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Raphael KaufmanMember
Hi Health, I haven’t been around for a while but I see that you have remained consistant in your position. My statement was correct. the instigator of the confrontation is the one at fault. Whether or not the shomrim guy instigated a confrontation was a matter for the court to decide. The court apparently decided that he was, in fact the instigator. In any event, getting out of the car to “talk” to the “victim” was a bad idea. The Shomrim kid should have reported to the police and followed the “victim”. He would only be justified in taking further action if he witnessed an assault taking place.
P.S. I do, in fact, believe that the kid was tried fairly and the anit-semitism that you and others on this blog perceive to exist in the U.S. is in your mind. That is not to say that there are no anti-semites in America. It’s just that institutional and social anti-semitism simply does not exist in the U.S. I know you believe otherwise, but you believe a lot of other things that I see differently. Biz 120, we’ll find out who was right. Mestammeh we’ll find that we were both wrong.
Raphael KaufmanMemberIf your idea of what a cowboy does comes from television you will be in for a rude shock. Handling cattle is dirty work with long hours for relativly low wages. It’s also not a little dangerous. If you are serious (and if you’re a teen or a young twentyish) there are a couple of avenues you could try.
1. Look for summer work on a small ranch (“small” varies depening on the part of the Country). Small ranchers are always looking for cheap labor. Be prepared for long hours af dirty, back breaking work, some of which may have nothing to do with cattle. If you make a good impression, the rancher will expand your duties.
2. If you’re older and are able, buy a small ranch or a hobby ranch. Hire an experienced hand and learn from him (almost always a “him”).
3. Learn to ride a horse really well. While a lot of moving around on a ranch may be by truck or 4-wheeler. The real work of cowboying is done astride.
3. Do your homework. There is plenty of modern literature on animal husbandry and ranching business.
Zeit Matzliach
Raphael KaufmanMemberAkuperma, They were not denied a jury trial. They elected to have a bench trial in the probably correct belief that a Baltimore jury would have thrown the book at them and a bench trial was their best chance of a fair hearing and aquittal. As a matter of procedure and law, a confrontation that leads to a fight is the fault of the one who initiated the confrontation. What the defendants should have done is stay in the car and radioed the police as was there approved procedure. Even if they were concerned about the woman pedestrian’s safety, The law did not permit them to intervene with force unless they witnessed an actual assuault.
Raphael KaufmanMemberThe Maxwell House Hagadah is atill available for free at Shoprite
Raphael KaufmanMemberMalcom Gladwell wrote a very interesting book called “Blink” about the power of intuition.
Raphael KaufmanMemberBetween the hours of 12 midnight and 5:00 am, traffic lights are only advisory.
Raphael KaufmanMemberYes
Raphael KaufmanMemberI recall hearing (can’t remember where)that it is less of a problem for women photographers to photograph men than for men to photograph women. Anyone here that?
Raphael KaufmanMemberIt may be trite to say that, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, but sayings don’t become trite unless there is more than a grain of truth to them. Physical attraction is clearly a very important part of shidduchim but different folks are attracted to different manifestations of beauty. I have seen happily married couples who, you will pardon me, are so ugly that one could make a “nishtaneh habrios” on them but to each other they’re fine. I, myself, am not exactly GQ material but my wife thinks I’m good looking and I have not been able to disabuse her of that notion for 42 years.
Raphael KaufmanMemberHey Logician, as the gemara in Sukkos explains, the higher the spiritual madrega of the individual, Abaye in the gemara’s case, the stronger the yetzer harah. I can’t speak for the Gatesheader but I, personally, am on such a low spiritual madrega that the yetzer harah doesn’t concern itself with me.
Raphael KaufmanMemberThe problem with filters that use key words is that the can block sites that you need to access that are totally innocuous. Koshernet may be okay, but the best internet filter is the one between your ears. If you have children, though, use a strong filter and never allow a child to have private access to an internet linked device.
Raphael KaufmanMemberI cannot tie a tie properly without looking in a mirror
Raphael KaufmanMemberRe Sherlock Holmes. I guess if it was good enough for Rav Yaakov Kamenetski, it should be good enough for your son
February 24, 2012 10:52 am at 10:52 am in reply to: Memoir called "Unorthodox" and its effect on us #868938Raphael KaufmanMemberI find it interesting that a well known anti-chareidi blog also calls her a liar.
Raphael KaufmanMemberHow about these? Personal freedom, religeous liberty,equality of oportunity, (yeah, I know that some of these are honored more in the breach than in the observance, but they are the stated founding principles of the the Nation and The U.S. has been struggling for the past 200 odd years to follow them.)
February 14, 2012 7:01 pm at 7:01 pm in reply to: The Koach of our Gedolim: A Story with Rav Chaim shlit"a #851438Raphael KaufmanMemberWolf, don’t flatter yourself. You’re nowhere near the worst person in the world. You’re not even in the top (bottom?) 20.
Raphael KaufmanMemberZahavasdad, that is a point I have been making for a while. People who undergo bypass surgery where heartbeat and respiration have been stopped or people who go into cardiac arrest and have to be resuscitated are halachicly dead during that period and all halachos pertaining thereto apply. Is wife becomes an almonah and is free to marry. His sons become his heirs and he no longer owns any property.
I one is scheduled for heart surgery one should take halachic action to secure his property and must re-marry his wife upon his recovery.
P.S. If you want to say that such folks aren’t really dead, please explain why not. It appears to me that we can be mechayei meisim under these certain limited circumstances. that is one of the conditions of b’tzelem Elokim. Of course, HKBH has unlimited ability to be mechayei meisim.
Raphael KaufmanMember(CENSORED)
Raphael KaufmanMemberPBA, getting a JD is only a bad idea if you want a job. A JD/MBA is more likely to find employment.
Raphael KaufmanMember“The Ramchal did not live to see Soros, Chomsky, Levi Aron or Dwek.”
Perhaps not, but he did live to have seen or have heard of Johannes Pfefferkorn Y”S. Soros, et al, are pikers compared to his rishus.
February 13, 2012 7:49 pm at 7:49 pm in reply to: english names for misheberach for cholim:is it permitted? #850940Raphael KaufmanMemberBTGuy, English is basically a Germanic language with many loan words from other languages as is the case of Yiddish. One of the reasons that Yiddish speakers had a relativly easier time picking up English is it’s similarity to Yiddish
February 13, 2012 7:45 pm at 7:45 pm in reply to: english names for misheberach for cholim:is it permitted? #850939Raphael KaufmanMemberR’ Moshe ZTL, has a teshuva concerning Jewish names. Is maskana in that case was that any given name is a Jewish name. I.E. Violet bas Doris
February 13, 2012 4:04 pm at 4:04 pm in reply to: Going from Baal Habos to Full-Time Learning #850919Raphael KaufmanMemberThe up side is obvious. The down side is loss of income and abdication of of family responsibilities. If one is able, I can think of no better way to retire than to return to the Beis Medrash.
February 13, 2012 3:59 pm at 3:59 pm in reply to: wouldnt it be great if israel attackes Iran on Purim #851328Raphael KaufmanMemberIt seems to me that the ones most eager for Israel or the U.S. to go out and whup Iran are the ones who don’t actually have to go out and do the whuppin’.
Raphael KaufmanMemberInterestingly, while road traffic in the U.S. keeps to the right, railroads in the U.S. keep to the left as they do also in the U.K. The Engineer (Engine Driver in the U.K.) sits on the right side of the locomotive and the trains pass right side to right side.
I remember reading that the the reason that British drivers and others keep left derives from the railroad tradition, and American drivers keep right because the board upon which the wagon driver sat pulled out of the left side of a Conestoga wagon.
A not really related bit of trivia is that, while the command pilot of an airplane universally sits in the left seat, the command seat of a helicopter is the right seat (for a completely different reason that the ones mentioned above).
February 9, 2012 3:43 pm at 3:43 pm in reply to: Unorthodox, thats definitely not the worst of it all. #850205Raphael KaufmanMemberStarted to comment but thought better of it.
Raphael KaufmanMemberLongrekel, I once saw a shidduch description “Chassidish, with it.” I kid you not.
Raphael KaufmanMemberHealth, if a toeiva marriage contract was enforceable in the Dor HaMabul, then it is no better or no worse than legal toeiva marriage today.
P.S. Saying that today’s generation isn’t worse than the Dor HaMabul is certainly “damning with faint praise”.
Raphael KaufmanMemberThe key word in the OP is “customer”. If you’re not pleasant to customers, pretty soon you won’t have any and the question will be moot. (not “mute”)
Raphael KaufmanMemberHealth, what I meant to indicate was that it may be mutar for a doctor to lie to a patient to prevent anxiety. I recall reading that there was some halachic controversy over whether or not a doctor (we assume a frum doctor) is even ALLOWED to tell a patient straight out that he/she has little or no hope of recovery.
February 6, 2012 4:18 pm at 4:18 pm in reply to: What's the argument against having a Madina? #852526Raphael KaufmanMemberTorah Yid, It’s you who need to get your story straight The Hasmoneans violated Torah from the get-go by usurping Malchus Beis David. Bear in mind that Torah observance in 150 BCE was a little different (okay, a lot different) than today. The Hasmoneans by and large were publicly observant but were either indifferent or actually hostile to Rabbinic Judaism. Note that the most successful Hasmonean king, Alexander Yanai, killed 50,000 talmidei chachamim.
Raphael KaufmanMemberGolden mom, a lot of what we do and don’t know the source comes from peasant folk superstition. Don’t blame shtusim on the Holy Kabalah.
Raphael KaufmanMemberThere are two kinds of lies. Lies that benefit the liar, either materially or psychically, and lies that benefit the hearer. The later may be permitted to, for instance, spare someone’s feelings or to prevent sinnah, as in the case of HKBH Himself modifying the words of Sarah Immeinu, or to save a life.
Question: Is a doctor allowed to tell someone straight out that they have been diagnosed with cancer and have a short time to live? Would you want to know if there was no reasonable hope?
Raphael KaufmanMemberPapa, establishing systems of justice is one of the sheva mitzvos. Having the Government pay the judges is perfectly acceptable under the requirement of the mitzva
Raphael KaufmanMemberToi, it’s not a hand with two thumbs. It’s a flower. The Hamsa is not specifically Jewish. It is popular as a charm against the Evil Eye throughout the Arab world
Raphael KaufmanMemberEratosthenes of Cyrene (Circa 200 B.C.E.) not only proved that the Earth was round, but correctly calculated the circumference (about 24,000 miles). You can Google him to see how he did it. Chazal certainly new that the Earth was round.
February 3, 2012 5:55 pm at 5:55 pm in reply to: You have the option of going back in time to any date and meet any person…? #849277Raphael KaufmanMemberI’d like to go back to last Monday so I could pay my phone bill on time.
Raphael KaufmanMemberThe power to cloud men’s minds.
Raphael KaufmanMemberTroglodyte literally means “cave dweler”.
Raphael KaufmanMemberThere was a pretty detailed halachic analysis of the issue on Gil Student’s blog. (no Link). Notwithstanding the halachic issue of whom to evacuate first, I think we can all agree that the Captain was a jerk. I mean, “I tripped and fell into a life boat”. Puleeeze.
Raphael KaufmanMemberI have bought several refurb laptops from eCost. Quite satisfied.
January 30, 2012 1:46 pm at 1:46 pm in reply to: Why are the Hashgochos promulgating a fraud: Oat Matzos #1146808Raphael KaufmanMemberRashi specifically defines shiboles shual as oats (avino b’laz). The problem with that is as described above by other posters.
1. oats does not look like the other four
2. oats are a not from genus triticum as are the other four.
3. oats have no (or little) gluten.
4. Oats did not grow in Eretz Yisroel or Bavel.
Personally, I think that the description given of shiblos shual fits emmer wheat (a different species from bread wheat)which grew in abundance in Israel and Bavel. One might say that Rashi, not being familiar with other varieties of wheat, was simply mistaken, but I think that you have to be a Reshone to say that. Personally, I do not and would not use oat matzoh for matzas mitzvah nor do I make hamotzi on oat products.
Raphael KaufmanMemberYou could also join the FBI. FBI Special Agents need to have either a law degree or an accounting degree.
Raphael KaufmanMemberHealth did not offer medical advice although he is qualified to do so. He posted medical information as found in open source material. He just saved you the trouble of looking for it yourself.
January 23, 2012 2:40 pm at 2:40 pm in reply to: question about rabbenu tam zman for ending shabbos #845616Raphael KaufmanMemberI’m a little hazy as to the origin of the 72 minute zman. Yerushayim is roughly as far south as Savannah Georgia. Clearly 3 kochavim beinonim are visible long before 72 minutes and Maran must have known that, living as he did in Tsfas. As I recall, the length of bein hashmashos is related to the time it takes to walk a specific distance. I don’t remember if it was a mil or a parsang. Can anyone lend some clarity to this?
Raphael KaufmanMember“…And there is country music playing on the speakers. ”
The horror!
Raphael KaufmanMemberHealth a view isn’t kefira just because you prefer the position of certain rabbonim (a minority, I might add) to those who hold otherwise. As for having to face di v’cheshon biz 120, remember that you also will have to face the Beis Din shel Ma’alah. Are you ready?
Raphael KaufmanMemberThese Marines should be Court-Marshalled. Not for urinating on the bodies of the dreche Talibanim who would have happily beheaded and mutilated their bodies had the situation been reversed, no, they should be charged with criminal stupidity for video-ing the maaseh and posting it on Youtube. Man, what WERE you thinking?
Raphael KaufmanMemberMy opinion of Shmuely Boteach as a shameless publicity seeker notwithstanding, I note that neither myself nor any of the other posters have actually read the book. Henry Kissenger is famously quoted as saying “even paranoids have enemies”. A correlary of that concept might be that even jerks like Boteach might occasionally say something worthwhile.
Also, whether true or not, the possibility of the subject of Shmuelies book being a ” a wholly-observant, Pharisaic Rabbi” isn’t as far fetched as it seems based on events of the recent past.
Raphael KaufmanMemberBTGuy, the Georgia cops whould be more inclined to give you a hard time because of your NY license than because of your Kipah and tzitzis. Listen, I’ve worked all over the South and the rest of the U.S. The reaction of an ovewhelming majority of Americans, when confronted with a peyos bearing, yarmulka wearing Jew would be, “Hm, that’s interesting.” The Fact is that Americans don’t hate Jews or, for that matter, like Jews. Americans just don’t care. They don’t care what your religion is or what you look like as long as you’re like them in midos, you know, hard working, truth telling, etc.
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