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And, his Sefer Zera Yisrael has haskamos from R’ Ovadia Yosef, R’ Meir Mazuz (a huge gaon and gadol, who has also even suggested that the issur against medication on shabbat should no longer apply), R’ Nachum Rabinovitch, R’ Yaakov Ariel, R’ Shear Yashuv Cohen, R’ Dov Lior, and others.
Thank you.
In Horayos 14, the maskana is that sinai has precedence over oker harim. Le ma’aseh, since I go to school and work, I only have 4 hours a day to learn, and I prioritize learning halakha le ma’aseh (in the form of Mishna Berura, Kitzur, and Hakham Ovadia Yosef), Shulchan Aruch and nosei kelim, Gemara with Rashi, Tosfos, and Rambam, Mishnayos, Tanach, Midrash, Halakhic Midrashim, important parshanim and darshanim, important sifrei mussar and machshava, etc. I generally am a big fan of the Dirshu, Reb Sender Dolgin, Breslov, R’ Shimon Green, and Reb Meir Pogrow approach to learning. I also hear that an emphasis on bekius is a generally Sephardic approach, historically.
Koreans eat dogs, so this doesn’t surprise me all that much.
Foreign aid is not our duty; aid to Israel is patronizingly antisemitic and foreign aid in general constitutes a form of imperialism.
We have a duty to our own people first and foremost. When we don’t have working Americans going to bed hungry, then we can worry about others. Foreign aid is unconstitutional.
The approach he takes on giyur is not out of line with what the Rambam, Rav Uziel, and other gedolim paskened on the matter.
As far as marriage, there is no halakhic requirement for people’s Jewishness to be mercilessly scrutinized and investigated, to the point where people are driven away from kedushas yisroel and straight into Cyprus.
There always seems to be some kind of a macha’ah on behalf of the sonei yisrael at Brooklyn College, probably as a way to try to threaten the thousands of Jews who go there.
IIUC, half the student body there is Jewish- Russian, Syrian, yeshivish, etc.
I woke up with a cold shabbos morning and it was arctic weather in Brookline.
Several shots of scotch, whiskey, and a few bowls of cholent at shul remedied the matzav fast, followed by a quick motzi and bowl of soup and bentching at home and a nice shabbos shluff.
What kind of an example do we give when we stand back and sanction homosexuality and their movement to radically redefine and trample upon the sacred estate of matrimony?
Even worse, what kind of an example is it when we have sell-out phony Jews like Shelly Silver and David Weprin having the audacity to call themselves frum when their politics are destroying the world and are reflective of very evil attitudes?
Hot toddy is always good- good tea with honey and scotch or whiskey.
The lesson that should be learned from Sefer Yonah is that HaShem cares about the nations, and wants us to be an ohr la goyim, and to help steer the world towards the path of morality.
How anyone can abdicate this duty is unconscionable, especially when misguided members of our community sadly use their Orthodox affiliations as a means of sugarcoating their support for leftist LGBT causes (I’m talking about the statement drafted by R’ Nati Helfgot).
There are more pressing concerns that we have to deal with, especially in areas like conversion, kiruv, tuition costs, the need for parnassa, etc.
He has a vision for creating a more sensible religious policy for Medinat Yisrael.
Haredim on welfare, lack of education and employment in their sector is an economic strain on the Israeli taxpayer.
Haredi control of the Rabbanut is foolish- they don’t hold by it, yet want to put the noose of stringency around the necks of an entire nation. The Rabbanut was created so that a realistic halachic standard would be applied for the sake of having an authentic and kosher religious standard on many issues. When the Rabbanut fails to meet the medina’s needs, especially in areas of marriage and conversion, change is needed. Remember that in Israel, the Rabbanut is also the marriage clerk and fills a civil role as well as a religious one in these areas.
Amsalem’s problem was that his ideas made too much sense, and people go for handouts more than sensible solutions.
I didn’t mean to insult anyone.
The main inyan of daf yomi, in my humble opinion, is that there is the achdus of klal yisroel learning the same thing on the same day. I am just speaking from my personal experience- I felt that in 45 minutes, I didn’t really make a kinyan b’torah at the end of it all. What I do now, because this works better for me, is in a week’s time, I learn 2-3 blatt gemara with Rashi, Tosafos, Rambam, and now, the “iyun kal” perush of Shas Illuminated.
You should do whatever floats your boat. A person should learn what interests him.
Please do not allow me to discourage you. Continue shteiging and being moser nefesh for the sake of limud hatorah.
“Doing the daf” is not necessarily an admirable goal. If you take an hour or two each day to learn with Rashi, at the minimum, than you are having quality learning. Davening a daf in 45 minutes is not a valuable religious activity.
I do say the full Krias Shema al ha Mita, vidui, a final cheshbon hanefesh of the day, prepare negel vasser to keep bedside, keep tzitzis and kippah next to the bed, etc.
Did they have any evidence against him other than alleged victim testimony?
R’ Amsalem cares dramatically about Am Yisrael. You will suffer from defaming this gadol.
Do you have any better ideas for dealing with the problems caused by the Haredim?
I asked a friend of mine knowledgable in kashrus who runs the Kosher Newxus blog (no shaychus at all to any kashrus orgs, so he is not nogea b’davar on anything).
He says that R’ Schechter is fine, but that R’ Steinberg is no good, that Triangle K and Ner Tamid K are good, but Tablet K no good, and that “The Good Life” cheese produced under the hashgacha of R’ Dovid Katz is no good because it is mamesh gevinas akum.
On that note, does anyone know more of R’ Dovid Katz? I’ve seen his teudah on Chock Full of Nuts in Flatbush, and his hechsher on Russian baked goods. The fact that he allows cheese that would be kasher per the shita of Tosafot and not the Rambam is telling, IMHO, since this is a view of Tosafot which nobody sems to follow, although Rav Soloveitchik followed it and ate Kraft cheese.
Any financial help needed?
I do respect him tremendously. I may think he’s wrong on a few things, like comparing women to monkeys and parrots (although strictly speaking, he was very correct), but this is more the result of poor word choices on his part than any disagreement with his approach to halacha or learning.
I will be the first to say that he’s the gadol hador. I listen to thousands of shiurim of his and even go through his bechinos for the sake of chazara and esting myself in learning.
Be kitzur: the man is a giant in all areas of torah, but bad at P.R.
Are you still unaware that he did not compare anyone to monkeys?
Are you still unaware that he was merely repeating the gemara’s terminology for certain types of actions?
Why are you still repeating that ridiculous canard?
That guy, Morah Rach, lacks a Torah perspective on the world.
There is a difference between having the letter of the law and the spirit of the law; you need both. To keep kosher but advocate for social policies which G-d finds repugnant demonstrates a lack of religious integrity.
The poverty argument is the one which makes the most sense historically.
OTOH, I’d want a set of Shas totalling about 2G as a chasuna present from the kallah’s side, more so than a tallis.
In addition, those raised in non-Orthodox backgrounds are told explicitly when joining Orthodoxy NOT to stop performing the mitzvah of wearing a tallet gadol.
If you go into any Judaica store, ask to see a Yosef tallis and you’ll see what I am referring to.
And I’ve never seen any makor that a tallet gadol needs to be all white.
And R’ Hershel Schachter says we should wear techeles b’zman hazeh.
And since when do you respect Rav Schachter?
-95
Maybe they support the brave men and women who risk their lives for the defense of the Jewish people day in and day out?
Anything theurgic indiciates that people have an effect on G-d; i.e. that you perform a ritualistic action for the sake of invoking the action or evoking Divine favor, etc.
It is not a halacha and it is not followed by most of the world.
Yekkes historically wear the tallet gadol from the time of bar mitzvah, which the Chofetz Chaim believed was correct.
This is purely a minhag, one without sufficient grounding, based on the different rayas I’ve seen (such as the idea that a tallis is equated with ohr hamakif which indicates simcha, and an individual unmarried has no simcha and therefore isn’t on the madrega of wearing a tallis.
If anyone has a sufficient reason other than minhag brecht a din (sic), let’s see it.
The sad truth is that you have institutions like Beis Yaacov inviting openly gay leaders like Christine Quinn to address their student populations. It is high time we listen to the likes of R’ Avigdor Miller, zatsal, and his talmid, R’ Yehuda Levin, and urge our mosdos to stop sacrificing Torah values for money.
If the Briskers and others are principled enough to not accept money from those they believe are wrong (Zionists), kal v’chomer, how much more must Torah Jews be vigilant in not accepting funds from those who seek to corrupt society in dramatic ways and bring us down the road of the Greeks and Romans.
If I may so have reshus from the moderators, I saw the following on Matzav: http://matzav.com/follow-up-the-danger-of-yct-and-its-extreme-left-wing-agenda#comments Apparently, YCT is advocating that we embrace gay couples who otherwise keep shabbos, kashrus, etc.
They were addressed by a rav from Tel Aviv who lead the Yakar shul, where he allowed a lesbian couple to have a kiddush in honor of their adopting a baby. He lamented in his shiur that many congregants left over this. (I wonder why).
It was obvious to me even years before I became frum that homosexuality was wrong and certainly nothing to be embraced. Anyone who believes that this is something to celebrate, whether at the polls, or at a shul kiddush, cannot logically claim to follow the Torah. There is a broader spirit to the law, so to speak, which I see many on the left ignoring when they advocate for the public acceptance of homosexuality and the erosion of gender differences, etc.
Where is the outrage?
R’ Dr. Mintz is a YU musmach and a professor at City College. I intend on taking courses with him in the near future.
He seems to be well-respected in the Modern Orthodox community.
I hear what you are saying, but the truth is that theodicy is a very big part of our belief system, as evident even in Shema- there is schar v’ onesh.
Part of the “public policy” that G-d expects of the world, as evident in the Noahide Laws, is the issur against homosexual sex.
When we have the audacity to honor and officially recognize these illicit relationships, we are declaring war against G-d, Morality, and His Truth. B”H that religious G-d fearing Christians realize this in our country.
I am extremely put off by efforts of some in the Modern Orthodox camp, including those I greatly respect, to acknowledge these lifestyles and liberal movements.
One MO rabbi, in St. Louis, IIRC, said he’d have a cake at a kiddush in honor of a same-sex “marriage.” Another in Maine (R’ Akiva Herzfeld) involved himself in an effort to secure the legalization of such an abomination in that state. Where is the outrage?
The lesson to be taken from the mabul and from Rosh HaShanah davening is that HaShem cares about and judges the world. All people are precious to him; when people attempt to usurp the natural order and Morality by sanctioning this kind of filth, they are bringing judgment upon themselves.
Any understanding of the Noahide Laws can only lead us to the conclusions reached by R’ David Novak- Hazal understood that Noahide Laws institute a pubic policy for the world that Jews are obligated to advance in their intellectual and political and social life. For anyone to rally for anything contrary to this simple truth is a shame.
I have come to the point where I see myself not “fitting in” perfectly in any one community.
I am not a socialist, which rules out my support for a left-wing organization like ULT. Labor rights, government regulations, etc. aren’t my cup of tea since I’ve learned enough about economics and have payed taxes long enough to know that such a model doesn’t work.
I am also not crazy about women’s learning and leadership; I am starting to see that many of these attitudes animating the “Maharat” movement are those apolitical and social forces which animated similar movements in the broader society, whether in the churches or in non-Orthodox synagogues. Plus, many of my mentors and teachers left the Conservative movement over the very same issue of women’s leadership that the LWMO have begun to embrace wholeheartedly, perhaps precisely for the desire to be “progressive.” Halakhic arguments can be made in favor of these innovations, but whether they reflect a step in the proper direction socially is another question entirely, since we must resist all attempts for women to be made honorary men. Learned women in history, such as Nehama Leibowitz, the author of Livyat Hen, and the rebbetzins of R’ Joffen, R’ Hutner, and R’ Bleich (all accomplished PhD-holding scholars in the world of academic Jewish Studies never sought kavod for themselves. I also find women having aliyot to be uncomfortable; if I reject feminism when I vote, certainly I should reject the same attitudes in religious matters.
My embrace of the universalism and humanism of the Rambam, Rav Hirsch, and others. academic approaches, a concern for ethics, a favorable approach to higher education (although l’maaseh, “Torah u’Maddah” doesn’t work in a money-driven world like ours; Torah u’Parnassah makes more practical sense, since we have to support ourselves and can’t all get tenure as humanities professors or go begging like Socrates did), and an approach to giyur that is more user-friendly and open to zera yisrael is rooted in classical Judaism, not bound by particular movements nowadays.
Embracing the historical approaches of Western Sephardim, Rav Uziel, German Orthodoxy, Rationalism, etc. is not bound to what particular yeshivot are doing.
I see my tafkid to simply seek knowledge, make a good living, and be a shomer torah u’mitzvot and give my kids a good Jewish education.
A tallit gadol can be any color.
Many men named Yosef have a multicolor striped tallis, as a zecher of the multicolor coat.
PBA,
LOL.
I think le ma’aseh, maybe we have more alike than previously thought? We’re both Yidden, we both keep the mitzvot, and are sincere mevakshei haemet and masmidim.
Sadly, many people reduce mitzvot to mystical or magical ritual practices, with the hope of a theurgic effect.
I do mitzvot, including being mafrish challah, because HaShem says so, not because Shaindy needs a shidduch or Moishe is having his tonsils removed.
I very much am looking forward to that website being restored.
The Raabbanut statement (you can google search it) basically says that the Hindus acknowledge one deity, the one true G-d.
This seems to be in line with how they understand the doctrine of Brahman. Perhaps they have a shituf, like the Christians do.
I think before he thinks about getting married, he should sort out his hashkafos first.
You seriously should take a world religions course.
Buddhism is an offshoot of Hinduism.
Buddhism is a non-theistic religion, and they do not worship the statue. They venerate the one the statue symbolizes.
The reductionist approach to Orthodoxy is my biggest beef against the Modern Orthodox. I like the MO approach to viewing any issues intellectually, but in practice, they often lack yirat shamayim and a serious approach to engaging halakha.
There is no way you can justify not thinking negiah is serious. If you reduce Judaism to the “big three” (shabbat, niddah, kashrut), this is problematic. Granted, you need to separate minhag and chumra from halakha. But I would find it incredibly hypocritical of you if you told me that you held by Rabbenu Tam zman and only used halav yisrael while you felt it was okay to be in yichud with or hold the hand of a girl you’re not married to.
If you approach Judaism in a pick and choose capacity, then sadly, sociologically, you will probably feel at home in a place like Riverdale or the Upper West Side.
I’ not judging you, but I love you and care about you. You’re another Yid, and you’re wrong and I am concerned for you.
I was under the impression she was raised non-Orthodox. Sounds to me like she was raised in a typical MO-type home and became more frum later on.
I agree with and commend your approach to the outside world. But think seriously about your halakhic priorities. I am usually very much interested in learning how different poskim approach issues in ways that seem counter-intuitive to us (such as R’ Yosef Messas on women’s haircovering, going to a non shomer shabbat butcher, etc.) But certain things you just can’t make a limud zechut for.
I wish you all the best and hatzlacha rabba. Please check out Frumster and SYAS if you haven’t already. They’re great resources.
I saw the 3 steaks in a package from TR at Moisha’s for like $7 last week and they were very good; tender and nicely flavored. Granted, I braised them in sauce with red wine and ate them with papardelle and parve parmesan cheese, but still, the meat was top notch.
Rabbi David Rosen organized a meeting between the Chief Rabbi of Israel (R’ Metzger) and Hindu leaders in 2008 which resulted in a joint declaration which acknowledges that Hinduism is a monotheistic religion, similar to Christianity.
Tosafot and Rema held that Christianity was not avoda zara for goyim.
Meiri’s shita on monotheistic religions is well-known.
I don’t see how one can argue that the God-fearing gentile who prays and raises his kids well and to pray and study scripture can be seen as one of the akum of old.
Meiri, R’ Dovid Zvi Hoffman, and many others hold this way.
I should get over there for those prices and stock up.
Even if I get 3 club steaks in a package for $8, that is worth it, as you’d pay at least $15 for each piece in a restaurant.
According to the Rabbanut, no practitioners of any legitimate religion
J Street and the whole other crew of self-hating Jews are pushing Hagel through. G-d help us.
The sad truth is that since the American people elected Obama and the Democrats to sustained Senate victory, including 70+% of Jews, we are pretty much guaranteed Hagel’s confirmation.
Shidduchim aren’t about the heart, They’re about the head. If it seems shayach on paper, that should be our criteria. Romance is a goyishe concept.
If 2 people are from comparable backgrounds, share the same hashkafos, desired standard of living, mutually satisfactory paranssa/professions, and want the same things out of life, it could very well be a shidduch.
Sadly, many have a bias against heavier girls.
No reason to buy Bodek. Any frozen vegetable with a hechsher (I’ve even seen without a hechsher in frum stores) should be fine.
Another suggestion is that many stores offer half off on prepared foods a couple of hours before closing on erev shabbos. I know that Kosher Palace and Moisha’s do this, maybe also Kosher Corner.
I find that the roast chicken specials in frum take out stores are also a good deal- a chicken and a side for 10 dollars is a modest meal for 2.