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To quote a famous American, “You can do more with a kind word and a gun than with just a kind word”.
The opposite of believing everything that people tell you is not believing anything that people tell you. The true difference between gullibility and open mindedness is that, as you say, a gullible person believes everything anybody tells them. An open minded person is prepared to believe what anyone tells him but needs to evaluate every statement himself.
When I was a young man, the drinking age was 18 and the voting age was 21. The Country was better off
LG, Yeah. We acted out Julius Caesar too. it was great fun. Goq, I suspect that the Hanhala’s objection to 1984 wasn’t the prurient content, of which there was little if any as I recall, but that the content struck too close to home. Too many institutions are run along the same lines as Oceania.
Not sure what SCOTUS actually ruled. Did they rule that all States must ALLOW same-sex marriage or did they rule that all states must RECOGNIZE same-sex marriage. The former seems to me to be extreme judicial overreach. Marriage issues have always been controlled by the States. The latter, however, is more in line with established practice.
While this particular issue is probably of little concern to the readers of this blog, the issue of recognition and reciprocity is of serious concern to observant Jews in a very similar matter. First cousin marriages are not unusual in unsere veldt, particularly in Rebbishe families. Such marriages are illegal in 21 states but recognized universally for instance, First cousin marriages are illegal in Nevada but legal in California. Nevertheless, first cousins who were married in California are still recognized as married in Nevada.
To Squeek:
Thank you, Winston. I see you’ve been re educated.
Here’s something to consider, and I say this based on my own experience as a choson all those years ago and the experience of marrying off four children. The wedding day, the chasana, belongs to your parents. You know, the ones who bore you, cared for you, the ones who sat with you when you were sick, who helped you with your homework, who sacrificed to send you to sem. Yes, those parents. The chasana is their day, the reward for their work and sacrifice. You and your choson ( I assume you’re a woman) have the rest of your lives. Don’t fergin your parents one day.
To my mind, the only authentic Jewish musical forms since churban Bayis are chazonus and klezmer. All other Jewish music is derivative of Gentile music.
Never mind the Randi test. Let’s look at actuality, not illusion. I think it was Arthur C. Clark who posited that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. This begs the question, what can one do with practical Kabalah that cannot be done with modern technology? Fly? I don’t need Sheimos. All I need is an airline ticket ( talk about kevitzas haderech). We can converse face to face with people thousands of miles away. We can travel to the moon, move mountains, cure diseases, even bring the (mostly) dead back to life. Mind you, I’m talking about practical, not spiritual, application.
Also, capitalize the first letter
It’s not offensive if the emphasis is on the last syllable ” re taaard”
Okay. You want an account of a sign min haShamayim? How’s this:
I have lived in my community for over 30 years and for most of that time I have davened in the same shul. Over the past few years I have become increasingly dissatisfied with the kehilla, the atmosphere, whatever, to the point that it became hard to concentrate on davening because I was ticked off all the time.
I decided to leave the shul and go elsewhere so one Shabbos I picked up my talis and went to another nearby shul. I knew some of the folks there but most of the mispallelim and the Rav were strangers to me. Anyway, that’s where I went. I sat in the back, minded my own business, and davened. everything was pretty normal, no pressure, no irritation. Then the Rav gave his drasha. I don’t recall the parsha but, in the course of his drasha, he cited the Mishnah in Avos that says that one should be from the talmidim of Avraham Avinu and not like the talmidim of Bilam harasha. What was the difference? When Avraham went to daven for Sdom he was unsuccessful, yet he returned to the same place again and again to daven. Bilam, on the other hand, when he was unsuccessful in cursing Klal Yisroel from one place, he tried another and another.
Now this Rav didn’t know me from Adam and he certainly was unaware of my intentions, yet his drash was so pointed and specific that I felt that it could not be other than a direct message to me min haShamayim.
Well, of course I returned to my old shul and there I have been to this day. I’m still dissatisfied and still ticked off but, apparently, this is the place I belong for some reason only the RBSHO knows. We’ll see what happens.
Hebrew names spelled in English are still Hebrew names. For instance, the Poster above remarked that her daughter’s “English” name, Abigail, was selected because it starts with the same phoneme as her Hebrew name, Avigayil. Abigail and “Avigayil” are the same name. Her Hebrew name and her “English” name are the same, just spelled in different alphabets. Many people in America have Biblical (I.E. Hebrew) names. Some of them might sound silly to us like Nimrod or Balaam but, nevertheless, they are Hebrew names, just spelled in English. Also note that using a name from the local culture or language in addition to one’s Hebrew name is not a modern phenomenon. The practice goes back to Golus Bavel, for instance, the name Zerubavel isn’t Hebrew. Many of the Chachmei haGemorah had both Hebrew and Aramaic names.
P.S. Phineas is actually Latin for Pinchas.
P.P.S. An alternative to anglicizing Hebrew names is to just use the initials. My name is Alter Yoseif but in English i’m just A.J.
Not so clear that there’s intelligent life on this planet.
Scolding random strangers is a good way to get a punch in the nose, if not arrested for assault. Anyway, you may have noticed that it’s Elul. Now’s the time to consider your own short-comings, pun intended.
“Your father is a hamster and your mother smells of elderberries!”
Sam, whether or not Lamedvavniks actually exist or are simply a folk legend, the point of the mashal is still valid. All Jews, even the ones you may think ill of, are to be treated with respect. Hey! you never know.
A word about Lamedvavniks, the 36 hidden tzadikim without whose existence the world could no longer exist. The key word is “hidden”. Any lamedvavnik whose identity becomes known must die, therefore, Lamedvavniks take pains to conceal their status and appear as ordinary Jews, even to the extent of pretending to act un-tzadiklike. The lesson for us is that since we can’t know who is or isn’t a lamedvavnik, we must consider that any Jew we meet might be one and, therefore, deserving of the respect and courtesy due such a one.
It seems to me that it is an error to believe that anyone “possesses” Ruach Hakodesh. Ruach Hakodesh is a gift bestowed by the Master of the Universe to whomever, whenever and for whatever reason He so chooses. To state that So and So “has” Ruach Hakodesh implies that that individual is sort of a navi. Something that no longer exists. Everyone of us, whatever our matzav, prays three times a day, six days a week for the Eibishter to share with us His Deiah, Binah, v’Haskel (a pretty good working definition of Ruach Hakodesh). If Ruach Hakodesh is only available to special people, the nusach hatefilla ought to be something like,”make us worthy of receiving… etc. Sometimes, G-d answers those tefilos. Perhaps the better one is at davening, the more likely HaShem is to grant the gift, but it’s never a sure thing and there is an occasional wild card in the form of someone who doesn’t appear to merit such a gift. May the Rebono shel Olam answer our tefilos and grant the gift to us all?
Sam, malaria is, in fact, carried by mosquitos, specifically by several species of genus Anopheles. Tze-tze flys carry another severe desease, African Sleeping Sickness. Tze-Tze flys also carry several deseases that efeect cattle. Native species are immune but European or Indian cattle cannot be raised in areas of tze-tze fly infestation.
Charlie, just signed your petition and I’ll get the family to sign. Where else have you posted this? 1208 signatures!! and we need 98000+ more signatures by Aug 7? Better get to work.
Charlie, Charlie, Charlie. I don’t want to make a new list but I will make a few comments:
1. The IRS became Obama’s IRS when he took office. Further, it certainly appears that the White House directed the IRS to give Conservative (alright, Tea Party) groups a hard time.
2. You’re right. I don’t see any significant difference between Common Core and No Child Left Behind. It’s funny that the Dems who ridiculed NCLB love Common Core and the Reps who supported NCLB take shots at Common Core.
3. Simply calling an accusation a lie isn’t refutation. You should know better.
You typify what is wrong with political discourse in America today. We need a return to civility if we don’t want this country to descend to the level of a banana republic. For that to happen, both sides have to recognize the legitimacy of each others concerns. Conservatives aren’t all slack-jawed yokels and Liberals aren’t all effete snobs (tip of the hat to Spiro Agnew). Whether the issue is women’s rights, gun control, immigration policy, religion in public life, whatever, problems can’t be solved and consensus can’t be reached by school yard name calling. What saddens me is that if an educated,erudite academic such as yourself can fall prey to political hatred and calumny, what hope is there for those of us less blessed with intellect to reach accommodation?
C’mon Charlie.
Domestic Policy:
1. Bush’s TARP is what saved the day. Love it or hate it, it was Bush’s initiative, not Obama’s
2. Same number uninsured as before AHA. Also, AHA does not address the core issue.
3. Really?
4. Well, yeah. but the levels are still unacceptably high with no relief in sight. Obama’s programs are making the the same error that FDR’s programs did. They institutionalize the economic problems instead of solving them. FDR essentially made high unemployment the new norm. Obama’s problem isn’t near as great as FDR’s was but he’s making the same mistake.
5. In spite of Obama, not because of his energy policies.
6. Ditto
7. Double Ditto. That’s unfair. The fact is that Presidents get blamed for poor a economy so it’s only fair that the should take some credit when the economy improves. The fact is that Presidents don’t really have a lot of control either way.
Foreign Policy
1. Good Job
2. Good as far as it goes but it’s like cutting a head off of the Hydra. Three grow back.
3. Do you actually think that the mess we left in Libya is a foreign policy success? It was a really bad idea to interfere in Libya. Qadafi may have been a ruthless dictator but he was
cooperating with the U.S. and the international community.
4. What on earth did Obama have to do with the Greek economic crisis? By the way, Greece isn’t out of the woods yet by a long shot.
5. The intent was good but Putin ate Obama’s lunch on that agreement.
6. Good job
7. Ditto
8. Double ditto
9. Congress not Obama but not near “draconian” enough
10. Higher than under Nixon?
11. Good job
12. Really? Bush left a “stable, growing, democratic” Iraq. (Obama’s own words in 2011). The current complete mess in Iraq is totally due to Obama’s complete failure to obtain a remainder of forces agreement.
13. Good. I guess he learned his lesson in Libya.
14. Good.
Charlie, there aren’t two realities, one D and the other R. There is only one reality and partisanship does not alter it. The simple fact is that Iraq did posess WMDs and the current news proves it. Whether that was sufficient justification for invasion is arguable (I never thought it was the main reason, but that’s another story). Your buddy John Maynard Keynes was famously quoted in the following exchange. When taken to task for changing his position on a particular issue, he is reported to have said, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What, sir, do you do?”
Um…Charlie, what lies were they? Do you mean the lies about the WMDs that the very same NYT is reporting have fallen into the hands of ISIS? I guess sarin and mustard gases aren’t really WMDs, are they? Oh, and don’t give me that business about Bush lying about Iraq’s nuclear weapons. He never said thaey had nukes. He did say that Iraq had WMDs and that the concern was that they could end up in the hands of terrorists. Golly!! Ya think?
Emmet, I strongly advise you to find another therapist. This one sounds as if she needs a therapist herself. You engaged her, I assume for her professional advice. If you want to follow her Rav’s advice, you don’t need her.
Chazal prohibit a parent from striking a grown child als lifei iver. The fear is that the grown child might strike back and be guilty of a capital offense. That reasoning would seem to apply in this case. Taking such drastic action against his son would, quite possibly, cause the son to react is such a way as to over an issur missah, C’S.
Oomis, you’ve made a common mistake. The line isn’t, “THE bombs bursting in air” It’s, “Bombs bursting in air.”
My favorite is the last stanza:
Oh, thus be it ever when free men shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation
Then conquer we must
When our cause, it is just
And this be our motto
In G-d is our trust
And the Star Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.
There are no fun places in Crown Heights
Based on the advice given by the posters above, I think we should wrap our kids and ourselves in bubble wrap, start IVs in all of us and never leave the house. C’mon people! Summer is the time for fun and adventure. A little common sense is what’s needed. Yeah, drink when your thirsty, bike carefully, don’t lock you kids or animals in a closed parked car for hours. You know, of all the “safety” tips handed out it seems to me the most important was left out. Teach your children to swim,(Chazal knew what they were about) and yourself if you don’t know how. Drown-proofing saves countless children and adults. Summer is the time for swimming either in a pool or a lake or the ocean. Of all common recreational activities, swimming is by far the most dangerous and results in the most child deaths(Okay, rock climbing and BASE jumping may be more dangerous but I said “common”). Ocean swimming is particularly dangerous. Never swim where there isn’t a lifeguard and don’t go in the water if he (or she) says not to.
I, too, am put off by lengthy Shabbos davening. Note to Sheluchei Tzibbur: Kedushah has a nusach. Use it. I don’t know how ancient the nusach is but it probably predates MBD.
Perhaps I wasn’t clear enough but I was essentially citing the NB. There is an issur of tzar b’alei chaim but it does not apply letzarech adam.
“If you can aim like Reb Yona Bar Tachlifa then you may hunt birds.”
Actually, there were, and are still, special arrows for hunting birds in flight. It has a wide, crescent-shaped head sharpened on the outer edge. It is intended to cut the throat of, or decapitate, flying birds.
RY, no snark intended but how many homeless animals have you adopted?
Hey Charlie, where are you? Jump in here and defend the President!
The issur of tzar b’allei chaim prohibits causing unnecessary pain or suffering to an animal. The key word is “unnecessary”. For instance, shechting a cow certainly causes pain to the animal but the shechita is necessary and, therefore, muttar. Likewise, hunting for any halachically legitimate purpose should be permitted. While one can clearly not hunt for food (unless you could somehow capture a kosher animal alive, and shect it) if, say, you wanted the dear skin for a klaph, or a bear skin for a rug, or you wanted to shoot coyotes for their fur, It seems to me that such hunting would technically be muttar.
P.S. I don’t think some posters are clear about what “hunting for sport” is. To my knowledge, all big game hunting is for food in that the meat is never wasted. In America, almost all hunters are meat hunters, that is they butcher and eat their prey. On guided big game hunts in Alaska, the hunter can either keep the meat for him or herself or it gets distributed among the local villages. In Africa the meat is always distributed among the local population. All the hunter gets is the pelt.
Cool your jets, Charlie. No need for ad hominem attacks. You’ve obviously been on the blogs for a long time and picked up some bad habits from the trolls. WWII was a war we had to fight as was the Civil war. Is it your position that Gulf War i wasn’t justified? My point was that Republicans aren’t anymore blood thirsty war mongers than Democrats. Here’s something to think about. If Kennedy hadn’t stolen the election in ’60, we would never have gotten involved in Vietnam in the first place and if Goldwater had won in ’64 we would never have escalated to Johnson’s 500,000 troop blood bath.
The particular case in point is that McCain might not have made a better President than Obama, although I think he would have, but he couldn’t have been a worse one.
Dial, that’s only true for low information voters. thinking folks support issues, not laundry lists. For instance, I voted for McCain and Romney for President and Cuomo for Governor, not because I agreed with them on everything (I vigorously disagree with Cuomo on his idea of Gun Control) but because I felt that they would do the best job overall. I was right about Cuomo and I’m confident that I was right about McCain and Romney.
Charlie, I’m curious as to what 4 to 6 Countries do you think McCain would have had us at war with. Historically, it’s been Democrats that have gotten us into wars, going all the way back to James K. Polk who went to war with Mexico. Republican Abraham Lincoln did go to war against the South but I assume you would have supported that war. Democrat Wilson, an excellent example of why we should never elect academics, got us into WWI, Roosevelt into WWII, Truman into Korea and your buddy Kennedy, whom I have to thank for the hole in my lung, into Vietnam.
I have previously remarked on the inexperience and ineptitude of President Obama and his administration of amateurs and ideologues. The current mess in Iraq is solely his doing. In 2011 Obama proclaimed that he was drawing down troops in a stable and democratically growing Iraq. The current crisis is directly attributable to Obama’s inept attempt to negotiate a remaining forces agreement with Iraq. His requirement that the Iraqi Parliament ratify any agreement guarantied it’s failure. If he had left sufficient forces, about 20,000, as his generals recommended, the current crisis would have almost certainly been avoided.
You know, Charlie, when Obama was elected I recall that I had very mixed feelings. I was proud of America for electing our first Black President, but I was sorry that it wasn’t Colin Powell.
NFGO3: While my comment was written somewhat tongue-in-cheek, the comparison is, in fact, quite sound. Current Chareidi tradition often disregards metzius. A example of that is something with which we all had to deal with recently. I speak of kitnios, the determination of which is irrational and solely based on arbitrary tradition but, be that as it may, if getting a driver’s license depends on actuarially determined risk then there would also have to be a maximum age as well as a minimum age. Frankly, I do not think that manageable risk should be a criterion for obtaining a drivers license. If one can understand the rules, pass the tests and is physically capable of operating a motor vehicle, a condition that most kids reach around the age of 16, than they should be entitled to drive on public roads. (N.B. No license is required to drive on private property. A twelve year old could legally drive a Ferrari at 180 MPH on your 1200 acre ranch).
A further thought: Freedom, in general, implies risk. There is always a tension between freedom and safety. How much freedom are you willing to give up for an undetermined amount of safety? To continue the automotive example, it is an intuitive fact that driving 55 is safer than driving 75 (the limit on most Interstates in the U.S.) so why don’t we bring back the 55 limit? And, surely, 30 mph is safer that 55 so why don’t we insist on a national 30 mile an hour limit (which was, in fact, the national limit during WWII)?
The answer, of course, is simply that we all are willing to accept the increased risk, both to ourselves and others, in order to gain more freedom and utility. So, yes, young drivers and old drivers are involved in more accidents than, say, 30 to 40 year old drivers but outside of urban areas with good mass transit (New York and Boston) the utility and freedom gained by 16 and 70 year old drivers outweigh the increased risk.
P.S. The discussion of why things are and aren’t kitnios is a good subject for another thread. Was there one such?
There is a vast difference between being anti-Zionist and actively giving aid and comfort to an avowed enemy of, not only the State of Israel, but of all Jews everywhere. Could anyone on this blog imagine the late Satmar Rav, Rav Yoylish, who was known for his strongly anti-Zionist views, visiting and giving support to Ahmedinijad?
Also, it is a grave mistake to believe that Chilonim as a group, hate Chareidim. the recent survey of attitudes in Israel indicates that the overwhelming majority of Chilonim simply don’t care one way or the other about Chareidim. The so called “War against Torah” is a fabrication of militant Chareidi factions who use it to recruit and energize their followers in order to maintain the Government benefits. All of the grievances of the Chareidi community could be dealt with by dialog, discussion and negotiation with the Government and the Hamon Am but, apparently the Chareidi community and leadership isn’t really interested in getting what they want from the rest of the Country. They are more interested in maintaining what amounts to a state of war with the Government and People of Israel as a means of maintaining control of their own flock and gullible fellow travelers.
Yontiff is legitimate Yiddish for Yom Tov
What bothers me is our morbid fascination with cancer. Cardiovascular disease disables and kills far more people than cancer does. Why doesn’t anyone ever offer a segula to eliminate cardiovascular disease?
Froggie, I’m 70 years old. At my age I don’t have to avoid temptation, Temptation avoids me.
nfgo3, driving at 16 is a time honored American tradition. Jews everywhere recognize that tradition often trumps a “factual answer”. Anyway, accident rates of various age groups should affect insurance rates and do so. The ability to drive safely and courteously is not necessarily a function of age as anyone who lives and drives in Monsey, BP, Flatbush or Willy can observe for themselves.
Froggie, what’s wrong with just ignoring it? These days it is virtually impossible to avoid everything, adverts included, that may be offensive. One kind of ad that I find offensive are the ones that, for a specific donation amount, 40 “tzadikim” will daven at the Kosel for 40 days and 40 nights which is a sure segula and cure fore everything from cancer to athlete’s foot.
MYOB!!!
Actually the original pronunciation was closer to the “th” sound in “think”.
I got my Farm License at 14. I think 16 is a good age for a driver’s license for kids who live in rural or suburban areas. City kids who tend not to be car savvy should wait until maybe 18. I’m an old geezer. As a general observation, I think the country was in better shape when the drinking age was 18 and the voting age was 21.
The characters Of Holmes and Watson were fixed in the public mind by their early movie portrayal by Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce respectively. The movie made two major errors in bringing Conan Doyle to the screen. First is Bruce’s portrayal of Watson as sort of a bumbling Colonel Blimp. The second, and less obvious, is the portrayal of Holmes and Watson as in advanced middle age. Both issues are major diversions from the characters as written by Conan Doyle.
In fact, When we first meet Holmes and Watson in “A Study in Scarlet”, Holmes in in his late twenties and Watson is a couple of years older. Watson is returning from service in Afghanistan (!) and answers an add for a roommate. The advertiser is Holmes. Far from being a bumbler, Watson is the man of action while Holmes is the cerebral sleuth. In there adventures, Holmes always asks Watson to accompany him when there is a the threat of danger and to bring his gun.
Ben David, it is fairly well known that R’ Yaakov Kaminetsky, ZTL, read Sherlock Holmes in Russian translation and was a fan. If Holmes was frum enough for Rav Yaakov, he’s frum enough for me.