Pashuteh Yid

ICOT, thanks for all the detailed info. A few more questions for do-it-yourselfers:

These concern mechanical mounting issues:

1) If I want to install a reading light on the wall over my bed, where is it safe to put the screws? On one hand I have heard you can damage a beam if you screw into it. On the other hand, I don’t know what the walls are made out of. I assume it is sheetrock. Is that strong enough to hold the light without risk it will fall on my head? So is it better to screw into a beam or to davka avoid beams. In older houses, are the walls generally stronger or not?

2) Same question regarding installing a light in the ceiling. Should one put into beam, or avoid beam? What if it is a very heavy chandelier like Oomis’s friend wants her to put in? How do you properly support the weight?

3) Same question if one is installing bookshelf brackets into a wall which may hold heavy books? How do you support the weight?

Thanks again for your expertise.

ICOT, how about providing some more info.

1) Is there a reliable color code for hot vs. neutral, or can it only be ascertained with a meter?

2) What is major difference between neutral and ground?

3) Can the electrical box be considered to be grounded? I.e., if no third wire, and there is a need to connect something to a reliable ground, will a connection to the box suffice? For example, when installing a 3-prong outlet where previously only an older 2-prong outlet existed, can one just assume the ground terminal will be grounded by virtue of a connnetion to the box?

4) If a line is rated at 15 amps, what is highest one can safely use continuously, i.e., for an air conditioner? I have heard up to 80% or 12 amps. Does the number on the circuit breaker always correspond with the actual gauge of the wire used?

5) In older houses, does the wiring ever fray and present a fire hazard over the years, or can one assume the insulation remains effective even after many years?

Thanks

First, I wanted to clarify that ther are exceptions when I say it is usually one or the other (chol or kodesh, but not both). For some reason, the girls schools that I know about more closely approach the ideal than the boys schools. Currently in the NY area I am aware of 3 girls schools that excel in both. TAG in Far Rockaway, Manhattan HS, and Bruriah in Elizabeth. I am most familiar with TAG, but I have heard very good things about the others.

Nevertheless while the above do prepare well for the state requirements, they are not what I would ideally desire which is allowing kids to actually do their own novel research. However, that requires advanced lab facilities and instructors which is very expensive. Also you can look at Stuyvesant High online course catalog and see what is possible with the right resources.

However, the boys schools are a different story.

Where I went to school is today considered modern, but back then, it had gedolei hador teaching kodesh (no exaggeration, they wrote more about 10 sefarim apiece on shas). It also had a rock solid secular pgm, and kids got into Ivy League schools regularly. They had rigorous chem and physics lab components in their courses. It did not have advanced research, but otherwise was excellent all around. The only drawback is that it is and was coed (although the limudei kodesh was completely separate.)

ICOT, in this world, and in the near future, science and math will be the most essential to make a parnasa. For years people relied on the stock market and thought it was a magic faucet which rained down money. Now they realize that many of the big players are out of work, simply because it is no different than betting on horses. What value have all these people in the market added? Very little, at the end of the day. They probably helped some new companies get started by buying a percentage of newly issued stock, and assisting with IPO’s, but most is pure betting.

Think about it: when a farmer plants seeds that cost 1 dollar and after hard work, he can sell produce for 100 dollars, he has created wealth. He has added value to the seeds, and can rightfully claim a portion. The baker who buys his wheat, and bakes a cake, has also added value, and can claim a portion. This is how moey is made. Or in manufacturing, a scientist figures out a new principle or way to cure a disease. he sells to a drug company, the drug company buys raw ingredients and chemicals, and uses these to make medicine. This is the way you make money, by creating products from less expensive raw ingredients. The scientists and engineers and those who work in the actual production chain are really the backbone of any company.

All these people who think they need not learn technical details, and will just finagle and wheel and deal in what others have invented or created are finding out in today’s economy it just doesn’t cut it. This is why so many of these types are ending up behind bars. Madoff knew there really isn’t magic money in the market, and the only way to get rich quick is to commit fraud.

Because of foreign competition profits are razor thin. The only way to make money is to constantly innovate. Heard from Dr. Judah Folkman A”H that in medicine, there are about 25,000 known diseases. We can cure a few hundred and manage a few hundred more. That leaves about 24,000 with no know cure. If you can cure one, you will have performed great chesed, and also will get paid well.

In Sderot, if you could find a way to shoot down missiles before they land, and blow up the terrorists automatically, you will also have done a great deed, and can make a mint on your anti-terrorism system. In the USA, if you can develop a really workable and cost-effective solar energy system, you will make a ton, and will also reduce the Arabs control over the oil economy and their influence over the world.

All these things require tons of advanced math and science. There are many science jobs out there for people with the right training. In Yeshivas we usually ignore these subjects more than all the others. That is the worst mistake we can make. Algebra, geometry, trig, calc are the aleph bais of the world of advanced technology. Bio, chem and physics will be the most valuable subjects in the future. Kids also need grounding in English as you mention, since companies don’t like to hire illiterate and sloppy people. Social studies is important in understanding how govt works and the history of conflicts between nations and how the economic and legal systems that we use have developed.

When you work for a corporation as an accountant, that is an important skill and service. But that is really indirect as far as the company goes. If you can develop a way for them to make a new product, or make an old one much cheaper, that is how they make their money to pay the accountants. They value this much more, since that is their oxygen. They can’t survive if another company comes out with a better or cheaper product, but they can survive if their accountant leaves, since they can just hire a different one who will do the same thing.

Chiddush is the most important thing, and that requires technology. All the other roles are secondary and replaceable. I am not trying to insult accountants or any other profession, chas vshalom, as the world needs them all, and people have different talents. There are many brilliant accounting experts in the frum world. I am just saying that one’s best chance today is to try to be able to innovate because any fixed, repetitive skill can become obsolete or replaced by other humans or even computers.

I am talking about regular chem, physics and bio on an advanced level. Same with advanced math and computer programming.

Maybe somebody could post a spreadsheet type of list so we could all compare them point by point. Like consumer magazines do when they rate products.

Which serve 3 meals a day? Which can you stay for Shabbos. Which neighborhoods are they located?

When you think about it, the bottom line is that the only important thing you will learn there is to be a kind person. Does it really matter how many prakim or meforshim a girl learns? Can this quality of kindness be learned outside a sem just as well? The only other valuable thing is to learn everyday halachos well.

The only ones who need a real academic type with rigorous exams and reports are those who want to be teachers or go into an academic career. Also if a girl wants to understand the intellectual underpinnings of yiddishkeit for her own curiosity, that is a reason to, as well. However, if you go to a place where they don’t allow questions, then what is the point?

In some ways, does it matter where you go, or if you go?

ThinkingJew: If Yaakov Avinu and Yehuda had no yetzer hara, they would not be Yaakov Avinu and Yehuda, rather they would be metallic robots. They had the same yetzer hara we all do, and this doesn’t take away from their gadlus a ki hu zeh. One works his entire life on not falling into the trap of the yetzer hara.

Mazel tov to all. Mazel Tov to LGBG on new baby.

1) The way to tell if a movement is Orthodox is simply whether they follow Shulchan Oruch and the Rambam’s Thirteen Articles of Faith.

2) Rav Bamberger, the godol hador at the time of Rav Hirsch, was against the Austrit (secession movement), and felt there was nothing wrong with having a unified kehillah along with the Reform.

3) I don’t know which movement is more anti-zionist, Lakewood or YCT. Instead of debating why not become comrades in arms.

EDITED

Having lived out of town for a number of years, there is much to be said about the warmth and achdus you’ll find in many places. The Lakewood Kollel would regularly bring avreichim to speak at the Young Israel, and vice versa, distinguished frum professors would speak at the Kollel. Each would walk a long way to the other one’s simchas. Nobody judged you by the way you dressed. The Kollel guys focused only on learning, and not on politics. Teachers of many different backgrounds taught in each of the schools, Chareidi, Chabad and Modern. You would be hard-pressed to look at any of the teachers and match them to the school they taught in.

I actually thought I was Chareidi myself. It was only once I began reading the Chareidi news sites that I realized there are some very unpleasant political views that I could not agree with.

Out of town there is no scene. Everybody is just a sincere individual yid and everybody greets everybody warmly.

Why not use “Ay ay ay ay ay?”

BTW just FYI, Cliff Lee goes to a Daf Yomi every day at 4:30 AM.

Maybe the manager ought to bench Jeter and Rodriguez.

Heard from a friend: He was in Baltimore for a Shabbos, and some of his chaverim decided to make an early maariv minyan motzaei shabbos at a big shul. One of the baalei batim came over and said (jokingly) these guys come from out of town and try to tell us how to run the shul. My friend said, What do you mean, I’m from NY, you’re from out of town.

The inyan of having the same voice I have heard is that both his parents teach him the same values, and he doesn’t get mixed msgs. Because nobody is ever brought up under optimal conditions, it is only a hypothetical, and never happens. Drosh vkabel schar.

My main question is that it seems to take a pessimistic view that some people have no hope. I believe I heard in the name of the Baal Shem Tov that the worst aveira in the whole Torah is to think one is too big of a sinner to do tshuvah. So I am not sure how that fits here. I prefer the Baal Shem’s viewpoint.

There is an old joke about a lady who meets her friend, and the friend asks her how her daughter is doing. She says, she is married to a very successful businessman. The friend says, I thought he was a doctor. The lady says, no, that was her first husband. The friend starts scratching her head and says, but wait, I seem to remember something about him being a wealthy lawyer. The lady says, that was the second husband. So the friend says, Wow, so much nachas from one daughter.

If couples would remember the following rule, it would help. Every time you put a smile on the face of your spouse, give yourself a point. The one with the most points wins.

People need to be involved with their spouses interests. Even if it doesn’t interest you personally, if it interests your spouse, try to be a part of it in some way. This goes for their friends, family, hobbies, etc. When you ignore or turn up your nose at something that is dear to your spouse, you are setting yourself up for a big problem.

One further thing is that men need to learn that women are looking more for emotional closeness than physical closeness. Women need to learn that men will always be interested in physical appearance, etc. So both need to do what pleases the other. Initially, men worship their wives just by virtue of the fact that they are female. They will do anything for them. But as soon as a woman lets herself down and starts whining about something trivial, all the attraction can go down the drain in one minute, and can be lost for good. Women need to understand that men want to view them as goddesses. This means that women must appreciate the beauty Hashem has endowed her with. A man thinks that such amazing female beauty is mesmerizing. But women think of themselves as just humans like everyone else. If a woman might get upset over some trivial detail like her husband brought home the wrong color napkins, the man can’t figure it out. He thinks, she is a millionaire because of her natural gifts, and now she is worrying about a few cents? Why doesn’t she appreciate who she is and what she has that everybody thought she was the best looking girl in the country? She is acting like an immature spoiled child, and what happened to the fact I thought I was married to a godess? I was in an illusion. Once the magic goes out the window, the entire marriage may follow.

Women need to use their inborn beauty and kindness to advantage and keep the magic going their entire lives. They need to not fall into the trap of being human. As long as their husbands think they are godesses, they will do anything to please them. Of course the husband must be a baal midos, but he naturally will act his best if he is enthralled with his wife. When someone stops liking somebody, and you lecture him on trying to act like a baal midos, it often doesn’t work, since deep down he is unhappy with the person. Better to keep the magic of dating going your whole life.

One thing I will say about Yiddish is that no other language has a word like Oisvarf. I never knew exactly what it means, but it is my favorite word. Everybody should say Oisvarf three times a day.

The only proper way to rate a seminary is to look at the percentage of girls who get engaged within a month after returning. All the other info is meaningless.