079
    mentsch1
    Participant

    I grew up MO
    Many in the local YI had kippahs with ā€œnever againā€ written on them. I believe that statement is koach vā€™otzam yudi
    But to all those arguing gun ownership isnā€™t Jewish or we should point to other countries. How does that help us as Jews in the post holocaust era?
    Iā€™m sure the Jews in prewar Germany also thought there was no issue. Iā€™m sure they pointed to the safety of western countries
    How do you ignore the increase in attacks on Jewish institutions? We have had ponway, Philly, Jersey and just this past shabbos.
    Just 2 years ago the discussion in all the shuls in Brooklyn is if you should have armed misspallilm.
    Rav Bender trained his staff to carry arms.
    Are you living in reality or just hoping for the best?

    in reply to: Gun Control #2105074
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Truth
    True it is boring.
    We have all the usual arguments.
    Jackk thinking itā€™s not Jewish to own weapons-ignoring every chapter of tanach
    All the others ignoring the reality of the Supreme Court decisions .
    The reality is
    Gun ownership has become enshrined.
    The term ā€œassault weaponā€ ignores the lethality of similar weapons
    Real believers will not give up their weapons without a fight
    Access has gone down while shootings up – pointing to societal issues as the root cause
    So pointing to other countries is a pointless exercise that ignores the realities . Stick in the realm of what is possible.

    in reply to: Gun Control #2103975
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Reb eliezer
    Notice how the media keeps referring to the weapon used as ā€œar 15 styleā€
    I donā€™t like commenting without facts and the truth will eventually come out but this ā€œstyleā€ word combined with Illinois strict laws leads me to believe it wasnā€™t an ā€œassault weaponā€ but a standard semi auto rifle (possibly a mini 14)
    And if I am right then this only proves what the anti ban people have been saying for years; there is no functional difference between an ar15 ā€œassault rifleā€ and a standard semi auto

    in reply to: Gun Control #2103969
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Menachem shmei
    So your point is that America would be better off transitioning from a democracy to a Sanhedrin based theocracy
    I agree
    But sounds a little unrealistic to me.
    In light of the fact that we are a constitutional democracy with an enshrined second amendment, letā€™s propose realistic solutions instead of pipe dreams

    in reply to: Gun Control #2103784
    mentsch1
    Participant

    OP
    In the 1970ā€™s 50% of homes had guns now itā€™s around 32% (google it . Source NYT so hardly right wing)
    So if access to guns is dropping while shootings are increasing, is the problem guns?
    These types of shooting were unheard of in the 1970ā€™s.
    I have drawn the conclusion that our society is rotten.
    How can we only discuss gun control without acknowledging the need to govern speech and hate?

    in reply to: Cherem Rabbeinu Gershom #2103459
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Ujm
    How itā€™s supposed to go and how it will go is not necessarily the same way. As you know I am divorced and remarried. So I probably have a little bit more clarification on some of this than others.
    First of all a get is usually written by a Rav who is an expert, not necessarily by an official bais din. Said Rav acting responsibly will not immediately write the get but require assurances from rabbanim involved in the case, that the marriage is beyond salvage, prior to writing the get.
    Now this is a case involving both parties wanting out. Your specific case I can only guess at. But logically Rabbanim will get involved. They canā€™t force either party to stay married and at some point in time will pronounce the marriage unsalvageable and push for a get.
    It makes sense to do it get. Bc a couple that is married but not living together is a couple in danger of committing other averos.

    in reply to: Cherem Rabbeinu Gershom #2103235
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Gefilte
    I personally know of 3 cases of heter meah (besides for the one I mentioned involving Rav Moshe)
    Two of them the wife refused the get
    One the wife was permanently incapacitated
    Silent-Majority is completely uninformed

    in reply to: Cherem Rabbeinu Gershom #2103234
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Silent majority
    Please read drpeppers post
    You need to actually give the get to a bais din prior to seeking the heter
    My source (the same relative) called it being ā€œmishalishā€ the get with a bais din
    As for the other details in drpepeppers post I canā€™t vouch for it
    Apparently there is a rashba that already considered the cherem batul in those days and most authorities agree with that
    Rav Asher Weiss has a well explained tshuva on the subject (I think chelek 1:75)

    in reply to: Cherem Rabbeinu Gershom #2103232
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Ayingle
    The case was in regards to a mentally incapacitated/institutionalized woman

    in reply to: Cherem Rabbeinu Gershom #2103112
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Ujm
    So now the question is even though it lapsed how strong is the ongoing commitment to it based on minhag?
    Even though there may be no cherem is it ā€œagainst our minhagā€ to marry more than one spouse? Etc.

    in reply to: Cherem Rabbeinu Gershom #2103111
    mentsch1
    Participant

    The relative did receive smicha from Rav Moshe but that happened after
    According to him everyone in the Bais Medrash at the time signed
    Quoting this person (but not in Rav Mosheā€™s name) ā€œprobably close to 99% of the tshuvos I have seen on the subject of The cherim treat it leniently Bc of the lapse in timeā€

    in reply to: Cherem Rabbeinu Gershom #2103065
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Ujm
    Just got off the phone with a close relative who learned under Rav Moshe in MTJ
    He once signed on a heter as a bachur
    Rav Moshe asked everyone in the bais medrash to sign
    Apparently the kulah (ie allowing bachrum and not necessitating from multiple communities/countries) is due to the fact that the cherem ran out already

    in reply to: Supreme Court Ruling Over Gun Conrol #2100726
    mentsch1
    Participant

    akuperma
    “every bullet has a lawyer attached”
    but you may have stumbled on one of many roadblocks to carry in NYC
    They may have to grant these licenses but they can theoretically mandate everything from special training (which i believe in) to mandating expensive hard to find insurance
    they can create gun free zones. everything from bars (i certainly hope so) to schools. All of these things will then send it back to the courts

    in reply to: Supreme Court Ruling Over Gun Conrol #2100282
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Ubiq nice
    Ujm never know whether to take you seriously
    If you are actually serious the state you live in makes all the difference
    Bc whether or not you want to be mikayim the mitzvah to the best of your ability, if you live in NY/NJ that Glock 19 (or any other gun) is limited to 10 mitzvos
    Iā€™ve trained dozens to shoot and my advise is to try numerous guns bf buying
    Everyone Iā€™ve taught has a different favorite

    in reply to: The solution to the shidduch crisis in one easy step! #2095430
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Ujm
    Never said it canā€™t be done
    I asked why would any sane man In a stable relationship do it
    The OP wants to advance finances as a reason and I donā€™t believe that works in the vast majority of cases
    As for the mitzvah of raising more children?
    Hereā€™s an idea
    Donā€™t marry that optional second wife and instead use your extra time and energy to learn. Itā€™s a bigger mitzvah.

    in reply to: The solution to the shidduch crisis in one easy step! #2095336
    mentsch1
    Participant

    Zaphod
    In my scenario she was working, as I said she needs to make more than the husband
    The only way to make the scenario work financially is population control
    And perhaps to an unmarried person this sounds like a dream come true but to anyone older we know the reality

Viewing 50 posts - 151 through 200 (of 688 total)