smerel

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  • in reply to: Maharal’s Golem #2208726
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>Either way, any way you explain it, the Rebbe and/or the Riyatz seems to be saying that the story of the Golem is true.

    Not saying otherwise but the evidence here is based on the perception of the Riyatz of what he saw in the alteneushul attic. By his own account it wasn’t the actual golem. Even had the Riyatz not gone into the attic of the alteneushul they probably would have felt the same way about the golem.

    in reply to: Maharal’s Golem #2208710
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>Regarding the story from the Riyatz, I believe there are sources which make it clear that he never said he saw it

    There are many versions of that story. According to his daughter, Chana Gurary, he told her that he saw the form of a man wrapped up and covered. Which of course could have been anything that was wrapped and covered in that size and shape. According to the Lubavicther Rebbe his FIL the Rayatz said he saw “what remained of the golem” which is even less clear. Other versions say he refused to discuss it.

    There are no even semi reliable versions claiming that he saw the actual golem the way it would have looked when it allegedly existed or that he saw it in uncovered form.

    in reply to: Maharal’s Golem #2208441
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>Just heard lately that the whole Golem thing is a fabrication of someone Reb Yudel Rosenberg from Montreal about 100 years ago.

    Whether the golem is real or not isn’t something I’ll argue about but it certainly wasn’t made up 100 years ago in Montrea, Canada. Marcus Lehman who wrote his books about two hundred years ago in Germany makes a reference to it. Rav Yaakov Kamentsky who was a child over 120 years ago told someone I know that when he was a child everyone had heard of the Maharals’s golem. I asked my grandfather who grew up in the same period around a 100 miles away from RYK (a very far distance considering the limited communication) and he also said that in his place too everyone had heard of it

    smerel
    Participant

    >>>The kefirah is believing in another, independent power besides Hashem.

    Believing that Hashem gave people bechira to the extent that he does not restrain them even when they are causing an outcome he does not want to happen is not believing in another, independent power besides Hashem. Someone would have to believe that he CAN not stop them to be believing in another, independent power besides Hashem.

    in reply to: Reason for the Spanish Expulsion & Inquisition: Secular Education #2205509
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>The ramban doesn’t say that the mitzriim did so independently; he aays that they went beyond the gezerah of avdus, but there obviously is a new gezerah,

    Where did you see that in the Ramban? He seems to pretty clearly say otherwise
    וזה טעם דן אנכי שאביא אותם במשפט אם עשו כנגזר
    עליהם או הוסיפו להרע להם

    seems to be clearly saying that they added on the gezera on their own. If there was a new gezara then what does הוסיפו להרע over the gezeira mean?

    I’m not going into the whole question of whether the Ratzon Hashem that (a) should have bechira would allow him to harm (b) even when (b) wouldn’t have otherwise been harmed is a possibility or not. I’m well aware that there are different views on this and the sifrei musser take the view that the answer is no. You however seem to believe that saying the answer is yes is kefira. What are your sources for that?

    smerel
    Participant

    >>> it definitely is kefirah to think that the fate of the jewish people depends on the bechirah of goyim.

    Claiming that believing that goyim have the bechira to kill a large percentage of kllal yisroel is kefira needs solid mekoros for it to have any weight.

    Do you believe that the Nazis did NOT have bechira? Do you believe with 100% certainty that had they done nothing everyone would have been killed and experienced that suffering some other way?

    The Torah very clearly says that Klal Yisroel would be enslaved but the well known Ramban (Breishis 15:14 says they had the bechira to be more benign and that the MURDER of Jews committed by the Egyptians (like throwing the boys into the Nile) was something they had complete bechira over .. Among many other sources that would support the concept of goyim having bechira to decide the fate of a large part of klal yisroel like the case of the holocaust. There are Rishonim who give other reasons for why the Egyptians were punished but no one who argues on the Ramban and those who say like him so strongly.

    What is your source for saying that believing that goyim have bechira to determine the fate of a large part of klall yisroel like the holocaust is kefira?

    smerel
    Participant

    >>>I understand how survivors often are upset at the idea that the Holocaust was a punishment. We can’t judge people who went through that gehinnom. But what excuse to armchair philosophers online have? It’s total kefirah to say that suffering is just mikrah, pointless, random

    You lost me here. How do you get from saying that the holocaust was not (necessarily) a punishment to saying it was just mikrah, pointless, random etc. I’ve never heard anyone express the latter view. The closest I’ve heard anyone come to saying that is saying the Nazis were people with bechira who used it the wrong way with the holocaust as a result. That certainly isn’t kefira.

    in reply to: Question of an ignorant, closed-minded Lubavitcher #2204938
    smerel
    Participant

    Part of the reason why Chabad generated so much controversy is because they insist on inserting themselves everywhere. Including where they clearly aren’t wanted .e.g. Other groups don’t advertise their leaders yartzeit in publications read primally by non members and opponents. Of course the message in the publications meant for outsiders is very different from what is said in venues intended for internal consumption….

    As a secular historian who got it very right about Chabad put it . In the 1950s Chabad developed an attitude of being accountable only to Rebbe. They were willing to do things over such vehement opposition of other groups that no other Orthodox group would ignore. As time went on this led to serious problems among the movement, most serious of which was the borderline deification of their rebbe.

    My father still remembers how in the 1950s some of the elderly Chabad Chasidim who he knew and still respects, strongly denied Chabad would go down the messianic route .

    in reply to: The Liozna Rebbe #2196119
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>The Rebbe often discussed the questions that were asked in the kovtzim, and clarified and answered.

    If he felt like answering he did. And if he choose not to he did not. No one in Chabad was able to challenge him personally on what he said. No one asked him kashes on a shvera sugya or tosfos in a venue where he was being put on the spot. Certainly no one went over to him and asked him “how could you say …when…?” And I don’t mean question him a hostile way. I mean not even in the derech of talmidey chachomim discussing the sugya.

    in reply to: The Liozna Rebbe #2195732
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>if you want to know about the rebbe, learn his 200+ seforim on all parts of torah,
    בבלי, ירושלמי, מדרש,קבלה,חסידות וכו

    if you want to know about the rebbe read a sefer like Al Hatorah V’al Hetumrah or Im Nosi yechta . They have have avey nice synopsis of his writing along with “he’oras” .

    The Rebbe was a very learned person but he did write anything on the daf and was not known to be a lamdam or an amkan. He did not speak ot people in learning. It was expected in Chabad that you accepted whatever he said. No one asked him kashes on it

    in reply to: The Liozna Rebbe #2195593
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>So Mrs. Shneerson was fluent in Russian? Interesting, I thought she spoke Yiddish.

    No one ever claimed that she and her husband weren’t fluent in Russian. In Chabad the many languages her husband spoke is a source of pride. She even corresponded with her father in Russian in the 1920s (presumably because it was easier to find a Russian speaking censor so the letters had more of a chance of getting to their destination that way)

    Her primary language was Yiddish

    in reply to: The Liozna Rebbe #2195580
    smerel
    Participant

    Even in Chabad I don’t think they claim the Rebbes wife worked for the NYPL system anymore. I’ve seen Chabad documentaries about her none of which make such a claim. She is now descried as “the quiet woman behind the scenes”

    One general observation that comes from reading pro and anti Chabad books about the rebbe is that no one really knew him. Not just after he became rebbe. He and his wife were about 50 at the time, yet in all the pro and anti Chabad books about his activity before he became rebbe not one ever mentions any friends that either of them had. Plenty of people came in and out of his life in various business or academic type relationships . None of them claimed to have been personally friends. Or mention anyone else who was friends with them. No one had any stories of the rebbe attending a simcha because back in Russia…Berlin…Paris… etc

    After he became rebbe it was even worse. He did not have any talmidim in the sense of someone who could discuss the kashas he had on what was said by the sichos with him. Even R’ Yoel Kahn was not free to talk to him without permission from his secretaries. Leibel Groner claimed that in all the years of being gabbai, not once did he ever initiate a conversation with the rebbe. Let aloe those who had limited access to him

    in reply to: Trump Voters #2195563
    smerel
    Participant

    I’m not voting for Trump anyway but you can add on all the indictments and possibly convictions that you want and they still would not be my reason for not voting for Trump. If anything they would make me MORE likely to support him .

    Trump’s enemies are no more honest or less corrupt than he is, their endless efforts to indict or convict him, frequently by means of outright falsehood if not crazy double standards, to a certain degree make him the lesser of the two evils.

    That said I’m still not voting for him. If the issue is Trump vs. the Democrats endless efforts to indict then Trump is the better person. If the issue is Trump in general then he remains a first class jerk who can’t be trusted

    in reply to: Bridging the Gap Between The Torah World and MO #2195527
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>I left the MO world the day I went for my YU interview and saw posters of model’s hanging in the dorms. I realized you can’t be both a yeshiva and a university.

    I’m not sticking up for YU or the MO world but in fairness and accuracy the type of people who hang up pictures of modelsin the dorm are probably not in the YU Yeshiva program anyway. They are probably either in The James Striar of Isaac Bruer program at YU neither of which claim to be a Yeshiva. Those programs justify their existence and lack of religious observance by SOME of their students saying that if we did not offer them this framework they would be in a lot worse environment (James Striar focuses on those who did not grow up frum and try to be mekarav them) Whether they are right or wrong or whether even if they are right, those programs should be located on a separate campus , is a different question but they don’t in essence disprove any validity to YU and MO

    in reply to: Bridging the Gap Between The Torah World and MO #2194882
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>Could there be some sort of rabbinic board that connects the frum YU type and the Yeshivish Velt.

    What for? Other than having members from both groups what other function would that rabbinic board have?

    There isn’t any internal apparatus preventing a MO rabbi from becoming a member of Agudah if he wanted to. There isn’t any internal apparatug preventing a Yeshvish rav from joining the RCA either. There isn’t any internal apparatus preventing members of both groups from joining the hisachdus. The reason why they chose not to do so is why their won’t be such a rabbinic group either. The people involved have too much uncommon ground to be in a joint group without friction with other members ever coming up. Therefore better not to try to begin with.

    There are venues that venues that representatives of Agudah, the hisacdus and the RCA all attend when there is clear common ground.

    in reply to: A Chief Rabbi Attends the Coronation in a Church? #2187684
    smerel
    Participant

    For the past 150 years the chief rabbis of England have attended ceremonies in churches when the following two conditions were met (1)the invitation was coming directly from the office of the king or queen themselves and (2)the ceremony in itself was a secular one.

    There are poskim who hold that the prohibition of entering a church is only during times of worship (minority view)

    in reply to: Trump Indicted #2179575
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>For those not sure that this is fair… Look up John Edwards. 10 years ago, John Edwards, a Democrat, had his Presidential campaign undermined for such behavior and then faced criminal charges in North Carolina over this.

    No comparison between Trump & Edwards . Edwards paid one million to his mistress out of campaign funds and did not report it. Therefore he had the standard investigation into misuse of campaign funds that is common.

    Trump for his part was using his own money from The Trump Organization. He booked it as legal fees. Even assuming that was incorrect that would only be a misdemeanor. Therefore they are claiming that is also helped and was a part of his campaign to drag felony charges into it.

    Had Edwards spent a million dollars of his own money he never would have ended up in court.

    (Another difference is that Edwards was using his terminally-ill wife and his alleged devotion to her as a campaign prob while fathering a child with his mistress during the campaign. Trump for his part never denied being a first class jerk. At least in his personal life . Therefore the intrinsic argument of deception and advancing your campaign with hush money is inherently a weaker case against Trump )

    in reply to: Teen Violence in Lakewood #2170728
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>Are we going to pretend it doesn’t exist and hope it goes away or do something proactive?

    Other than giving opinions what else are you volunteering to do?

    in reply to: Quick Quote about Older Singles from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin #2163135
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>They tell me things like: You should not be so picky!
    (Do they suggest that I marry someone with whom I do not feel I will get along?)
    “You might have missed your bashert!”
    (Great! What can I do about this now?)

    The above is the famous opinion of the Steipler . I know someone who asked those questions directly to the Steipler himself. The Steipler answered that after enough  years  of going out and not finding anyone who you think will work out  it’s time to realize that this  isn’t working. The person should  have their parents find a Shidduch who they think will work for  them. Meet briefly to make sure there is no major aversion and if not just engaged.

    Note the Steipler did not actually give this advice to anyone that I know. He was talking in theory. In any  specific situation he may have said otherwise.

    But the point remains. A  person reaches a certain point where their continued refusal to get engaged to anyone they are meeting makes the risk of an unhappy marriage because their parents will make the wrong choice smaller than the risk of their not getting married or their getting married in ten years to someone a lot worse than who their  parents would choose for them now. 

    smerel
    Participant

    >>>if she thought an attempted kidnapper was on the loose, even if her own son was safe, it certainly is a pikuach nefesh situation.

    Falsely reporting someone for kidnapping is also causing a pikuach nefesh situation. Just imagine how this story would have ended if there didn’t happen to have been a video camera in the shul.

    in reply to: I Worked For The State… #2158619
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>If you say you’re a racist and or against the American government you won’t have to serve

    DON’T try this. The judge can decide that you are in contempt of court if you do. Then you are really in hot water.

    in reply to: Differences between newspapers and Jewish news sites #2153690
    smerel
    Participant

    Because the newspapers hold themselves to a much higher standard of frunkeit than the online venues.
    I can think of many think that online venues allow that the newspaper wouldn’t. Conversely I never heard hear of anyone getting chizuk from an online venue but I have heard people express that about certain newspapers.

    in reply to: George Santos – NY District 3 #2152018
    smerel
    Participant

    On a political and moral level I would place him along AOC because they both campaigned on similar lies pertaining to their background but not necessarily their policies. AOC campaigned on being “the girl the Bronx” when she really grew up in the suburbs (to escape the policies she tries to implement)

    On a political and moral level I would also place him as high above Joe Biden whose entire essence of his campaign and self description was deception about who he is and how he would govern. Biden claimed to be a “moderate, a consensus builder who leans across the aisle who will restore civility to American politics and honesty and integrity back to the Oval Office”

    And of course Biden also told the same type of lies about his background and experience. He claimed his house was destroyed in a fire, that he was a civil rights activist who was repeatedly arrested (noting to be proud of) that he was an award-winning student who earned three degrees and many many other lies

    in reply to: Quick Quote From Yankel Feferkorn #2152019
    smerel
    Participant

    Which yeshiva(s) did Yankel Feferkorn attend?

    Where is he these days?

    in reply to: Is the Torah against venting? #2151589
    smerel
    Participant

    The question is discussed in the poskim including the CC Hilchos Shemiras Halashon 6:4. It is beyond the scope and the wrong forum to discuss this online so ask your LOR

    One thing is certain however. Not only is venting Loshon Hora online not permitted doing so has a terribly destructive personal effect on the people who do so.

    Say the question in the OP of “So, ideally, how is a Jew supposed to express their negative feelings in a healthy way?” were asked in a non-Jewish venue as “ideally, how is a someone supposed to express their negative feelings in a healthy way?” constructive people would not answer “start venting to other people all about some of the world’s problems that you have come across”

    in reply to: Going down the wrong street #2148680
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>Your making a good argument. But there are even better arguments.

    Without articulating what they are you aren’t really saying anything other than expressing a belief.

    I’ve read many, many anti-Israel articles and pretty familiar with the anti- Israel view. Even so I’ve yet to see anyone even TRY to make an intelligent argument that Israel has the ability to achieve peace by giving in to Palestinians without in – best case scenario – taking serious risks to the lives of Israelis for a questionable commitment of peace.

    in reply to: Going down the wrong street #2148574
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>For now forget the exact words Kuvult used.

    No. Doing that I may as well ignore his entire post . Which reminds of some of the vitriolic bloodthirsty antisemitism I’ve seen anywhere .

    >>>The point is, that one can be totally pro-Israel and still acknowledge the truth.

    By “truth” you actually mean the opinion widely held by the anti-Israel crowd.

    >>>And the idea that Israel might be in a weak position to defend itself, is not really true.

    Why, do they do such a great job defending themselves against Gaza missiles that you want more and larger borders of that nature (I happen to still support the Gaza disengagement but the West bank is a very different situation)

    >>>When you say that Israel has a right to defend itself, a proponent of a two-state solution can respond that Israel can defend itself enough from any invasion.

    Missiles from Gaza aren’t an invasion. The pro two state solution crowds protests when Israel responds even to that. Just imagine if that were the case with all of the West Bank.

    None of this however has anything to do with Kuvults post which was saying that people hate Jews because they have the nerve of not wanting to do something that they think can get them killed. Such antisemitic is usually something you only see on the most blood thirsty antisemitic sites

    in reply to: 2 States #2148408
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>Modern, no one said everything was perfect before the zionists came, but it was nothing compared to Europe.

    While the entire Jewish population of Eretz Yisroel was so small there were fewer people to start up with and kill. On a proportional level things were not better than in Europe at the time. They certainly couldn’t come close to how much better countries like say Germany were treating their Jewish residents at the time

    in reply to: Going down the wrong street #2148409
    smerel
    Participant

    Dear N0mesorah,

    I’m clueless about what you are trying to say. Can you explain in terms that even I can understand?

    in reply to: 2 States #2147856
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>can anyone give attention to the question, if pali got their own state,…Would it be better for Israel to give them a country in that case?

    Look at the Lebanon wars and the Gaza wars for the answer to that question. There is no way Israel can just obliterate or even successfully win a war against a hostile neighboring country that is constantly attacking them.

    in reply to: 2 States #2147758
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>Mdd, why did the arabs almost never bother the old yishuv, for centuries?

    They didn’t? That isn’t the picture you get when reading about life in Eretz Yistoel in the 1800s. But of course when neither group had any interest in ruling there was less friction.

    >>>The Arabs didn’t “start” it; foreigners came to their area and looked as though they were going to take over. The chalutzim started it.

    By that logic the main Arab issue should have been with the British Mandate who indisputably came as foreigners and did – not just looked they would – take over

    >>>It’s not “lefty” historians, it’s literally the government archives etc.

    Not really. In any conflict you going to find ways to fault some of the behavior of some on both sides but no serious unbiased historian agrees with the “Arabs were minding their own business… the Zionists came… the Zionists then did… that you are trying to peddle.

    >>>Why are you surprised that a group which killed its own, as in the altalina, and were said by rav chaim to he rotzchim in the 1910, would kill goyim unjustly?

    Without going into the details or defending anyone they didn’t just open fire on a rival group because they were blood thirsty. Most countries would have acted similarly during the Altalena story. The reason Rav Chaim (allegedly) gave for calling Zionists Rotzchim would be true about most secular Jews. No reason to single the Zionists out.

    >>>Why jump to defend them?

    Because those who make these type of arguments are usually using them to justify murdering Yidden today over seventy five years later. As Rav Yakkov Kametsky said the Neturey Karta who run around doing Arab propaganda are Rodfim

    in reply to: Dealing with confusing relationships #2147607
    smerel
    Participant

    You need to speak to someone in real life but based on the way you are describing the situation you should stop running after them and try to find others instead

    The Gemara Bava Kamma 92B brings the following common expression קרית
    חברך ולא ענך רמי גודא רבה שדי ביה

    If you called to your friend and he did not answer you, throw a large wall at him

    The expression actually means not to help those who spurns your offers of help and the Gemora points that there is a posuk saying the same thing but the literal meaning is also an important piece of advice. There is just a limit to how much you an run after people to be their friends. For now let things cool off and then see .

    But as above you should ask someone in real life who knows the situation

    Hatzlacha.

    in reply to: 2 States #2147605
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>In theory, if Israel would agree to create a state for the palis, what would happen.

    Put it this way. I’ve read many, many anti-Israel arguments and comments. I’ve never seen anyone even TRY to make an intelligent argument claiming that Israel has the ability to have peace by making concessions and giving away land to the Palestinians.

    Even the antisemitic one dimensional pro Arab arguments rewriting history claiming that Israel is 100% at fault for the current situation , the Arabs were just minding their own business until vicious Jews/Zionists came and started up with them etc… still don’t try to intelligently and credible argue that Israel today could change the situation if they wanted to

    in reply to: Going down the wrong street #2147604
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>The Palestinians with some automatic rifles & crude rockets are a non threat.

    >>>This is what bothers people about Israel (& Jews)

    >>>Yet we’re crying to the world like Israel is on the verge of being destroyed & people resent that.

    This is from the most anti-Semitic posts I’ve seen on YWN for a while (and I’ve seen plenty of antisemitic posts here)

    The prospect of Palestinians having a Gaza like border across much of Israel with the easy ability to shoot missiles and for terrorists to get across? How dare those filthy Jews cry over a thing like that. That is we resent them….

    in reply to: Most Important Issue of 2022 #2146863
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>Because I read the stuff in the CR and I ask myself “THIS is what people are arguing about???”.

    If that’s the way you feel don’t read the CR at all. I don’t disagree that not everything in the CR should be read or said but when I sense that a thread is going to devolve into serious aveiras (usually leitznos not Loshon Horah I stay off it. ) K’shem S’Mitzvha lomor dovor hanishma kach mitzva shlo lomor dovor h’aino nishma. No one here is interested in musser from me or you.

    >>>Like seriously, there’s nothing better to do than to waste your time bashing Chabad.

    You can take that complaint to many Gedoley Olam. Including your namesake Rav Ovadia Yosef who also strongly criticized certain aspects of Chabad.

    >>>Or wondering if a certain sefer is pastnisht.

    That is the type of thread I didn’t open because I’m confident that not all the comments approached the issue with proper seriousness but I’m confident the issue wasn’t “pastnisht” As above some of those who signed against it are Gedoley Olam. Your comment is seriously belittling them and inviting Loshon Horah and motzey shem ra

    >>> But all the insults, the put-downs, the Loshon hora, the judging.

    This reminds me of the expression “If only the ears could hear what the mouth is saying” . Your OP is not full insults, put-downs, and judging???

    in reply to: Chasidus Without Context #2146770
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>Is this really the biggest issue facing Klal Yisroel in 2022??

    99.999999% of what people hock about on and offline aren’t really the biggest issues facing Klal Yisroel in 2022. Do you repeat this comment multiple times a day? Do you only talk about the biggest issue facing Klal Yisroel in 2022?

    in reply to: Going down the wrong street #2146617
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>Anthony blinken is supposed to be the keynote speaker for j street

    Firstly he already was and secondly he was the least hostile to Israel of the speakers. There were also seven Democrat congressmen who spewed straight anti-Israel vitriol. Blinken for his part said that the US would judge Isreal based on it’s policies not based on who is in it’s next government . But his speaking at a venue as anti Isreal as J Street was widely understood to be saying what Rabbi Zweibel said by l’havidil the Aguda convention about dealing with the American government as a frum organization: It brings to mind the posuk in that weeks parsha
    וַיַּ֥רְא יַֽעֲקֹ֖ב אֶת־פְּנֵ֣י לָבָ֑ן וְהִנֵּ֥ה אֵינֶ֛נּוּ עִמּ֖וֹ כִּתְמ֥וֹל
    שִׁלְשֽׁוֹם
    Blinken spoke at J Street to make the Israelis get the same hint. As a diplomat he was careful not to actually say it but left it to the other Democrat congressmen speaking there to do so

    in reply to: Anti-semitism: Republicans vs Democrats #2145788
    smerel
    Participant

    The poll is meaningless. Had it been about Biden meeting with anti-Semites like Farrakhan you would probably get even more lopsided results with Republicans opposing and Democrats supporting

    in reply to: Is a Kashrus Agency the Moral Police? #2142679
    smerel
    Participant

    How is not giving a hechser to an establishment where bad behavior will take place make someone into the moral police? That is no more being the moral police than not selling matches to a little kid.

    in reply to: Who You Enable by Voting Democrat #2142634
    smerel
    Participant

    Whose life would have been saved had the Warsaw Ghetto uprising not happened?

    Had those in the ghetto had arms (1) it would have had a lot better chance (2)many people would have been able to escape the ghetto altogether.

    While there is some debate whether Rav Menachem Ziemba and other Gedoley Torah in the ghetto supported it absolutely no one claims to have heard from them that they oppose it

    in reply to: Does Hashem Want Us to Survive? #2142582
    smerel
    Participant

    How many Chasam Sofers, Reb Akivo Eiger or Avnei Nezers were there in the previous generations? Versus the simple folk who seem to have been a lot less learned than the simple folk of todays generation.

    in reply to: Who You Enable by Voting Democrat #2142495
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>The Nazis did what they did despite the “partisans”

    How many partisans were there to cause a German loss ?

    The partisans never faced mass Nazi roundups and mass murder. It would not have been something the Germans would have spent so many soldiers on. The partisans had a lot higher survival rate than those who weren’t partisans.

    in reply to: Does Hashem Want Us to Survive? #2142497
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>We don’t even reach the ankles of our Elter Zeidas and Bubbes in Yiddishkeit.

    Perhaps you don’t but I can think of plenty of people who are Talmidey Chachomim and Yorey Shmoyim whose great-grandparents were total Am Haartzim and who were not particularly frum. While it can’t be judged who Hashem values more given the respective circumstances faced by both groups on an external level it doesn’t seem correct to say that the current generation does not have many who far surpass their great-grandparents in Yiddishkeit.

    in reply to: Who You Enable by Voting Democrat #2142442
    smerel
    Participant

    >>> If Jews were armed in Europe, they couldn’t outshoot the Nazis.

    Perhaps not but the Nazis and their collaborators would not have had the manpower to deal with an armed group resisting nor would they have been willing to deal with the amount of casualties that group could have caused.

    Tomos Nefsey Im Haplisitim

    in reply to: Who You Enable by Voting Democrat #2142250
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>The handouts should be a temporary springboard.

    If they were I would strongly support them too. But that isn’t remotely what they are.

    in reply to: Who You Enable by Voting Democrat #2142102
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>When we talk about toeiva isn’t it a toeiva to hear the views above about helping the less fortunate through your taxes?

    There are no liberal groups who preach giving YOUR money to the less fortunate. They preach giving OTHER peoples money away to do so . They talk about the obligation “society” has to avoid taking responsiblity as individuals to help others

    It is a toeiva to hear people talking about helping themselves through OTHER peoples taxes. And it is certainly no Mitzva to forcibly take money from one person to help another.

    Gezel is a teoiva too. ..

    The gemara does not give it that as one of the explanations for what “Chesed L’Umim Chatas” means but I was told there is a Medrash that says “Chesed L’Umim Chatas” is because they consider forcibly taking money from “A” to give to “B” to be an act of “chesed”

    in reply to: Who You Enable by Voting Democrat #2142077
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>The sink and swim mentality of the Republicans is not Torah view.

    It’s not?

    Azov Tozev is only when the person is making his own effort. And it is true that most poskim agree that you have to support a ani who is too lazy to work they don’t suggest it on a societal level. I was also told by Rav Tuvia Godstein ztz’l not to give tzedoka to someone who says he can make more money collecting than working (ask your own shaalos!) I know of plenty of people who say they don’t work because they make more off the programs

    And politicians obtaining or staying in power by giving other peoples money to those who will vote for them is certainly not the Torah view. In fact the Gemorah gives that practice as one of the meanings of “Chesed L’Umim Chatas”.

    in reply to: Who is a bigger threat in America #2141926
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>As a famous Rabbi used to say, “May Hashem save us from both Jesse [Helms] and Jesse [Jackson].”

    There is zero comparison between the two people. Helms did not go around spewing anti-Semitic drivel like Jesse Jackson did. He was also nominally involved in helping Soviet Jews as well as being very Israel.

    Like any prominent right wing figure the left accused him of being a racist but he certainly never openly espoused hatred or used us against them talk like Jackson did.

    in reply to: Who is a bigger threat in America #2141923
    smerel
    Participant

    >>>A study in 2020 identified 893 terrorism incidents in the US since 1994. In that period no deaths linked to antifa were identified yet 329 murders by white extremists or other right-wing extremists were identified.

    I’m suspicious of these type of studies to begin with but anyway as liberals love to say that is a deflection. Antifa is not the only left wing group that goes around killing people, nor or Antifa the only danger presented by the left wing. Most importantly it ignores the high murder rate, crime and anarchy in places where the left control even when the murders aren’t racially or politicly motivated.

    >>>So instead you have to revert to claims about how the left loves BLM or Antifa and the right is against White Supremacists

    I’m not reverting to any claims . Bottom line is “defund the police” was widely adopted among the left and tolerance for the BLM remains strong. The perpetrators were mostly slap on the wrist punishments if even that.

    >>>Of course, make sure you note the US is roughly 14% black versus about 60% white.

    Whoa! For a liberal that is an implicit shockingly racist statement. Why the automatic assumption that the far left in the US would only be coming from the 14% black population? In fact I think the white liberal colleges are far more likely to be the breeding grounds and organizational apparatus of the far left taking power than the black community.

    in reply to: Who is a bigger threat in America #2141851
    smerel
    Participant

    Neither of them are Tzadikim. The results of the extreme right or the extreme left taking over are always almost the same. BUT there is no serious threat of the extreme right taking over in the US. The demographic that could or would join it is simply too small to ever take over.

    Conversely the threat of the extreme left taking over the US during the next few decades is a real possibility. It is a clear and present danger r’l

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