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benignuman- You agree that animals have evolved. How did this evolution come about? What mechanism has been used?
Why would, after Noach, all the marsupials migrate to Australia? All penguins migrate to the Antarctica continent? Wouldn’t you see equal distribution of all sorts of animals in all areas of the world if they all emerged from the teivah at the same time?
Its obvious simply based of geographic distribution that evolution has taken place.
Based of what I’ve seen, outside the New York area, Orthodoxy basically means a shul has a mechitzah, regardless of its height.
You are not accounting for 3rd party candidates.
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Hebrew National hot dogs have a Triangle-K. The company says that it is kosher, but not glatt meat.
Being that “Chicago” stlye pizza isn’t very conducive to folding, I would say it is a “New York” style pizza thing…
Tim Tebow. So humble, so generous. And I hate football.
benignuman- I didn’t write those things.
And even after reading your responses to those quotes, I do not understand your point, no offense.
writersoul- I don’t know their number. I give you expressed written consent to do so.
Another test taking tip: For the month before you take the exam, compile a master list of ALL the equations relevant to the test, probably about 100 equations. Each day, rewrite the list as best you can from memory. Practice until you know the entire list by heart. Then on test day, before you begin the exam there is a 15 minute tutorial that is really a waste of time. Use this 15 minutes to rewrite your master list and refer back to it during the physics section. It was save you time, and make the test a whole lot easier.
The Kaplan software, which simulates the actual exam, is very helpful for practice questions. It breaks down your practice exam scores so you really see where you need to focus. I would recommend buying this on its own, without enrolling in a course, which the quality of is very dependent on the individual instructor.
I found the best way to review specific subject matters was to go back to your textbooks that you used in those classes, organic chemistry and physics textbooks. These teach you to understand concepts, which is the most important factor to scoring well.
I always wanted to contact the marketing department of The Glenlivet distillery and give them the following slogan:
“Don’t just live it. Glenlivet.”
Disease is just as natural as fever. If it wasn’t for disease and the death that it causes, humans would not have been able to survive as long as they have.
Luckily, in the dark ages when Europe was plagued by the plague, the Jewish people built up some sort of resistance to the infection and was able to overcome its detrimental effects.
I’ve been in New Zealand for shabbos. Pretty cool knowing you are of the first people to experience a given shabbos.
Golf clubs. One thing no married man should be without.
Major depressive disorder is a mood disorder, and while environment plays a large role, there is a genetic component. Current research suggests that children with one parent with MDD are 2-3 times more likely to suffer themselves, and being that around 5-8% of of the general population suffer with depression, that means children of patients will be around 15% more likely to have the disorder. But don’t take this as what is absolutely going to happen. Also, depression is more common in women, so similarly it may be less common for men to pass it along to their children.
Continue with the medication as long as it has a positive effect on you. And be honest with someone you are looking to marry. You should want to spend the rest of your life with someone accepting of you, both your triumphs and your struggles.
Obviously the other thread was full of apikursus and kifirah, that’s why it was closed. Why was this thread allowed to continue down that path?
I think it is probably the wisest decision a person can make. Go for it.
writersoul- I’m not sure if the question you are asking is directed at me (I have studied and am a proponent of teaching evolution), but I will be glad to attempt to answer it.
The reason frum Jews do not teach evolution is because it is a concept that is not associated with religion. People for thousands of years (especially in Europe and other places that significant portions of the Jewish population resided) did not have a scientific theory as to how the world developed into what it looks like today.
Along comes Darwin and the like, and propose an idea that is new. Most of these ideas were not very compatible with the Torah based on the way it was interpreted by the Rabbonim until then. (Nowadays we have plenty of “new” commentaries that are giving alternatives to the way we interpret the Chumash.) There was little empirical evidence in Darwin’s time, he was mainly speculating (as is evidence of his famous “I think..” paper) and it took the next hundred or so years to back up his claims with experimental data.
Because at the time the idea was introduced into the mainstream there was lack of interpretation of the Torah in a way that coincides with evolution, it was thrown out by the Rabbis and designated as kefira.
I’m not sure as to why we don’t want questions. Answering questions can only strengthen our emunah, not take away from it.
DaMoshe- So would you allow a person who doesn’t hold of the Rambam’s 13 ikarim to be yotzei you in mitzvos? If not all is lost, what would be the issue?
DaMoshe- But that one test hinges on everything else. You fail that one, all else is lost. Can’t be said about any other issue.
DaMoshe- So why do we hold people of previous generations in such high regard? In the midbar? During the time of the Beis HaMikdash? Times of the gemara? These folks had it easy when it came to bechirah, miracles were happening left and right for some of them.
A few days before they were supposed to travel to Israel for two weeks, a close friend of mine asked for a ride to the airport. I called, using a blocked phone number and said, “Hello, Mr. Schwartz this Sarah from El AL, I’m sorry to inform you that you will not be able to bring any luggage on the flight you have scheduled for tomorrow.” Because it was a close friend, I knew most of the basic information (name,address, number of travellers, etc.) plus what time the flight was, so I was able to make my call seem very legitimate. I went on saying that I would be able to book him on a flight, with two connections in Paris and in Frankfurt, with an added cost of $400 and in this way he would be able to take luggage. After a few minutes of letting it play out, I hung up and called him back, as myself, just to confirm the time of the flight…
Everyone got a good laugh, no harm done.
DaMoshe- Why would Hashem create in a way that tricks humans? And most of the natural explanations have only been around for the last few hundred years, since science has made leaps to understanding the natural world. Before that, the miracles were thought to be just that, miracles.
DaasYochid- Then do so, I having trouble figuring out how one can make such an argument?
DaasYochid- One does not need to observe actual evolution (or any fact, for that matter) in order to come to factual conclusions. Speculation is certainly enough, as long as you “observe” evidence.
Just think about the parsha of two weeks ago which talks about sotah. We don’t require eidim to observe a married woman having an affair, we only need them to speculate after they have observed evidence of her being secluded with a man other than her husband.
DaasYochid- I wasn’t saying that our existence proves or disproves Hashem, I was responding to a previous comment that said when bacteria evolve into humans, we can have a discussion. And I proceeded to say that such events have already taken place, so we can have the discussion.
writersoul- I didn’t mention restriction endonucleases. Those are enzymes that bacteria use as a primitive immune system to distinguish self from non-self DNA. Basically, those endonuclease enzymes cut DNA sequences that are foreign to that organism. It is analogous to human (or most Eukaryotic complex organisms) that use major histocompatibility complexes to display peptides on their cell surfaces to “notify” the humoral (NK cells) and adaptive (T-cells, many different subtypes) immune cells of foreign proteins being produced.
When it comes to bacteria, prokaryotes don’t “mate.” They can horizontally transmit genetic material through processes known as conjugation or transformation, but the only way they reproduce is through binary fission.
PBA- I stand corrected. You are right.
And you are mistaken when you use the word “mistaken.”
PBA- You are incorrect in saying that G-d would negate any proof of evolution, because evolution is a series of “accidents” that could have been set up by G-d.
writersoul- MRSA can be classified a different species, but it is a bit tricky when dealing with bacteria because a single genetic mutation which can lead to a methicillin resistance can possibly be on a plasmid which would not necessarily be an entirely new species, but a “different type” of an existing organism. If however this mutation was introduces to the bacteria genome (ie, not a plasmid) it may be considered a new species.
A similar parallel can be draw from humans. Humans have restriction fragment length polymorphisms. All because you and I don’t have the exact same DNA sequence does not mean that we are different species.
They have evolved into people. You are evidence of it. As am I. So I guess we can talk about it.
It most certainly is important to how we live today. When someone you love becomes infected with an exotoxin produced by a staphylococcus bacteria, scientists use their understanding of these organisms and the molecules they secrete to come up with a way to kill those bacteria and inhibit their further growth.
And bacteria can’t evolve into viruses. Viruses are obligate intracellular pathogens that require a host cell’s DNA replicating or RNA translating machinery in order to “infect.” Bacteria are indepedant life-forms that can reproduce on their own.
It is however, theoretically possible for a bacteria to be lysed and some of its genetic material find its way into a protein coat, and become a virus like entity.
PBA- You are almost there, in terms of understanding. Just think about how natural selection has played out for several billions of years. If one bacteria can gain antibiotic resistance in such a short amount of time (basically since humans have been smart enough to come up with medicine that inhibit the production of the peptidoglycan wall of the gram positive bacteria to which you are referring), just think what can happen over many magnitude more of years…
fkelly- Again, you just don’t understand what evolution is. It is not there to show how the world was created. It simply shows how organisms as we see them today arose from smaller simpler organisms. Science is still wondering how the first independent life-form came to be.
fkelly- People don’t believe in evolution. There is evidence to back it up. Belief is only in something that does not have tangible evidence.
Can we all agree that nobody should ever tell someone else to stop talking in shul unless that person offering rebuke never says a word himself?
I’ve witnessed a person telling another to be quiet, only to later be engaged in his own conversation.
I would wear shatnez and circular tefillin.
Yutorah.org is pretty reliable.