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A few points:
1. Indoor plumbing, and, by extension, public sanitation has saved more lives than all the doctors, medicines and vaccines ever developed. While the Romans were innovators, the concept fell into disuse after the fall of Rome and was not revived in Europe until the late 18th Century of the Common era.
2. Wile the Romans were great innovators in engineering, all and other fields. Their most important invention, one that, even today, the world today would be very different without, is one that very few people recognize as a Roman invention. The Romans invented concrete. Where would we be today without it?To Mentch:
Um, .5 and .50 are the same amount.“…not sure if Egyptian or North African”. Um, Egypt is in North Africa.
While all Yidden may have a reservation at the Hilton Garden (of Eden) Inn. Some may end up in the room next to the ice machine for eternity.
Bingo.
Re: Calling someone “Baldie”. You know what happened to the kids who called Elisha HaNavi that.
Coffee, the u looks like it could be a typo. The “U” kry is next to the “I” key.
A couple of observations:
Concerning Aliyah vs visits. While tourism is closed for Jews and Gentiles alike (until Nov 1, maybe), making Aliyah is still possible, its just that that the consular requirements are involved, time consuming and a general pain.The real problem is that closing Israel to foreign tourists makes no sense. Israelis are free to travel all over the world and return. Why is that less of a risk than allowing foreign tourists in?
Akuperma mentions that today’s streimlach are unchanged. Really? Today’s streimlach don’t look at all like those of 40-50 years ago. The older ones were much flatter, not trimmed or teased up, and the crown often protruded above the the fur brim. Modern (yes, modern) shreimlach look like a bad haircut.
A couple of thoughts:
1. The general low intellectual level of Democrats prevents them from recognizing the irony of Trump and his supporters’ reaction to the election of 2020 being the same reaction of Democrats to the 2016 election.
2. While there certainly was fraud and hanky-panky in the election (election fraud is a well established, one might even say traditional, practice of the Democratic Party), Trump’s reaction was wrong and divisive. What he should have done was to emulate the reaction a previous great Republican President. The Presidential election of 1960 was so obviously rigged that late night television comedians made jokes about it. But the losing candidate, Richard M. Nixon, decline to contest the results, even against the urging of his supporters and legal team. His reason was that he felt such action would be excessively divisive and would damage the unity of the nation. He felt that the body politic of the Nation was more important than his vanity. Would that President Trump have followed President (eventually) Nixon.Socialized medicine in the U.S.? Try the Veterans Administration. All of the facilities are owned by the government and all of the health care workers are government employees. Medicine doesn’t get any more socialized than that. as a Vet, I’ve used the VA health care system and here are some of my observations. N.B. I’m pretty sure that they would apply to all iterations of socialized medicine.
1. I have found that there is significant variability in the quality of care from facility to facility around the country. Some are pretty good and some are pretty poor. In some, the staff is helpful and friendly, in others the staff is surly and rude.
2. Almost all of the facilities have very long wait times for appointments. Even emergencies can have a significant waiting period.
3. Triage is extensively practiced both in chronic care and emergencies and, generally, young acute cases take precedence over older, chronic cases. If you’re in your 70s and need treatment, you’ll wait for the 40 year-olds to get treated first. This is a characteristic of all of the Government health services I’ve encountered, the ones who need the most care generally have to wait the longest for service.
4. You won’t find the latest treatment techniques and equipment in VA hospitals. For instance, if you have prostate cancer, you’ll get standard surgery with all the usual negative after-effects instead of the latest robotic and radiological systems that minimize them.
The underlying problem with the VA and other socialized health care systems in underfunding and lack of accountability. The system is run by bureaucrats that have no direct responsibility for the quality of the service. Their performance is rated on the economy and efficiency of the system, not on the quality and expediency of the care. You can’t sue a bureaucrat for malpractice. For that matter, you can’t sue a VA doctor either, any more than you can sue a specific policeman or any individual government functionary. For all the expense and nonuniformity of the current Fee for Service medical system in this country, each doctor and facility is, and can be held, personally responsible for the care delivered.
The down side of government run or mandated systems (e.g. Canada’s single payer system) may not be so obvious when the population is relatively young and the demand for care is low, but as the population ages and require more and even more care, the cost rises and the flaws in the system become painfully obvious (figuratively and literally).Perhaps the OP’s purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning o others.
In my 70 some years of experience, punctuality is a Jewish value more honored in the breach than in the observance. I’ve always felt that one is invited to a function or event a particular time, it is just good manners to arrive at the time specified (plus/minus 2 minutes). in general, I have observed that the specified time is treated as a suggestion at best, in addition, many people i’ve seen are not just careless but arrive late b’shita.
What are the halachic issues involved in owning and handling a sheretz, which would include both gerbils and ferrets?
Oops, I forgot my other thought: One of the reasons that it may have been relatively easy for native Yiddish speakers to learn English is the similarity between the two languages. Don’t believe me? Okay, translate the following English sentence into Yiddish: ” My brother says, open the door and thank him for the fish.”
The thing that bothers me about the current usage of Yiddish, particularly in Chassidish usage, is that it is often spelled phonetically instead of according to the standard spelling. As a simple example, the Yiddish word for “good” can be pronounced Gut or Git, depending on which side of the Gefilte Fish Line one comes from, but, either way, it is properly spelled with a vav, not a yud as I have seen on many signs in New Square. Yiddish is a real language with standard spelling and grammar.
P.S. The Gefilte Fish Line is a real thing. Google it.
A couple of random observations:
1. Me’ikar ha din, the mitzva of pirya v’rivya is mekayam with one boy and one girl.
2. Women are not mechuyav in pirya v’rivya
3. with regard to the terms of a Kesubah, I have advised my daughters and grand daughters that, in the event they marry a learning boy, the issue of .support should be addressed in the tosfos hakesuba. A simple assumption that the wife is mochel is insufficient.I have been responsible for EHS on major industrial construction sites for most of my professional career. I have written and enforced safety procedures for construction and operation of electric generating plants. My experience it these matters allows me to make a couple of observations.
1. No catastrophic failure is the result of a single cause. Every major accident or disaster is always the result of a chain of individual events the elimination of any one of which would have prevented the event. In the Meron event, for example, If there had been fewer people, or if a different exit had been used, or if the floor hadn’t been slippery, or if it hadn’t sloped down, or if the exit hadn’t been temporarily blocked, or if… You get the idea.
Safety procedures are a pain in the neck. They are often inconvenient and time consuming and interfere with the necessary work. In addition, the often seem unnecessary, even silly. Don’t be fooled. Here’s an example that recently occurred on one of my projects.
2. OSHA (occupational Safety and Health Admin) requires that fall protection be required for all work more than six feet above the floor or deck. This means that workers must wear a fall harness with lanyard which needs to be secured at shoulder height or above in the work area. Now, the fall harness is uncomfortable to wear and the lanyard always gets tangled between your legs and there often isn’t a convenient place to secure it and it has to be unhooked and re-hooked when you move and six feet isn’t really that high, etc. The fact is that this particular requirement is often ignored altogether or the harness is worn but lanyard is just tucked in. And you what. The worker ignores the requirement and nothing happens. He does it once, twice, ten times, a hundred times, and the hundred and first time he slips and falls and breaks his back!What’s ECAP?
A couple of points about the “duty to retreat” in NY.
1. Retreat is required only when possible to do so in” perfect safety”. If retreat places you in continuing jeopardy, no retreat is required. As an extreme example, it the assailant is armed with a gun, no duty to retreat exists as you probably cannot outrun a bullet.
2. The duty to retreat only exists when the confrontation is at hand. There is no requirement to avoid going to, or being in, any place where one has a legal right to be simply to avoid a possible confrontation.At least in Shaas, Artscroll has better peirush but the Soncino has, by far, the most accurate translation
There is a general problem with English translations o Kisvei Kodesh. Very often the “frum” translation is inaccurate due to poor English skills of the translator. as an example, I saw in a well known English Mishnayas, “melach S’domis” translated as “Sodomite salt”.
(If you don’t know what’s wrong with that translation, stick to the Hebrew.)
I’ve seen some of the video of the incident and one thing popped out. The officer carried her gun in a holster on the right side of her belt. She carried her Taser on the LEFT side of her belt and was, i assume, trained to draw it with her left hand. How could she have mistaken her gun for her Taser? It’s also clear from the video that she was hysterical, scared out of her mind. Why would a 26 year veteran of the force react that way to a traffic stop?
A stable genius
Nit pick time.
1. Orech Din, something cannot be MORE infinite than something else.
2. Reb Eliezer, I thing you meant BIG bang, not BING bang.The Democrats aught to be careful what they wish for, ’cause they might get it. As mentioned above, the filibuster is a tool that protects the minority from the tyranny of a slim majority thereby requiring negotiation and compromise, the cornerstones of democracy, in order to pass legislation that all can live with. If the Dems are successful in removing the protection of the filibuster this go-round, they’re likely to regret it the next time the Republicans are in the majority.
Nice to be seen, Mod 29. thank you.
The Hebrew writing that you find strange is ksav Ashuris (in English. “Syriac”) and was the alphabet in which Hebrew was written until Galus Bavel. After the return and binyan Bais Sheini the Aramaic alphabet (ksav Aramis) was adopted and is the Hebrew alphabet with which we are familiar today.
N.B. Sifrei Torah are NOT written in ksav Ashuris! The alphabet characters in Sifrei Torah are simply a different font of ksav Aramis.A couple of points:
1. Charlie, where does that number come from? I’ve not seen any published ranking such as that which you cite, but from my personal observation and experience, Florida seemed significantly better organized than New York. In late December and early January, when folks in Monsey had no idea where to go, who to call or what to do to get vaccinated, back in Boca, People were notified by phone, appointments were made and vaccinations were being administered. My entire condo complex had received their first dose before anyone in Monsey was even able to get an appointment.
2. During the onset of the current pandemic, many mistakes and errors in judgment, both at the federal and state level, were made that are much easier to see today in hindsight that were apparent at the time. In February and March, the federal and state governments were in full panic mode. Remember the demand for 30,000 respirators, turning Javits Center in to a hospital, sending a hospital ship to NY? At the time, sending recovering Covid patients to nursing homes seemed a good idea to free up ICUs that were expected to be swamped. In likewise manner, federal actions (or inactions) taken to avoid isolating the nation and crashing the economy also seemed warranted. It is hypocritical to trash the Trump administration for its mistakes made in good faith, while giving Cuomo a pass for his, made in equally good faith.Guess you don’t know what an anarchist is.
Uh, take the vaccination?
Huju, “frum” attire is all about style.
CTL, why would quarantining the garbage lower the threat? garbage doesn’t acquire immunity, doesn’t develop antibodies or create targeted T cells. The garbage is infectious until it’s burned.
The Chafetz Chaim wrote a kuntres called Machane Yehuda that deals with this issue as well as other issues confronting an observant Jewish soldier in a secular national army.
I’ve been an engineer for the last 50 years and have, on occasion, had to work in oil refineries. The API (American Petroleum Institute) safety regulations require that everyone working in the refinery carry, and be able to use, a respirator or other breathing device. The standard respirator is basically a gas mask which cannot be used with a beard as it will not then seal against the face.
I therefore had to remove my beard to do work in the refinery. I kept the mustache, however. One refinery offered my the choice of shaving and carrying a standard respirator or keeping my beard and having to schlep around a 30lb Scott Airpac (basically a scuba tank and helmet) wherever I went. I chose to shave. You know what? My beard always grew back.Reb Eliezer, this is what the U.S. Constitution, Amendment 1 says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;…” Note that freedom of religion includes freedom FROM religion.
Just remember that what’s on your head isn’t important. it’s what’s IN your head that counts.
As counterintuitive as it sounds, I think Baltimore Maven is correct.
Sam Klein’s post reminded me of a well-known story. I goes something like this:
A hurricane was approaching and the police drove through a particularly vulnerable neighborhood advising the residents to evacuate. One man refused, saying that he had complete faith that G-d would protect him. The storm came and the neighborhood was indeed flooded. The man had retreated to an upstairs room when the Police came by in a boat and offered to rescue him. The man again refused saying that G-d would surely protect him. The flood waters continued to rise, driving the man to the roof of his house. A Coast Guard helicopter appeared, dropped a rope ladder and urged the man to climb the ladder into the helicopter and be saved. Once again, the man refused, again affirming his complete faith in G-d and His salvation. Finally, the wind and flood waters overcame the man and he was swept away and drowned. When the man’s neshama reaches Olam HaBah, he has taynehs! “Eibisher, I had complete Emunah in You! Why didn’t You save me?” The Rebono shel Olam replied, “What do you mean? I sent a cop, a boat and a helicopter!”Try the Good Will store.
Yes, transparency in police practices and personnel records is important but real change requires requires the following:
1. Police departments need to establish and publish arrest “Rules of Engagement” (hor lack of a better term) detailing all procedures for interaction with the public at large as well as with arrestees.
2. Individual Police officers need to be held personally responsible, both criminally and civilly, for injuries and offences committed in violation of the published rules.
3. As far as the use of deadly force is concerned, police officers should not fire their weapons unless they, themselves, are fired upon or a citizen is in imminent threat of death or grave bodily harm. I have often heard police officers claim that “their first job is to get back safe to their families at night”. Wrong! A cop’s first job is to make sure that I and other citizens get back safe to our families. If the cop can do it to, great, but it’s not in his job description.Notwithstanding the issue under discussion, LY’s use of the term “homophobia” is one of my pet peeves. This current coinage is silly. A phobia is an irrational fear or loathing. Homo simply refers to human beings (genus Homo), so “homophobia” actually means an irrational fear or loathing of human beings.
Reb Eliezer, we are NOT strangers or guests in the U.S. We are full citizens with all the rights and responsibilities appertaining thereto. We need not step aside for, nor or defer to, anyone. If you feel uncomfortable here or that you’re a guest or stranger here, there is a place where you can go. Oh, and don’t give me that nonsense about “Jews felt at home in Germany, etc.” The U.S. ain’t Germany in any way, shape or form.
Joseph, Avi Wiess did break the law and was legitimately subject to punishment,but he was morally correct to take the actions he did in calling attention to the injustices he saw.
” We are better served the less they have to parse their directives to address personal freedoms. My freedoms could wait for better times.”
n0m, that’s very dangerous thinking. The very idea of abrogating or limiting Constitutionally guaranteed rights simply to make things a bit easier for the Government, time of crisis or not, is a slippery slope to totalitarianism. Slippery slope? It’s a damned avalanche! Your freedoms can wait? They may be waiting a long time.Joseph, there is a Yiddish saying, ” A Goyishe vertel iz, l’havdil, a Toyreh.”. In that vein, you would do well to heed the famous ma’amar of Sen. Patrick Moynehan. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. They’re not entitled to their own facts.” Your OPINION vis a vis sem in Israel is reasonable, but it doesn’t necessarily contitue TRUTH.
I’m inclined to agree with Coffee Adict That the Pres was just thinking out loud, but it was an inopportune time to do it. Actually President Trump has done a fairly good job overall. His handling of the economy and foreign relations has been quite good. His handling of the current pandemic could have been better ( I give him about a B-) but that’s in hindsight. Anybody can be a Monday morning quarterback. Bear in mind that he has to weigh the response to the disease and the effect on the economy. No one wants to lose more lives, but no one wants the Country to go into the toilet either. President Trump’s problem is that he has no filter. You know that little thing in your head that tells you that maybe you shouldn’t say what you are about to? Well, President Trump hasn’t got one of those.
Beast, you could give yourself a G.I. haircut fairly easily. Leave the payos
If nothing else, garlic will help maintain the required social distancing.
chloroquine & hydrochloroquine are not commonly prescribed drugs so the stocks are low. The Military has some stocks of Chloroquine which is given to troops serving is some areas for Malaria prophylaxis. When I was in the Service overseas, we were given chloroquine once a week (every Monday) to prevent getting Malaria.