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Popa,
That is just one interpretation of what the mishnah in Eduyyot means. The halakha-based Orthodoxy of Eduyyot 2:2 is reiterated by the Beit Yosef Yoreh Deah 1:1, where the Mechaber says that women’s slaughter is not forbidden merely because we haven’t seen it. In fact, a female shochet is Talmudically-authorized by Hullin 2 (haKol Shochtin and Zevachim 31b and the Beis Yosef challenges whether there can exist a minhag “not to shecht”. Although we have never heard or seen a women shechting, that would not have status of minhag, citing the same principle I cited from Eduyyot of Lo ra’inu eino ra’ayah). He says explicitly that the claim that it is assur for women to shecht because we don’t see it is wrong. If they wanted to slaughter and people did not let them, this could be called a proof. Not seeing it is not a proof! The Rema holds like the Agur, while the Beis Yosef holds like Eduyyot, which is canonical. Rambam, Hilchos Shechita 4:4, says that anyone who knows the laws of Shechitah and slaughtered in front of a Chacham until he is used to it, he is called an expert. Any expert may slaughter l’Chatchilah by himself, even women and slaves. The Magid Mishneh here says that all Poskim agree that women may slaughter l’Chatchilah. This is clear from Zevachim 31b. The Mishnah does not say that it is b’Di’eved due to women, rather, due to Temei’im, who may not slaughter l’Chatchilah. We rely on the Gemara, which permits women l’Chatchilah even for Kodshim.
According to Yevamot 102a (Rava says that midoraita, a convert can judge a case between converts) and Choshen Mishpat 7:1, a ger can serve as a dayan in gerus cases.
Interestingly, a patrilineal Jew who becomes a halakhic Jew through conversion also can serve as a dayan in cases involving a born Jew, according to Choshen Mishpat 7:1. The Aruch haShulchan there says davka that someone with a Jewish father who then converts (zera yisrael) can sit on a bet din involving cases with born Jews, since that is enough to satisfy the requirement of “mi kerev achecha.”
Rav Hershel Schachter is a gadol par excellence. I believe YU is the citadel of torah b’zman hazeh. R’ Rakeffet is a gadol in the shutim; I have learned thousands of responsa by listening to his shiurim. R’ Simon, R’ Rosensweig, R’ Aryeh Lebowitz, R’ Shalom Rosner, and many others are gedolim b’torah.
I also like the shiurim of Rabbi Zweig from Miami, Rabbi Betzalel Rudinsky, Rabbi Yosef Berger from Baltimore, Rabbi Yoseph Radner, Rabbi Immanuel Bernstein, and Rabbi Yissocher Frand.
I would be more than happy to write a defense of YCT positions from a halachic and academic perspective. I actually began authoring a sefer exploring feminism, academic Jewish studies, interfaith dialogue, pluralism, environmentalism, social justice, universalism, religious humanism, advanced secular studies, and other areas from a historical and textual basis (I believe that it is a friendly and tolerant approach towards non-religious Jews, a non-racist approach towards non-Jews, and intellectual openness which separates our brand of Orthodoxy from those on the right).
And can you provide examples of how R’ Lieberman (I assume you’re referring to him) is “megaleh panim be torah shelo k’halacha”?
Is Rabbi Schorr’s shiur in English? And can tapes or recordings be obtained?
The term “Orthodox” is a term actually pejoratively applied to us by the Reformers. Rabbi Gifter, zatsal, eschewed its use, because it is an external label thrust upon us (it is Greek for “correct belief,” which is a misnomer, because Judaism is a religion more concerned with actions than beliefs. We are not, le havdil, Catholics, who profess a creed, as the yud gimmel ikkarei haemunah are not ironclad and indeed, there are varying shitot. See the Sefer HaIkkarim for an alternate formula of Jewish belief and Professor Shapiro’s “The Limits of Orthodox Theology” for further exploration). The ikkar is to be halachic, to be bound by normative halachic hermeneutics, based first and foremost in the Gemara and the Shulchan Aruch, and to be shomer mitzvot, be ameil batorah, and to believe in Torah min ha shamayim.
I would also add that Professor Marc Shapiro has done extensive research on R’ Lieberman and his relation to the Orthodox community. The Lubavitcher Rebbe was asked by ProFessor Chaim Dimitrovsky, zt”l, whether he should take a position at JTS, and the Rebbe answered he should, as long as R’ Lieberman was there. Rav Soloveitchik worked closely with Rav Lieberman towards creating a joint bet din that would deal with gittin and other issues. His rebbetzin was a daughter of Rav Meir Bar Ilan and she was principal of the Shulamith School. To cast aspersions on him is to be mevazeh a talmid chacham.
I consider myself a talmid of Rabbi Weiss, the Grush Lieberman, Hakham Sassoon, Hakham Faur, Rabbi David Novak, Rabbi Marc Angel, Rabbi Yuter, and others, and identify with the YCT/UTJ hashkafa. I am pained to see many slandering those who devoted and continue to devote themselves to shmirat torah u’mitzvot and limmud hatorah. Talmidim of the Grush Lieberman have left the Conservative Movement 30 years ago, and are Orthodox in their practice and belief. Just check out the UTJ website and UTJ Viewpoints, authored by Rabbi Yuter, who has semicha from YU’s Rabbi Moshe Tendler. YCT advocates a brand of Orthodoxy actually falling to the left of UTJ, but regardless, I am in agreement with Open Orthodoxy’s efforts to create an inclusive, just Orthodoxy open to converts, women, social justice, pluralism, and academic and critical methodologies, practices and approaches with firm halakhic footing (Eduyyot 2:2 reads, “Lo ra’inu eino ra’ayah.”) Who gets to define what is Orthodox and what is not? Instead of attacking those with a different mehalech, we should unite around our common observance of shabbat, kashrut, taharat hamishpacha, and other mitzvot, and strive to advance torah observance in a non-politicized manner. Yagdil torah v’ yadir.
I think this thread ought to be removed. It is divisive and does nothing to serve the cause of achdus to cast aspersions and be motzei shem ra on an Orthodox yeshiva. Furthermore, it is awful to see people being motzei shem ra on the Grush Lieberman zt”l. He was the leading talmudist of his dor, all the yeshivos have Tosefta Kifshuta, and his commitment to mitzvot and learning was unparalleled. He was rosh yeshiva of Machon Harry Fischel and a true gadol be torah.
Welcome back rebdoniel! Long time no see.
Seriously. I do not deal with my family at all. Whoever I do marry (if anyone would ever marry someone who doesn’t deal with his family) would have no in-laws to worry about.
What if you are a BT or even FFB but have nothing to do with your family?
I will eat egg matzah throughout the year except for Pesach, but I cut out all matzah after Purim.
I see nothing wrong if you make up the time lost at the end of the day. If you come to work 30 minutes late, stay a half an hour at the end of the day and it is not theft.
Consult a rabbi who has semicha yadin yadin (which I am learning for at the present) and then ask a qualified attorney for what legal and governmental avenues you should pursue, if halachic.
R’ Gershon,
What makes you so certain you are incompatible? If you are apseding so much time with her, than maybe she is your basherte, and the yetzer hara is keeping you from realizing this. There have been many instances of similar cases happening, i.e. two people thinking they are just friends, when they really belong together. Maybe if you have such a closeness, you should work on cultivating the relationship.
I always felt that the modern yeshiva curriculum was inadequate at meeting the spiritual and religious needs of most people. Historically in Europe, Iyun was limited to a very small group, and most men would learn Ein Yaakov, Mishnayos, halachos, etc. People need to have a foundation in Machshava, Yesodei HaEmunah, and Chochmas Yisroel. The spiritual element and the more intellectual element of Iyun are both necessary, and are complimentary. We need a diversified seder halimud. Rav Kook understood this quite well.
I am not afraid because I have emunah. However, yes, these are apocalyptic events. I believe, based on what Yechezkel says on God u’Magog, that there will ultimately be a clash between Arabs/Russia/China on one hand, and the Jews on the other hand, culminating in a time of upheaval, ending whn Moshiach comes.
If you think I’m meshuggeh, remember: Russia aids Iran, and Russia, Iran, and China comprise a geopolitical bloc called the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
I believe that all of our men and women in battle, our police, firemen, and EMTs/paramedics are an isnpiration (I am studying to be an EMT, en route to a medical career).
Nelson Mandela had KGB and Soviet communist ties. Because of him, whites were the subjects of bloodshed, murder, and in many cases forced exile away from their country. I know many South African Jews who had to flee due to the rampaging hoardes of protesters.
I also find it interesting that charliehall likes the Founding Fathers. The Founding Fathers were conservatives/Classical Liberals, committed to less government intrusion in our lives, individual liberty, opposed to the welfare state, and supported a noninterventionist foreign policy, gun rights, opposed taxes, etc. The Founding Fathers, if they were around today, would be loathed by the left, as the left does not believe in natural rights, but instead believed in Second and Third Generation “rights” such as “freedom from want,” the right to leisure, the right to health care, education, etc., all things that stem from the mind of Woodrow Wilson and FDR, as opposed to the founding fathers. Liberal foreign policy is also not noninterventionist, but is Wilsonian and seeks global government, as opposed to national sovereignty.
I would have thought that you would have identified as your goyishe inspirations Engels (not Marx, becuase Marx was of Jewish stock), Robespierre, John Maynard Keynes, Woodrow Wilson, Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayres, Bernardine Dohrn, the Cuban Five, Rachel Corrie, Pete Stark, Lynne Stewart, the FALN bombers, etc.
The Irish were among the most anti-semitic people.
When Rabbi Jacob Jospeh’s levaya was being held, Irish hoodlums threw rocks at the funeral procession and the Irish cops encouraged this behavior.
Eamon De Valera was a Nazi sympathizer, Eoin O’Duffy led the Limerick Blue Shirts, who were a Nazi movement that terrorized Jews. Of course, populist Father Coughlin was Irish, and Dublin is home to Europe’s only Nazi memorial, dedicated to Sean Russell. See here: http://www.victims.org.uk/nazi.html
In addition, the IRA (Sinn Fein) has a long history of collusion with the Soviet Union and Islamic terrorists in Libya and the PLO.
Charges of genocide are debatable and do a disservice to those true victims of genocide. Who did Cromwell “genocide”? The Jew-hating Irish?
Cromwell was a philo-Semite, and readmitted the Jews to England. He was a close friend of Menashe Ben Israel, and Cromwell permitted Jews to worship in private as they had done prior to the petitioning, and within months a synagogue and burial ground were allowed. He is responsible for a significant advance in Anglo-Jewish relations.
One should follow the minhag of their edah. German Jews wait three hours, and Dutch Jews wait 60-72 minutes depending on different opinions.
I like Sowell and Walter Williams. Williams’ memoir, Up from the Projects, is an inspiration.
There are Jacksonians and Wilsonians, to quote Henry Kissinger.
Jacksonians are those who tend to advocate a nuanced position, and tend to avoid global governance, NATO, the UN, and tend to believe that the United States should mind its own business.
Wilsonians are those who advocate world government, the UN, NATO, liberal internationalism, and believe in democracy-building, i.e. the belief that democracy should be imposed throughout the world.
A question- if you are going to a place without a minyan, where are you going to get kosher food from?
I also have tremendous admiration for all of those who fight totalitarian oppression and genocide in all its forms- whether it was Nazism, Communism, or nowadays, Radical Islamism. Long live the US Military.
How about making an antipasto platter?
Get some fresh mozzarella (the kind that Kosher Palace sells, not the dry, packaged kind), provolone, Italian cheeses, etc., and serve with roasted red peppers, olives, marinated mushrooms, grilled zucchini, eggplant, some sundried tomatoes, fresh tomato and red onion salad, romaine lettuce, cucumbers, marinated green beans, etc. and serve with good olive oil and Balsamic vinegar, along with a nice Italian bread.
Delicious, filling, nutritious, and easy. Feel free to use what things you want, and if you replace the cheese with Italian salami and pepperoni, you can have a fleishiga antipasto, as opposed to a milchig one.
You can always do Italian subs- Italian kosher salami, roasted peppers, tomatoes, oregano, oil, vinegar on good Italian bread, with some salads and cold pasta salad on the side. A nice diversionary meal.
Ronald Reagan
Mother Theresa
Corrie Ten Boom
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
John Locke
Oliver Cromwell
Grover Cleveland
George Wsshington
John Hagee
Robert Welch (Founder of the John Birch Society)
All of the Righteous Gentiles
All of the Bnei Noach
Jesse Helms
Dr. Larry McDonald
William Wilberforce
Sister Rose Thering
Joe McCarthy
Does he wear French cuffs? If he does, then maybe get him a nice set of cuff links. The key is to give as a gift something people don;t buy for themselves. Something nice that you’ll know he uses.
Popa,
No, a conservative (little c) estimate has nothing to do with either the Jewish movement or the poltiical ideology- the word conservative can also mean realistic, modest, not overblown, probable, restrained, likely, etc.
My mother is Ashkenazi and my father Sephardic. I have a hard time meeting anyone interested in even considering going out with me because I do not associate clearly with either community, although in my minhagim, I follow Minhag Ashkenaz, because my rebbeim hold I should follow Minhag Ashkenaz due to my circumstances.
I am a mandatory reporter and I have, and will continue in the future to report distribution of alcohol to those under 21. Even on purim.
Why are you granting such a status to secular law? Mandatory minimum drinking ages do not work and are fundamentally flawed ideas. Driking alcohol for religious reasons especially is not a crime. It is an observance of our religion. Do Christians moser on children who take wine at communion? No. Why should we be turn in yiddishe teens and bochurim who want to be b’simcha on Purim? Is that such a heinous crime in your book that you want to turn people in and expose them to the cruel horrors of the criminal justice system, potentially giving them criminal records that will ruin their chances at getting jobs, loans, degrees, etc., all because they wanted to drink? How is this justice? How is this halachic? Instead of coercion, try using education- explain how drunkeness and alcoholism are sinful in the eyes of halacha, unhealthy, talk about Korsakeff syndrome, etc. You get farther in life when you make heads meet, as opposed to making heads knock.
The idea that any institution of learning would reject applicants on the basis of weight is a moral offense.
Jewishness has a point. It is mamash a traged that only 15% of Jews, at most, are Torah-observant, according to conservative estimates.
When the Sefer Torah is returned to the aron, we pray “Chadesh yomeinu k’ kedem.” We pray that HaShem renews His people, Klal Yisroel, and the nations of the world at large to a sense of morality, shleimus, and at-oneness with Him. The Torah is not only the blueprint for the universe, but is also the only means by which Klal Yisroel can be redemmed and restored to a state of shleimus. Only when we abandon all evil and foreign ideas and return to the emes and zisskeit of Torah will we be redeemed from golus and see Moshiach come.
They laready advertise. That’s the ironic part. If you watch any PBS show, they anounce the “corporate sponsors” and have 30 second commercials for companies like Subaru, Colavita olive oil, Coca Cola, Walmart, etc. They have the country hoodwinked.
Chicken Cacciatore
Fry your chicken parts, which have been peppered and salted, in olive oil, until brown on both sides. Set aside.
In the same Dutch oven, add fresh olive oil, 3 big white onions, Italian seasonings, Red pepper flakes, 6-7 gloves garlic (chopped), 4-5 bell peppers (red, green, orange, yellow), sliced mushrooms (fresh, never canned), and season with salt and pepper. Also add a jar of Spanish olives with some brine.
Let sweat for a few minutes, and then add 3 cans of crushed tomatoes, some white wine, and some chicken stock. Add the chicken parts back to the pot, and cover for 2 hours on low heat. After 2 hours, uncover, and let the tomatoes thicken. Cook 30-45 minutes on low with the heat uncovered, and if need be, raise the heat to let thicken.
At the last 10 minutes of cooking, add a box of thawed frozen peas. Take off the flame, then add fresh chopped basil and Italian flat-leaf parsley, and let cool before eating.
Serve with macaroni, spaghetti, noodles, or even mashed potatoes (made with chicken stock, pareve milk, and a lot of caramelized onions.) Also good with some good Italian bread.
All unconstitutional federal programs should be done away with. Let those individuals and foundations who really enjoy PBS donate and get tax deductions.
These strikes highlight the fact that unions are disastrous to the country’s economic interests, and need to go immediately. We need more right to work states.
YOU are paying for 42 year old retired cops to sit home all day on their tucheses and watch tv, while they collect $50,000-$80,000 pensions in many places in NJ and NY.
Does anyone else see something wrong with this?
Unions are simply put, economically unviable. Anyone who has ever run a business understands the nitty gritty of dollars and cents- There is No Such Thing as A Free Lunch.
And this is coming from a homeless college student who understands the truth about economics and what is happening to our country.
As a psychologist in training, I studied psychometrics. Myers-Briggs, especially the tests taken online, should be taken only with a grain of salt.
What differentiates Judaism from Catholicism is that things like divorce, and r”l, abortion, are viewed by Judaism as evils which are sometimes necessary. Now, divorce and abortion are nowhere near each other in terms of severity, as the latter involves the taking of a life, but our Torah is certainly not pro-divorce. It is written that the Mizbeach weeps when there is a divorce, but sometimes, when there are the utmost extentuating circumstances, divorce can be necessary, such as where there is abuse, fraud, psychological harm, etc. Likewise, while abortion is viewed as akin to murder, it is necessary under the most extentuating circumstances, i.e. when the mother will die from the pregnancy. This is the crucial difference between the two faiths- ours is a faith that is 100% committed to human life and the integrity of the family, but nonetheless releases that there can be cases where these become necessary evils.
Quinoa or Steel-cut oatmeal with some fruit, and a couple of hard boiled eggs makes for a very hearty and substantial meal.
A good mix of protein and complex carbohydrates is a great combination.
I also sometimes like to eat brown rice or quinoa with sauteed kale and/or white beans sometimes as a later breakfast at 11:30.
20-30 age bracket.
We are human beings, made Be Tzelem Elokim,with the imprint of HaShem’s natural law within us. Our ability to feel and think separates us from animals and makes us who and what we are.
Emotions and Reason are what make us human. Without our ability to think and feel, and aspire to the highest levels of self-actualization, compassion, empathy, joy, anger, sadness, etc., life would be bleak and we would be like automatons. W
I’m still overweight, because I like to fress, but at least I am in good health this way. I get plenty of vitamins, minerals, and my cholesterol, lipids, liver enzymes, etc. are usually at good levels.
bpt,
It takes me about 2 hours. I walk at a pace of 2-2.5 miles per hour, depending on a variety of factors. I usually take a rest on Ocean Parkway and eat my dessert- a container of pineapple or honeydew and a bottle of water- and then continue walking.
I once walked from Caesar’s Bay to 18th and Ocean Parkway and back, and it took a little more than 3 hours.
I like this better than the gym, and best of all, it’s free, and I get to do my best thinking while walking.
Piskei Teshuvos 181:1 says that most women have the custom to not wash Mayim Achronim. This is because the halachic reason of “Sodomite salt” is according to many Poskim not relevent today, and the issue of unclean hands is also less relevent due to the use of cutlery. Moreover, women are generally not particular to observe those Halachos only rooted in Kabbalah. However,if a women notices that her hands are not clean she is obliged to wash them before reciting Birkas Hamazon.
Women- can’t live with them, can’t live without them.
One thing I always believed to be kosher on a date is to never beep the horn and wait for her to come out. Instead, ring the bell, and greet her, and when you take her home, escort her to the door.
A question for the ladies- what do you think about flowers?