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Akuperma, I would argue that, without taking anything away from Truman who was, in hindsight, a much better President that the Republicans made him out to be, the greatest President of the latter half of the 20th century is Ronald Reagan.
Joe, get you hammer and chisel and head out to South Dakota. I’ll pack you sandwiches.
As one who went away to mesifta/yeshiva at age 14 and who sent his son away at the same age (to the same place), I can report that there are benefits to doing so. I have found that there were fewer distractions OOT. It is easier to concentrate on learning and shtayg away from the familiar distracting home dynamic of travel, outside interests, etc.
That is not to say that there are no difficulties with living in a dorm. While the rebbeim and mashgichim supervise the boys closely, ways can still be found to go outside the box, as it were. For instance, I learned to smoke in yeshiva. Also, dorm life has it’s tests and dangers that bachurim have to learn to avoid.
Sending your son away requires that you know and trust your son. In my experience, the benefits clearly outweighed the drawbacks.Joseph, don’t flatter yourself. The only effect that you might have on other’s opinions is to convince them to hold the opposite of whatever you espouse.
Based on the numbers report from China, It appears that the overall death rate for this disease is about 10%. Don’t know about the demographics but it’s probably higher among older people and and infants.
The “Spanish Flu” pandemic of 1918-19 was the the worst one in history including the Black Death. It killed some 50,000,000 people world-wide. It was also unique in that the population most affected were the young and middle-aged, not the aged and very young as one would expect.Dubai doesn’t care what your religion, or ethnicity or, country of origin is as long as you bring money.
Also note that B&H, a well known Jewish company, is famous for it’s liberal return policy. Whatever halachic issues that pertain to returns would certainly apply to them.
A simple dent with no tearing or paint damage can simply be pulled out with a suction tool or similar which is available in most auto parts stores. replacement of some damaged parts like a bumper, a hood, or any other detachable part could be done in your driveway. Repair of more extensive damage needs a shop with a frame straightening table, air tools, welding machines and a paint booth.
A few months ago, Business week ran a survey of the most common uses of smart phones. It found that, after communication (voice, text and email) the next two by a wide margin, were searching for specific information, like,”What time does the Costco in Spring Valley close”, and navigation. The idea that the hammon am spends significant time searching for and viewing salacious material and that, but for our constant vigilance, we might fall into such a trap, is transparent nonsense.
A couple of thoughts:
1. The President of the United States is, in fact, the Rosh Memshala (Head of State) as well as the Head of Government. In a Parliamentary system such as in the UK or Israel, the Heads of State and Government are separated, I.E. a Queen or President and a Prime Minister. In the U.S. the President serves both functions. In addition, the President is also Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces as well as Chief Law Enforcement Officer
2. Heroes don’t necessarily have to possess good midos to be heroic. Even in our own Tradition, Yiftach and Shimson weren’t particularly good role models but were certainly heroes.What recession?
The right to hunt is covered by the ninth amendment. The second amendment refers only to self defense and defense of the community. In 1938, SCOTUS in U.S. v Miller ruled that only weapons suitable for military formations are covered by the second amendment.
Milhouse, SCOTUS agrees with you. See Heller v District of Columbia
Joseph, lot o’ luck with that one.Juvenile swordfish do have scales which they lose as they grow into adulthood.
I think you need an attitude adjustment
Wow, CTL! What a blast from the past. Lou G. Siegal (I always found that their meat dishes were a trifle too salty), Moshe Peking, etc. I bet that you’re almost as old as I am.
The main issue for yeshiva high school and first year BM is to learn how to make a leining. The problem is two fold. the first, is to understand how the gemora is organized and to be able to able to follow the shakla v’tarya. The second, and frankly the harder of the two, is learning the translation of technical terms. Back in the day, the primary tool for translation was Jastrow. Yeah, he was a shtikel apikores but the translations were extremely accurate. The system of learning inside and going to Jastrow when necessary, gave one the tools for life long learning. Along comes the Soncino Sha’as. While the translation was also quite accurate (frankly, more accurate than Artschroll). The daf by daf format was distracting and required less internalizing translation and p’shat.
Enter Artschroll. With Artschroll the system is reversed. The English text and explanations become the ikkar and the original daf is just for reference. Now, that’s fine in that it opens up learning for those who may not have developed the skills alluded to above and adds to the general accumulated understanding of p’shat, but it eliminates any requirement to actually know how to learn.
So the maskana seems to be that Artschroll has its place but it is not a substitute for learning inside.Different poskim have different values for yad soledes bo (YSB). I have seen values from as low as 110 degrees F to as high as 160 degrees. Current practice is to use both values l’chumrah. As a side note, I wonder how some poskim came up with their published values for YSB. Clearly, in the times of the Gemora, there was no way to objectively determine objective values for temperatures lower than boiling water. I have always understood that YSB was a temperature which was not simply uncomfortably hot but a temperature at which one’s hand would reflexively recoil. To my mind, the commonly accepted lower limit of 110 does not come close to meeting the the description.
CTL, as a digression, you mentioned having had business dealings with “the Donald”. How did you find dealing with him as a person? A couple of my acquaintances who have done business with the Trump organization tell me that they found him to be rather a nice fellow.
P.S. Doesn’t your shoulder get sore from patting yourself on the back so often?
Oseh Ma’ase Bereishis
Agree with RebYidd23
Frankly, i’m mildly annoyed when folks use the term “Yid” when writing in English. What’s wrong with calling a Jew a Jew? Is a “Yid” somehow different from a “Jew”? Also, when writing in English, I prefer using the term “gentile” to describe a non-Jewish person rather then using the transliterations of “Goy” or “Eino Yehudi”, not to mention derogatory names like “Shaygitz”. English is a very precise language with the largest vocabulary of any language, Use it. Oh, and don’t tell me that some Jewish concepts or Gemorrah terms have now English translation. That is rubbish. People who say that simply don’t know English well enough.
Joseph is correct. (Ouch!! that hurt to say) Pennsylvania “Dutch” Is “Deutsche”. A dialect of German called Mittel Hoch Deutche which, incidentally, is the root language of Yiddish.
“What’s in your head is more important than what’s on you head.” that goes for hair as well as hats and kipos.
Cholent is apparently put off by someone who actually speaks (and writes) English. Okay, for you we’ll confine ourselves to words of two or less syllables (That means “small words” for you, Cholent)
Classical music has never gone out of style although it is evolving. The funny thing is that people today sometimes don’t realize that what we call “classical music” was the pop music of it’s time. Ever hear of Lisztomania? It was the 18th Century version of Beatlemania. Franz Liszt and other composers and performers were the rock stars of their time. When I went to yeshiva, back in the Late Bronze Age,my RY said that all melodies were kosher except for those that were identifiable as liturgy (e.g. Silent Night).
I get the impression that the people who are having difficulty with the question have never been married. I cannot imagine a married man who doesn’t feel that his wife has made him a better person, both religiously and personally. Mrs. Redleg has certainly helped make me so. This is what Eizer Kenegdo means.
Neville, the issue is about identifiable Jews acting poorly. Anonymous Jews don’t pose the same problem.
Also, how could could any udentifiable Chasid make a real Jew feel inadequate?Re Kiddush Levana on Mars: Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos. Both are much smaller than Earth’s moon .but closer. Phobos ‘s orbital period is about 7.6 hours and Deimos, being further away, has a period of a little more that 30 hrs, (our moon has an orbital period of 29 days) Which one would be used to calculate the month? Mars’ own year is 637 days and a Mars day is just a few minutes longer than ours. so do the math. Mars year is about 15,300 hours divided by 30 hrs (using Deimos) = 510 months in a Martian year. That should keep you busy.
Rowling’s ex parte description of Dumbledore’s predilection brings up an interesting machlokes in the theory of Literary Criticism referred to in those circles as “the Death of the Author”. The question is whether the characters and story exist in the author’s mind, in which case it is perfectly understandable that the author can offer perush and explanation of his or her work or, say, describe what his or her characters do after the end of the published work, or do the characters and story only exist on the printed page. Any activity or character development outside of the text is unknown and unknowable because the author is (figuratively) dead. In the latter case, if it is not mentioned in the text it doesn’t exist.
CTL, OK call it an unitended Ponzi scheme. In the original 1934 (?) version, SS was, indeed, intended to pay out from funds derived from interest on investments in obligations. The problem arose when the obligations in which the SS fund was invested was mostly T Bills which meant that the government was using SS contributions as general funds, I.E. borrowing from itself. Once SS started having to pay benefits from later contributions, it became a pyramid scheme. Like all such multi layer schemes, as long as the base of the pyramid keep s growing, everything is cool. The problem that SS is facing is that the number of younger contributors is shrinking while the number of folks receiving benefits is growing. If the SS fund was a real fund as it was sold as, that would be a lesser problem. The fact is, though, that the benefits being paid come directly from the contribution of those working and paying. That’s the very definition of a pyramid scheme, intentional or not.
CTL, Your description is a distinction without a difference. The key isn’t taxpayers or investors, it is the characteristic of both schemes, Ponzi or SS, is that, rather than paying out benefits to the contributors/investors from the profits supposedly accruing to the fund’s activities, they use the payments from later participants to fund the benefits paid to the earlier participants.
“He made statements about the “rotation” of the Sun and the moon relative to the earth and the size of the moon relative to the sun and earth which were not accurate by today’ standards.”
His statements were not accurate, period. As was noted, the RAMBAM was simply repeating the prevalent understanding in his time.
Referring to “today’s standard” implies that, perhaps sometime in the future, it may be discovered that the universe really is geocentric which, of course, would be nonsense.The moon or mars
Yes
Koffee, he (she?) didn’t ask you for a psak. He/she asked for a discussion of the issues involved. Are there any other concerns besides the mixed seating? Does the conservative movement deny Torah min HaShamaim? that would make all of the “mispalellim” (for Joseph, note the quotation marks) kofrim which would be a good reason to avoid any association. Any other issues you can think of?
Edited for civility
I don’t understand what is accomplished by dulling the cutting blade. If the issue with the shaver is tarr, than all you have is a dull tarr, Maye nafke mina? For that matter, what is the specific issur of tarr? Is it the blade against the skin? Is it the closeness of the shave? If the latter, why was samm (depilitory powder) ok? How about a razor cut haircut? The razor is just used to trim the hair, not shave the head. The blade never touches the scalp. In fact, the action of the razor against the comb is not unlike the action of an electric shaver. How about a trimmer (Note 2) with a guard. A #2 would give you that stubble look I mentioned above.
It seems to me that all psak, especially psak that dealing with technology, needs a detailed explanation . Just saying “assur” is insufficient.
Note 1: If the specific issur is removal of the beard, then all of the questions above about shaving are moot.
Note 2: A trimmer works exactly like a scissors, blade against blade.CTL, you were doing fine until you compared Trump to Hitler YM'”S. Stick to stuff you know something about like law. Leave running the Country to wiser heads. P.S. I did not vote for Trump and I may not in 2020. That is if the Democrats can find a candidate with ah IQ higher than his/her shoe size.
Why would any self respecting YU bachur, or any yeshiva bachur for that matter, want to marry your daughter if it meant getting you for a mother-in-law. frankly, your concerns expressed above are trivial to the point of silliness. It is for cases such as this that Chazal tell us that a potential Chasan/Kallah need not follow their parents desires.
Relying on “heavy hitters” to make up the shortfall runs into the main difficulty inherent in all redistribution schemes. To quote Margaret Thatcher, “Sooner or later you run out of Other People’s Money”.
IMO, the main problem is that each school is a separate fiefdom to itself and is often run as a business that relies on tuition and donations to pay its expenses and provide livelihoods for their owners. There is no central Board of Ed that runs all the local schools a public enterprise. An example of this organization is, l’havdil, the Catholic school system where all the schools in the Diocese are run by Diocesan board and supported by general funds.
What needs to happen is:
1. Consolidation: Instead of 5 schools with 150 enrollment, why not one school with 600 enrollment? Yeah, I know that there may be differences in hashkofah but so what! Torah is the same for everyone and as are secular studies.
2. Centralization: All schools the area should be under one administration. Which receives funds and distributes them. (N.B. This already works in homogeneous communities like KJ and New Square. The problem is to get folks to disregard a little of their personal hashkofos for the greater good.)
3. Funding: While, as CTL so cogently points out, government money comes with a lot of baggage, there is no reason that schools should not accept Jewish money. That means that the schools need to just bite the bullet and join Federation.Meno, exactly what are you disagreeing with?
Of course ADHD is real. the problem is that it is vastly over diagnosed, very often by teachers and menahalim who have no medical training at all. They use ADHD as a crutch to deal with troublesome students, most of whom are simply bored and act out. It’s so much simpler to medicate a bright, active child into submission than to actually work with them.
Your issue clearly illustrates the “boy who cried wolf” problem. It’s not that the constant false alarms are annoying, it’s that when the wolf does come, no one believes it.The Talmidei Ha’Gra are not a good example. They were quite few in number (less than 100), they attempted to be self-supporting by farming and other labor and they relied on funds from abroad to purchase land.
The idea of an independent Chareidi state is risible. With a net minus economy, no means of defense and the impossibility of creating and sustaining a coherent government, such a state would collapse under its own weight in two years.Up until WW1, wrist watches were only worn by women. Men used pocket watches. Soldiers in the trenches found that wearing your watch on your wrist was much ,more convenient than fishing it out of your pocket while lying on your stomach. Watchmakers started making men’s wrist watches after the war. Also, the reason that many old-timers wear an “up” hat or homberg is that the common snap brim fedora was also exclusively worn by women.
Not really sure of the context. The only frum on-line business that I know of is B&H and their customer service is almost universally known as routinely excellent. I can’t imagine anyone downgrading their references to them. Is Bezos of Amazon Jewish?
Firstly, it should be noted that the clean shaven European bachurim in the photos were using samm (depilatory powder), not electric shavers, which raises another issue:
Are those poskim who asser the use of electric shavers doing so because they are under the impression that the shaver blade touches the skin of the face and is, in effect, a sort of mini-tarr, or is the issue that the shaver shaves so close that it LOOKS like the individual shaved with a tarr. If the former, than the clean shaven look of the bachurim in the photos was, you should pardon the expression, completely kosher. On the other hand, if the issue is the latter…
Another thought: Stubble is sort of fashionable these days and men are using shavers and trimmers to achieve and maintain that “two day shadow” look. Would that be muttar according the poskim cited?
Personally, the custom of my familythat the tsurah of a married Jew is bearded and I started growing one when I became engaged and have been bearded ever since (except for two brief periods when clean shaven-ness was required for safety reasons).For Ploni Doe, samm which I mentioned is the depilatory powder used for shaving that your grandfather used. It was widely used, mostly in Lite and in U.S. Yeshivas back in the fifties when I was in yeshiva. You mixed with water into a green paste and smeared in on your face, let it set for a few minutes and then scraped it and the hair off with a wooden or rubber spatula. It smelled awful but it worked.
I don’t get it. Virtually all of the photos European bachurim from the 20’s and 30’s from the yeshivas of the Gedolim noted in previous posts show that most were clean shaven. Given that so many of the aforementioned Gedolim were on record as opposing shaving, even with samm, how does one account for the photographic evidence that shaving was customary and wide spread?
The brisket methodology I prefer is slow cooked BBQ style. On the other hand, Brisker methodology is not as you describe. The Brisker method seeks to find underlying principles that unify the various decisions of Chazal. In some respects it resembles Scientific Method which arose contemporaneously. The saying is that in pilpul yeshivos, bucharim can find seven terutzim for one kushia. In Brisk, they find one teretz for seven kushios
Yes, in my view.
The “shrill scream to which you refer has a name. In English, it’s called ululation and it is common for festivities in Arab and other Middle Eastern cultures.
Joey, whether or not the First Amendment is a “Jewish Value”, it is the law of the land in which we find ourselves. Frankly, the First amendment is a good idea in general as the same law that permits hateful speech protects us, our speech and religious practice. Joey should be especially grateful for the First Amendment as it also protects foolish and pointless speech.