Sam2

Veyatziv

It’s not an issue of remembering. If you know you said it then you don’t repeat. If you know you didn’t say it then you do. It’s only an issue if you’re unsure. I have terrible short-term memory a lot. So I do something like pinch myself or keep a thumbs-up in my pocket so that I will know that I said it, even if I don’t remember the exact words that I said a minute ago.

Charn: Cardozo and Einstein have nothing whatsoever to do with RIETS or the average Yeshivah College student. When people say “YU” they mean YC/Stern and RIETS and maybe (maybe) Revel (graduate school of Jewish Studies).

ASwaS: I think the Ba’al Haturim says that himself. But it’s nice to know that having a beard now determines someone’s level of Torah knowledge.

There are two types of Gematriot. Real Gematriyos teach us Halachos. There are very few real Gematriyos. Yih’yeh by Nazir might be the only D’Oraisa one (I feel like there’s another but I’m blanking). Every other Gematriya is just a Remez. Why can’t anyone make up a Remez so long as it fits with a real idea/source/Halacha?

Charn: Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm is a Gaon and a tremendous Talmid Chacham and is respected as such by many other tremendous Talmidei Chachamim. Your blatant disrespect is uncalled for.

Yes, there are problems in YU. I don’t think even the staunchest defender would claim that the place is perfect Mitzad Torah. The University is mostly separate and lets the students choose their own Derech. There is no requirement to be a Yeshivah Bochur in YU. Still, many come and treat it as a Yeshivah with the afternoon courses just to get you a degree. You can go through YU learning 12 hours a day or learning 2. It is a place where someone can make of it what they will. You may disagree with a place like that for yourself, but it does a lot of good for a lot of people.

I’ll quote a paragraph here which is quite inflammatory, and in which you make several unfair judgment calls.

“The unacceptable socializing that goes on between the YU boys and Stern girls, the partying, the inter-collegiate and spectator sports, the bales of Apikorsus to be found in their library, ideas espoused even in the Limudei Kodesh courses that are against the Torah, never mind secular courses where clear anti-Torah ideas and ideals are taught by teachers who have all but carte blanche to say whatever they want, the teaching of Gemorah to girls, and worse yet, the excuse given for it, that “If we teach them medicine and law, they can learn Gemora too”, the Zionism, the allowance of gay clubs (money is no excuse; if they were Neo-Nazi clubs, they would not be tolerated – the issue is the lack of understanding that gay clubs are just as repulsive to G-d).”

I’ll go through point-by-point. The college is not restrictive. If someone wants to go through without ever associating with Stern girls or attending a party it is very easy. Honestly, I don’t think most of the frum (even those that are much more to the left) ever really attend a party.

What is so wrong with spectator or competitive sports? It might not be for you, but what is inherently Assur about it that it Passuls an institution?

It’s true; the library is not under the auspices of the Yeshivah. And all of the Roshei Yeshivah are tremendous Talmidei Chachamim. Some of them might have (I’ll use the word interesting) Hashkafos but they all have solid basis in Rishonim and their Mesorah. No Rosh Yeshivah has ever had to call out another for saying something that is blatantly Kefira’dik.

Not everyone thinks Zionism is bad. You’re making another judgment call for the masses. It might not be for you but it has support of tremendous Talmidei Chachamim.

Teaching Gemara to girls is also a Halachic issue. There are Matirim. You may not hold by them but by Paskening for the whole world you are making another personal judgment call.

There was not, and has never been, a gay club at YU. That is blatant Motzi Shem Ra.

Jothar: It was good. And I cannot see anything in there that should really be objectionable to anyone or anything that would really constitute a deviation from the original form of “Orthodoxy”. The only possible objectionable line is the first, and at least some frum Jews have always been involved with their Goyish neighbors and communities when the opportunity was there.

Soliek: If you truly believe it’s all in Hashem’s hands then maybe it’s a lack of Bitachon to look before crossing the street? You can’t have Eminah while at the same time not fearing potential dangers. That’s not what Emunah means.

HaLeiVi: It’s pretty clear in the Gemaros at the beginning of Avodah Zarah. (Actually, more that just that is clear.)

Stuck: Chas Veshalom. A Jew should never, ever get completely drunk.

Tefillin is the only Mitzvah where the Shulchan Aruch says explicitly that even though women can choose to do other PTBMs, this one they can’t do.

Dr Seuss: Chas V’shalom that we should stop doing Mitzvos just because some reform or conservative do. If reform men wore Tefillin would you stop?

PBA: Your Rab is quoting Meforash from the Chayei Adam (aside from the fact that he didn’t have cars and stuff). His example is if a brick falls towards you and misses you don’t Bentch Gomel but if it hits you and you survive then you do, if I recall correctly.

I take strong offense at the implication that people who wear Kippot Srugot are more willing to eat Treif than anyone else. Who the heck cares what your Kippah looks like? (Answer: far too many people.)

You should listen to Rav Schachter tell some of these stories. It’s not like they are quoting random people. Rav Schachter has the right to say whatever he feels is right. I don’t think anyone (or almost anyone) would say that Rav Schachter’s opinion is inherently invalid. Someone might disagree with it, but it’s never invalid.

Did anyone watch the news video as they released him to his house? The crowd, completely mixed between Chilonim and Dati’im (more Chilonim it looked like though) was singing Ma’aminim B’nei Ma’aminim. It really brings home the line of “filu Reikanim Shebachem M’lei’im Mitzvos K’rimon.” If that’s not a Kiddush Hashem I don’t know what it.

Interesting. I never thought about the milkshakes before. I don’t know what the word “throff” means but I feel like the Gemara you are referring to is in the 10th Perek of Pesachim, but I just looked and coudln’t find it. I think it shows up more than once though. If I find it I’ll come back here and mention it.

I think they acknowledge that they are not practicing the same Judaism as was practiced 200+ years ago.

600: Don’t call that a “Segulah”. It would be Nichush at best and Avodah Zarah at worst. Moshe doing it Al Pi HKBH is not relevant for copying it nowadays. This is why I say people need to be careful with how they phrase things.

Toi: What do you mean “the original”? I highly doubt that any of his Talmidim who currently give Shiur at RIETS (or anywhere else) think that their version of Judaism is any different than what was done 500 years ago. I think every single one of them would be incredibly insulted if you even implied to them that they are any different.

Really mods? You let that through? I take great offense at having just been called anti-frum, and I am sure that several others here do too.

I can’t follow the who is attacking who is saying that anybody said what they didn’t say. Do you want the thread closed instead?

Shlishi: I never said anyone has the ability to say when a Gadol is mistaken. Still, a basic belief in Judaism (as Rav Schachter stresses fairly often) is that our Gedolim are human and therefore fallible. Granted, it is incredibly rare that anyone can say about any particular issue that any particular Gadol was mistaken about something. But that is far from coming in with the assumption that a Gadol is all-knowing or infallible. Oh, and you realize that your assumption that only someone who never makes mistakes can tell us if someone who very rarely makes mistakes is mistaken is inherently flawed, right?

Also, a lot of the Mikva’os that we found were actually used by sectarian groups (e.g. the Essenes) who tried to show how they were better than everyone else by being much more “Machmir” on Tumah V’taharah (among other things) against the Mesorah of Chazal.

2scents: The only real difference is learning vs working. Everything else is just details that really stems from that or artificially created distinctions that came later because one group wanted to differentiate from the rest (e.g. Chalav Stam). What would you label as the main differences?

People should be much more careful when using terms. Otherwise you end up with people like the one who I met who thinks that wearing a Kippah is borderline Yeihareg V’al Ya’avor. When I called him crazy he proceeded to give me a whole long Shpiel about why Kippah is so special that we can’t make a Bracha on it. He honestly thought wearing a Kippah is an Asei D’Oraisa. When you lump everything together under the umbrella of “Mitzvah” you overvalue some things and devalue everything else.

I am saying that I think that argument could have legitimately been used. Obviously her father disagreed with me. (I never claimed they should have, just that I think it was a possible argument to make.)