Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I know of a ?”? ???? in New York. Specifically. In Boro Park. (You may laugh at me. But I observed this person for the past 30 Years.). Namely. R. Moshe Metzger of Shomrei Shabbos, who happens to be a CPA and a Notary Public, among other things. He is looking forward whenever and wherever he can do a favor for someone. The fact that he comes in to Shul in the early morning hours with muddy shoes is a result of him being an active member in “Chesed Shel Emes”. Otherwise, he is busy organizing Minyanim and making sure that everything runs smoothly in the basement feeding center where everyone (Including Meshulachim from Eretz Israel and local clients) feels at home.
The simcha (And Jewish pride) didn’t last long. She was uncrowned by a competitor who knew the Goyish culture better than she did. Because she bet only $100.00 on an answer she had right. But, in any case it was a “Kiddush Hashem” that a “Judaic Studies” teacher knew the right answers and bet the right amount to make her champion for a day.
Bobchka (Babichka); In my position as a Yeshiva (School) Bus Driver, I have a “Meshigaas”/habit of asking (Whenever the opportunity arises) the brother if he fights with his sister. The boy invariably answers “NO”. The girl, without fail, answers “Yes”.
Health; Yea. We can open a Genetic/Generic/Genealogic/Geriatric gerontologic research lab, give it a fancy name and apply for a grant from the US Gov’t. Seriously. This aspect of Left-Handedness would make great research material for Genetic researchers.
JayMatt19; I’m a lefty (sort of.). I Do write with my right hand, and , consequently put Tefillin on my Left hand. Which made my father A”H happy. (Sparing the embarrassment of his son putting Tefillin on the right hand.). A hammer, scissors or a knife in my right hand are like hanging them on a lamppost. I have zero control. A pen, a screwdriver and a saw are better controlled in my right hand. A spoon or fork, I can handle with both, right and left hand. Even though, I prefer using the left. The only serious consequence of my leftiness was in summer camp where I bumped into the guy sitting next to me. The solution was, to sit me at the (left) end of the table.
If we want to do Scientific research we could inquire why in my family it skips a generation. My Grandfather was a Lefty. My Father was not. My children are not. Some of my grandchildren are. Each of my (married) children have one child who is left handed.
MDG; The result of going out on the street without looking in the mirror could be that you have a piece of Potao (Or, Lukshen) Kugel stuck to your face (Note; I didn’t say “Beard” because I don’t know if poster MDG is M. or F.). Or your sweater or shirt could be buttoned crooked. The only way to find out that something is amiss is, when your friends start laughing before you say a word.
watermelon; Also. A rhetorical question is expressed by an exclamation mark at the end. Someone (I think it was Metrodriver) wrote a definition for a Rhetorical question. That is, where you know the answer, but you’re trying to make a point.
Yitayningwut (To MDG); A more accurate translation of the word ?????? would be “To Drive Out”, Which is essentially, “To Conquer”. But certainly not “To Inherit”.
deiyezooger; In Hebrew, the word is “Le-Fargen”. ?????. In English, it might be to “Far-Gain”. Or. Being Magnanimous.
eclipse/chayav inish/pba/the goq/et al; I don’t care if you are all separate people or one person who suffers from (with) Multiple personality disorder. It’s the content of your post that matters. Like it says in Pirkei Avos, “Do not look at the bottle/container, but at its contents”. Someone with a fancy name (or reputation) can sometimes say nothing meaningful. In other situations, “Plain Folks”, can, sometimes say something profound.
I have a personal Minhag (Not a Chumro) (That I have not seen in any sefer or heard from my Rebbi.) To also touch my lips with the wine from Havdala. Originally. The reason we are following this Minhag is ????? ?????. Showing love and respect for the Mitzvah. But where we go wrong, sometimes, is when one wants to force their personal views or chumros on everyone else. Anything beyond Halachic requirements should not be forced on the public.
Rollerskates; Seriously. You should ask the Rav/Dayan of your community. Under the circumstances that you describe, (If true.) you should get an official “Heter”. (Dispensation.) Some people (in the Monsey area, for example.) where public transportation is not as accessible as in Brooklyn, got an official Heter from the Dayyanim.
Pashute Yid; The essential difference between the Agudah (Agudat Israel) and the Old Satmar Rebbi (R. Yoel Teitelbaum ztz”l) is, that today, when there is a “Medinah” (A sovereign state of Israel, run by Jews.) we have to abandon some of the principles of Kanaous, (Opposition to the Zionist idea of acquiring an independent state.) of which the Agudah was one of the foremost players in pre-war Europe. That is Agudah’s view. But the Satmar Rebbi’s “Shittah” (Policy/ideology) is that the (Any) government in Israel formed by Jews is illegitimate and no participation that supports a national government is allowed. But he was a realistic and practical person, so he allowed participation in Municipal elections. But some “Super Kanaim” twisted his words to forbid participation in Municipal elections, too. Also, years ago, the campaign was against “Bechiros”. Now, it’s “Bechiros Ha Temeos”.
HolyMoe; …It depends if it’s before, or after the wedding. Before.., you’re trying to impress each other. After, you (sometimes) despise each other. (Not speaking of myself.)
Feif Un; that small scar on your forehead that looks like a script Yud, may be a sign (Omen), or it might be that your Plastic surgeon didn’t do such a good job.
Mechutanim; If I want to be yeshivish (For a moment) I can speculate that there is no such a word in English because there is no need for it. The shaila is whether Kiddushin are “Tofeis” by b’nai Noach. Anyway. There is a movie (r”l) (Rachmono Litz’lan) with the name “The In Laws”. Starring, of course some Jewish actors. (And at least one Italian. Peter Falk.)
apushatayid; Kindly read Bed-stuy’s post about the P’sakim of R. Moshe ZTz”L regarding “Cholov Hacompanies/Cholov Stam”. A Baal Nefesh should refrain from using milk with this type of “Heter”. Furthermore. It’s only “Bshaas Ha D’chak”. Meaning where there’s no other type of milk available. You can not take a dispensation that was meant to be used under extenuating circumstances and use it regularly.
Chayav inish L’…; Whether calling Cholov Akkum, cholov “Stam” is OCD or not, it doesn’t change the fact that people are mislabeling it and are deceiving themselves. Just like someone who asks for bananas when he really wants to buy oranges. After all the deliberations (on this thread and others) and discussions, it still boils down to one simple fact. Whether a Jewish person person was present at the milking process or not.
Real-Brisker; It’s like a dentist who works only on one side of the mouth. But then again, with today’s sub-specialties, who knows?! We might end up having one barber specializing in Hilchos Peyos and the other in trimming beards. so, (Hypothetically.) if a customer wants a haircut plus a trim of his beard, we might end up with Two barbers working on one customer. Barber shops might then end up looking like Hospitals with surgical teams operating on patients.
Real Brisker, APY and working Bubby (who knows a barber that knows Halacha.) Either we should have the Rabbonim come out with a Kol-Koreh (With all the politically-correct signatures.), requiring all the barber shops to hire Mashgichim temidiim, or hiring barbers with Smicha. (who know all the Shitas Harishonim v’Gedolai Ha’Achronim about the Shiur, (Including the Brisker) of Payos. There’s only one possible problem (with hiring barbers who have S’micha). That if someone has a Shaila about pots and pans they will run to the nearest barber shop. But the Rav/haircutter will be busy giving someone a haircut. Eventually, Din-Torahs will be held in Barber Shops. As well as Siddur Kiddushin and Gittin.
Chayav Inish L’besumei…; According to this, you must be in a constant state of happiness (or drunkenness). The question is if you reached “Ad D’lo Yada”. (In other words. You’re stoned out of your mind.) Then, what do you do on Purim?! One day out of the year, you’re probably sober!
CharlieHall; From your own statement you can see the Ruach HaKodesh of Chaza”l and the importance of following every Iota of their instructions. One of the original reasons (There are others.) that Chaza”l required for a Jewish person to supervise the milking process is, because there might be a hypothetical situation where a non-Jewish farmer (who has other, non-Kosher animals on his farm) might introduce milk from those animals into the batch of kosher milk. And those promoters of so-called “Cholov Stam” ballyhooed (Yes. There is such a word. Pls. look it up.) the fact that here in the good old USA it doesn’t apply because it’s impossible to (perhaps inadvertently) mix in milk from other animals. Now, at least we can see the possibility (albeit remote) of such a situation occurring. Hence the need for Jewish supervision of the milking process.
Yersl; Can you please show me where in Chumash (OK, Chimish) it says you should only drink Cholov Yisroel?! You (probably a Bais Yaakov Grad) may, or may not have learned Talmud. The source of this Halacha is in the Gemara. Namely. That if a Jewish person did not observe (was not present) the milking process, it is called “Chlov Akkum”. But you’re right on the point. There is no such thing as Cholov Stam. It’s either Ch.Y. or Ch. Akkum.
Chayav Inish L’…; If you are a Yid (and steeped in Jewish culture, you have an advantage. You can make up Thousands of (seemingly) foolproof passwords.
Bein-Hasdorim;I know (exactly) what you mean. On another (Heimishe) blog, I used another (posting) name, (which BTW this blog disallowed for the reason that “It’s taken already”. Actually by me, with another e-mail address, but I’ve forgotten the password.) which I (purposely) spell different than the standard way. (With Three EEEs (Like bigwheeel, for example.) One day, I noticed comments which would be impossible to have been posted by me due to their spoof nature and time posted (Because I’m on the road transporting Yeshiva kids at that time.). And those (spoof) postings were spelled the standard way.(bigwheel). that is how it slipped past the editors, even though the imitator has a different IP address. After I contacted the editor, they promised to be more vigilant. And the “Copycats” stopped showing up.
p.s: Whoever understood my ramblings is a genius.
Wanderingchana; (Or, Wonderingchana); A rhetorical question is one where you know the answer, but want to make a point. A hypothetical question is where you hypothesize (Hold on to your dentures.), or speculate about a certain (nonexistent) situation.
Sacrilege; the problem is, that most gas ranges today, have electronic ignition.
mewho; a belated answer/elaboration about (the requirement that a Jewish person light) the fire; There is a Halacha that in order for a meal not to be considered “Bishul Akku”m”, a Jewish person must light the fire or throw a “kindle” (Not the one offered by Amazon, or the variety of cookie our mothers used to bake for Purim.) in the fire. i.e.; Initiating the cooking process. And the N.J. (No. Not New Jersey) live-in will not call on the homeowner, every time they want to make a meal or snack for themselves.
mewho; The last line in your post about some people that you know who let their (live-in) non-Jewish help cook a meal is very interesting because they are (most likely) eating meals from “Bishul Aku”m”. Furthermore, I don’t think that when the live-in wants to have scrambled eggs at 3 in the afternoon (or 7:30 am) she calls the owners of the house to light the fire.
cherrybim; With all the technicalities and loopholes that you enumerate, no one would be indifferent to serving cholent in dairy dishes. Besides, there is a certain ethnic group who actually practice little acts of sabotage in Jewish homes, where they are, unfortunately trusted more than they deserve.
BP-Totty; Speaking of (live-in) “Nisht Yiddishe” help. (And the dire consequences in Kashrus). I was once invited to a (semi public) Kiddush in someone’s house. The lady of the house was not present. The P. Goyte walks over to the dairy cabinet in the kitchen, taking out some plates, ready to serve Cholent. At the last moment, the son of the family walks in. He redirected the “Server” to the Meat cabinets. Saving everyone from disaster. With that ethnic group, I’m certain it was done deliberately. Because it wasn’t the first day on the job for that individual.
Bein Hasdorim; Your advice (on how to make a successful shidduch) is wonderful. However, there is one ingredient that helps tremendously. A few stacks of One Hundred Dollar Bills. There’s a famous story about a Bochur who was on the short side (Less than 6ft.-3in.) who married a tall girl. People were wondering about the match. To the very nosy (and gutsy) who inquired, the Kallah answered that her Father-in-Law padded his son’s shoes with a few stacks of One Hundred Dollar bills. That evened things out.
yersl; You are Heimish, indeed. If I’m not mistaken, you used to live a block away from my house. But looking at the bright side of this particularly Jewish trait (Middah). It’s a sign of caring, and readiness to help when needed. There’s a famous story about a young couple who moved to a town whose residents were particularly nosy. One day, the husband couldn’t resist finding out what’s doing at his neighbor’s across the road. He takes a pair of binoculars that he purchased recently. Gets up to the window. What does he see?! His neighbor looking through a pair of binoculars, staring at his house!
Mod80; There is a “Machlokes HaPoskim”, whether snooping or nosiness is a (Particularly) Jewish trait or not. I hold with the poskim who say that it is. Proof of that. Whenever you are in BM, (for example, Shabbos afternoon before Mincha) sitting in the last row, looking in a Sefer, all (Or most) of the passersby will peer over your shoulder, trying to satisfy their curiosity by seeing which Sefer you are reading. (No Goyim frequent the Shul on Shabbos before Mincha.) Further proof; I rent a small garage (In my neighborhood, BP). From all the passersby, those who will peek in (to see what’s doin’) will invariably be Yidden. L”H. Non-Jews will just walk by. A possible Psychological reason for that is, that Yidden feel “Heimish”, so they have a right to see what’s doin’ at your brother’s.
Dextrously challenged = “Batlan” (Not handy; 2 left hands:
Financially challenged = Poor:
oomis1105;…But the Chumash does. (Contain Vowelizations/Nekudos.) And that is where wolf looked it up.
ItcheSrulik; There’s a world of difference between saying Amen (Omein) out loud and davening out of place with rest of the Minyan out loud (And letting the entire world know your proficiency (or the lack of it) in pronunciation.) and confusing everyone around you.
WIY;…And (Following your advice.)when the Police come knocking on your door arresting you for murder, you “Mish Oyf” the “S’eif” in Yoreh Deah and show that you had a right to kill the “Mooser”. Or hire a Criminal Lawyer.
It’s what you learn at home. Respect, and the opposite are all learned at home, from the parents. In my book, (No pun intended)if the parents speak respectfully to each other and of other people, the children will be respectful (and respectable) and the opposite is true if the children observe parents disrespecting each other or speaking condescendingly of other people.
If we had computers (and human projectors/ forecasters)115 Years ago, they would have predicted that by the Year l980, we would be overwhelmed with the horse droppings, that we would need special squads of Pooper Scoopers. And that there will be an acute shortage of wicks for our Kerosene lamps by the year 1935. Luckily, there were no environmentalist extremists, or they would have predicted that by the year 1985, there will be no more forests left for all the wood heating stoves in the USA.
I agree with “Midwest2” 100%. Politics. Especially, National Politics is a very brutal game. And a candidate who happens to be Jewish who has the qualifications to lead would still be blamed openly or subtly for being Jewish. And you’ve got to have a very thick skin. You can’t go cry to Mommy. And you can’t complain (when your political enemies knock you at every turn.) that you’re being ganged up on because of your race or ethnicity. You gotta give credit to Pres. Obama that he hasn’t used the Race Card. And he has admonished others (Like Gov. Patterson) for using it.
Wolf; Like P’sachLib. I got scared for a split second that you’re (ch”v) leaving the Coffee Room. Other than that, I agree with your point 100%. It was good, though, that your experience with that fellow davener brought out the point clearly how disturbing it is when one raises their voice and they’re out of tune or out of place with the rest of the congregation. As far as the timing of your resolution. (Kabbolah). Whenever you get the inspiration (His’orr’us) is the right time.
Midwest2; Sorry to say. You are factually wrong. The Sephardic Jews have a common language that is the equivalent of Yiddish to Ashkenazi Jews. That language is Ladino. It is based on Spanish with Hebrew and Arabic words mixed in. There were many Seforim authored in Ladino. One of the most famous is “Yalkut M’am Loez”, by R. Yaakov Koolee. It’s written in Hebrew letters.
Minyan Gal: Like one of the posters said “A Kasha Of a Maise”. But there is a neighborhood in a South American country called “Goyes”. Ironically, it’s an old Jewish neighborhood. The original name is Blandengues. Apparently, the first Jewish immigrants couldn’t pronounce that long and strange “Goyish” name so they named it “Goyes”.
Speaking of neighboring neighborhoods, I’ll throw in my Two Cents about an adjacent neighborhood to Flatbush/Midwood. Good old Boro Park. Zip code 11219 is actually called Blythebourne. The area of 9th Ave. is (was) Linden Heights. The Higher numbered avenues fr. 18th. were once upon a time called Bensonhurst. We (You, Me and they)refer to it all as Borough Park. In Montreal, Que. for example, there’s a street where each side of the street is a different neighborhood. Oh yes. At the Central Avenue exit of the Nassau Expressway (828), there is one block that is Nassau County (LI) and the next is Far Rockaway, Queens. One side of the street is LI. Across the street is NYC. This shows that there are no clear cut boundaries and it all goes by the name residents call it.
mchemtob; I like your piece. It’s good for introspection. It shows how far we’ve come. (really in an inverted way.)When there are other qualities in a person, Yichus is a good addition. But by itself it counts for nothing. In my book, a person who comes from a background that is not very strong in Torah and turns out to be a Ehrlicher Yid and Talmid Chacham, is much more noteworthy than someone who comes from a family of Rabbonim and Roshei Yeshivos and just continues in their tradition.
Pashuteh Yid; You advise to leave a window open for ventilation whenever a stove is left on for a long period of time, like over Yomtov. The truth is that every time a gas appliance is run, there should be adequate ventilation to prevent Carbon Monoxide poisoning.
TMB; When you say Brooklyn you have to be more definitive. Brooklyn is very large. I’m sure the OP (HereWeGo) will find her niche in some community. Now, the vast majority of Orthodox communities are welcoming everybody for the short term. But to settle in for the long term, it has to suit, both the newcomer and the longtime residents. I know of one Shul/Community in Midwood/Flatbush where (almost) everybody fits in on any level. Where the Rav and the Rabbanit welcome everyone with open arms and are actively taking interest in their physical and spiritual success. Namely. Rabbi Herbst’s Shul on E5th. Str.?
Charliehall; In your reply to HereWeGo you tell/ask her, rhetorically, that if she wants a caste system Riverdale is not for her. Why (on earth) would she want to live under a caste system. She is trying to escape from that , in Israel. From what I read in Israeli newspapers and magazines, the discrimination and standoff ishness against Baalei T’shuva in some circles is so strong that some even begin to regret their change in lifestyle. Some Yeshivas and seminaries will not even give them a chance to go through the door. Some people (in those places that DO discriminate) even tried to rationalize (Surely not justify.) their actions by saying that the students from BT families will have a negative influence on the others, due to the fact that they have non-religious relatives who teach them all the negative customs. It has come to a point where to be a BT is almost a stigma.
Cedarhurst; You are describing a wishful, ideal situation. But unfortunately, human nature is to be contentious and to spite the other party. Especially, in such a time. When things have reached such a stage. i.e.; Divorce. If (Two) people would act reasonably and were able to compromise, they might have been able to solve their problems without getting divorced.
Ruff-Ruff; I posted downstream of your post (without reading the content of your latest posting. You summed it up better than I did. However the translation “T’rutos” ?????? as being round is inaccurate. I looked up the definition in Sefer “Aruch” ???? and the translation is “Oval” (Halfay closed) As opposed to wide open/Round.
meir-123; It all depends on the age of the Bochurim and the amount consumed. An 8 Oz. glass of beer can be tolerated by a Bochur of 14 Yrs. & up. Unsupervised and uncontrolled drinking at a Mesibah or Tish is wrong and should not be tolerated.