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This past Shabbat, I visited a family that has many guests.
When the time came for dessert, they served iced cream.
Since I cannot eat dairy foods, checked the box, to verify that it was pareve.
I could not find a kashruth symbol, even after inspecting the box many times.
I showed the box to the host & hostess,
who also could not find any kashruth symbol.The iced cream was taken back, and thrown in the garbage.
125 st said:
“Nach should be taken out. It’s not Torah.”
MY RESPONSE:
What “125 st” said above is one of the most ignorant statements that I saw in my entire life.
For your information, any Jew who says that ONE WORD of Nach is NOT from HASHEM, that person is an Apikuris Gamur, and he or she is guaranteed to be eternally-banned from Gan Eden, no matter how many good deeds he or she did in his lifetime.
If Sefer Mishlei is not Torah, then why did: Rashi, Vilna Gaon, Malbim, Metsudath David, Ibn Ezra, Ralbag, Rabbeinu Yonah all write commentaries [peirushim] on Sefer Mishlei?
Everything that I just said about Sefer Mishlei is true for all of Nach.
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Midrash Tanchuma, Parshat Re-eh, chapter 1:“The wicked rebels of the Jewish People do not believe in the Neviim (Prophets) or the Cetubim (Divinely Inspired Writings).”
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Midrash Rabah, Seder Tisa, Parshah 41, Paragraph 5:Rabbi Levi taught in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish:
Just as a bride wears 24 different decorations,
a Torah Scholar must be diligent in all 24 books of Tanach.================================
Midrash Rabah, Seder Bamidbar, Parshah 2, Paragraph 10:Through the study of Torah, Neviim and Cetubim,
the Holy One Blessed Be He atones for him…================================
Midrash Rabah, Kohelet, chapter 1, paragraph 34:The Neviim and Cetubim [Nach] were given
so we should labor in them, and do mitzvot
and good deeds and receive reward.================================
Rashi commentary on Exodus/Shemot,
Parsha Tisa, chapter 31, verse 18:…A Torah scholar needs to be expert
in 24 books [of Tanach, which has 24 books].Rabbi Moshe Feinstein [ZTL ZYA] was accepted as the highest posek by BOTH the Chareidi Yeshivah World AND the Modern Orthodox.
So far as I know, he was the last Rabbi to hold that distinction.
This demonstrates how much the situation has deteriorated since his death in 1986 CE.Additionally, it is dangerous to say:
“Bridging the Gap Between The Torah World and MO”,
because it could cause the Modern Orthodox to believe they are NOT part of “The Torah World”.That is much more likely to push them farther away from Torah, than it is to draw them nearer.
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein [ZTL ZYA] once said that it is very important that EVERY JEW consider himself to be Orthodox, regardless of his level of mitzvah-observance.
Right now [May 2023 CE] Lubavitch has hundreds of posters in Brooklyn, placed where they can be seen by millions of people, most of whom are not Jewish.
These posters strongly suggest that Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson [the last Rebbe of Lubavitch] is alive right now, and that he is the Melech HaMashiach, right now.
This is very wrong, for many reasons.No matter how many things Lubavitch does wrong, they always have thousands of useful idiots who rush to defend them and justify the things they do wrong.
I wish that I also had thousands of useful idiots, who would rush to defend me, and justify me, no matter what I do wrong.
In March 2002, the Moetzes Gedolai Torah issued a public statement, which decreed that the Vort ceremony be COMPLETELY ELIMINATED, to reduce the cost of getting married.
That decree was published in Jewish Observer magazine, which was the official magazine of the Agudath Israel organization (at that time).
That decree was completely ignored, even by the most “Frum” Jews, and even by people who claimed total loyalty to “Daas Torah”.
Soon after, the decree was completely forgotten by almost everybody.
In March 2002, the Moetzes Gedolai Torah issued a public statement, which decreed that the Vort ceremony be COMPLETELY ELIMINATED, to reduce the cost of getting married.
That decree was published in Jewish Observer magazine, which was the official magazine of the Agudath Israel organization (at that time).
That decree was completely ignored, even by the most “Frum” Jews, and even by people who claimed total loyalty to “Daas Torah”.
Soon after, the decree was completely forgotten by almost-everybody [except me, because my special midah is that I remember things that other people forget.
Many people, both Jews and non-Jews, told me that I have a “photographic memory”].PS: We “Frum” Jews spend too much on liquor.
For helpful passport advice, please go to:
http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/coffeeroom/topic/important-advice-for-jews
You might want to include a few whole eggs in the chulent, some people like that.
To reduce excess gas: pre-soak the beans in water for 24 hours, then drain-out the water, then add new water, and then pre-soak the beans in water for another 24 hours.
I did this, and it removed the excess gas from the beans.
Is that is not possible, then use fewer beans.
“Rabbi Yisroel Reisman [a very respected Orthodox Rabbi] spoke out against those Jews who plan their vacations for locations like: Switzerland, France, or Italy where the people hate Jews.”
[He said:] “It would be better to visit the Land of Israel to benefit from its holiness and help our brothers economically.”
SOURCE: Flatbush Jewish Journal, 2010/6/17, page 32
The word “Gaon” is certainly over-used as a title for Rabbis.
When the word “Gaon” is over-used as a title for Rabbis, then those Rabbis who are not referred to as “gaon” are being indirectly demoted.
If my memory is correct, the Steipler Rav requested that he NOT be referred to as “the Steipler Gaon”.
If my memory is correct, the practice of over-using “gaon” as a title for Rabbis started with Chareidim, and only Chareidi rabbis are referred to as “gaon”.
YU / Modern Orthodox Rabbis are never referred to as “gaon”, no matter how much they know.
Donald Trump freed Jonathan Pollard –- something other presidents did not do.
Donald Trump was the ONLY President to have two Orthodox Jews as close advisors.
Donald Trump cut-off funding to terrorists, resulting in a big decrease in terrorist attacks.
Donald Trump showed that Jerusalem is Jewish, by moving the USA Embassy to Jerusalem.
(Something many other presidents promised, but never did.)And lots of other things that we must be grateful for.
When you rejoice over the downfall of Donald Trump,
you are rejoicing over the downfall of the most
pro-Jewish and pro-Israel president of all time.That makes you a wicked fool.
The G*D-of-Israel HATES ungrateful people.Our obligation as Jews is to give gratitude to those who helped us,
not to judge them for their flaws,
and certainly not to rejoicing over their downfall.Those who rejoice over the downfall of those who helped us
(like Donald Trump) they make Chillul HaShem,
because people will say:
“LOOK AT THOSE UNGRATEFUL JEWS!!”PS: Under Donald Trump, inflation was under-control.
Under President Joe Biden, inflation is out-of-control.The members of Israel’s Supreme Court were NOT ELECTED by anyone, yet they have the power to overrule ANY elected government official.
Even worse, nobody has the power to overrule ANY decision of Israel’s Supreme Court.
Israel’s Supreme Court has unlimited power and is not accountable to anyone.
In our times, the Mainstream News Media relentlessly attacks: the State of Israel and also Orthodox Jews and Orthodox Judaism.
If the Beth HaMikdash were fully-functional today, then the Mainstream News Media would attack it relentlessly. There would be many attack-articles (also known as Hit-Pieces) about cruel Jews slaughtering innocent animals.
There would also be massive protests against the Beth HaMikdash in all major cities.
The United Nations Organization (UN) would repeatedly condemn the Beth HaMikdash for slaughtering innocent animals, and also for excluding non-Jews from the Temple, and also for excluding non-Kohanim and women from the Avodah.
Many organizations around the world would boycott any business that sells things to the Beth HaMikdash, and also boycott any person who works the Beth HaMikdash.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) would issue arrest warrants against the people who work in the Beth HaMikdash for slaughtering innocent animals, and any other accusation they could think of.
The attack-articles, and the protests, and the condemnations, and the boycotts would be 365 days a year, and endless.
The countless enemies of the Beth HaMikdash would never get tired of attacking the Beth HaMikdash: they would attack the Beth HaMikdash again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again, forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever….
Since you are a high-level Yeshiva bochur, you must certainly be intelligent enough to understand that nobody can tell you where to find a shiur, unless we know WHERE you are located — unless you want us to recommend a telephone shiur or internet shiur.
“Rav Soloveitchick actually preferred the use of machine-baked matzot-shemurot to the traditional hand-baked version.
The risk of hand-baked matzot becoming chametz has not changed fundamentally in the past 3,000 years.
However, technological progress has resulted in a baking process that leaves almost no possibility of machine-made matzot becoming chametz.”
SOURCE: Rabbi Aharon Ziegler, The Jewish Press, 2009 March 27, page 31.
Rabbi Shlomoh Zalman Auerbach said this in Halichos Shlomoh, 1:95-96:
“It is better to pray Shemoneh Esrai sitting down than to stand in the aisle of an airplane, both because of concentration and consideration of others.”
FOUND IN: Relevance Pirkei Avot (page 107) by Rabbi Dan Roth, year 2007 CE, Feldheim Publishers
Go to a store that sells Jewish music; then ask the people who work there.
In year 2008, The Jerusalem Post published an article by Chananya Weissman, in which he suggested that:
If Jewish singles are expected to make Shidduch Resumes that they give to shadchanim, then shadchanim should make Shadchan resumes, that they give to Jewish singles.
In year 2007, The Jewish Press published an article by Chananya Weissman, where he said:
“Strange as this may sound, the occasional success makes it easy for shadchanim with haphazard methods to pass themselves off as competent, for singles to continue putting their fragile hope and energy into something that depletes them of hope and energy, and for our inertia-laden society to delude itself into believing the system is working pretty well. (After all, it worked for so-and-so.) As a result, change continues to be slow and tentative while the ranks of suffering singles continue to grow.”
In year 2020, Emes Ve-Emunah published an article by Chananya Weissman, in which he criticized shadchanim for abandoning older singles and the poor.
In that article, he also criticized shadchanim for not knowing the people they match, and for not trying hard enough.In year 2023, Chananya Weissman published an article on his web site, in which he pointed-out that shadchanim are one of the few professions that have no way of removing people who do not belong there.
In the same article, he also pointed-out that we sometimes reward failure by giving more money to shadchanim who do not succeed in getting Jews married; in any normal profession, people who do not succeed would be fired from their jobs, and thereby removed from a profession where they do not belong.
In year 2023, Chananya Weissman published an article on his web site titled:
“What Makes Someone a Good Shadchan?” Three quick quotes from that article:[1] “It is not the place of a shadchan to admonish people to settle for something that they don’t want. There is a fine line between offering advice and trying to control people, and many shadchanim trample over that line like they own the place.”
[2] “A good shadchan offers encouragement. A bad shadchan offers despair.”
[3] “It’s common for a shadchan to place someone on the front burner when they first meet them, make a haphazard attempt or two to fix them up, and then give up on them when it doesn’t work out. They admonish singles to never give up, yet they give up if they don’t get satisfying results from their initial attempt.”
If teenage Jews want to fight, then they should be organized into a neighborhood patrol, designed to defend places where we live from criminals and from those who hate us.
If my memory is correct, our Torah teaches that the Melech HaMashiach will be identified by Eliyahu HaNavi, and later confirmed by the Sanhedrin.
The opinions of ordinary people will not count, not at all.
The vast majority of Chareidim will never accept any candidate for the Melech HaMashiach who is Sephardic or a Baal Teshuvah or Modern Orthodox or Religious Zionist, even though there is no Halachic reason why those people should be automatically disqualified — but Chareidim have a very low opinion of those people, so they will never consider it.
Some people have health problems that prevent them from drinking even a small amount of liquor.
I strongly believe that the less liquor we drink, the more fortunate we are.
This is not just my personal opinion; it is support by numerous quotes from:
Tanach, Talmud, Rishonim & Acharonim, and mussar books.Rambam’s commentary on the Mishnah,
tractate Sanhedrin, chapter 10 says:“When the Mashiach dies, his son will rule after him,
and his grandson will rule after that.”CONCLUSION:
The Melech HaMashiach cannot be a childless man,
because he must have a son and a grandson who rule after him.Rambam does not mention Mashiach returning to life, after he dies.
At its annual convention in June 1996,
the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) declared that:“there is not, and never has been, a place in Judaism for the belief that the Messiah, a son of David, will begin a Messianic career only to experience death, burial, and resurrection before completing it.”
Yalkut Meam Loez commentary on Bereishit, perek 2 pasuk 7
(volume 1, page 245):“A person who has not been religious,
and then returns to the path of Torah
(a baal teshuvah) can be worthy of
such an additional soul every day.”In other words, Baal Teshuvah can have the extra Shabbat soul even during weekdays!
Yalkut Meam Loez was written in Turkey by Rabbi Yaakov Culi, who was born in year 1689 and died in 1732 of the Common Era.
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Dear WolfishMusings,If I guess correctly, you will soon be taking chemotherapy.
I might be wrong about this, but in my humble opinion, chemotherapy can do more harm than good.
I might be wrong about this, but I strongly suspect that chemotherapy harmed my mother, just as much as the cancer itself did, maybe more.
Sincerely,
SQUARE_ROOTThe Three Oaths [Gimel Shevuot] are misused by Satmar, because we did not come and conquer Israel by force (לא עלינו כחומה). Rather, it was given to us by the nations.
Now that we are in Israel, we have an obligation to defend ourselves.Also, Arizal stated that the Gimel Shevuot [Three Oaths] did not apply after 1,000 years of exile. Meaning we could have come up by force to conquer Israel after that.
But we did not even do that.The 16th Century Kabbalist, Rabbi Chaim Vital expressed the view that the Three Oaths were only binding for the first thousand [1,000] years of Exile.
Rambam [Maimonides] in his Epistle to Yemen specifically states that the Three Oaths are “metaphorical”.
It appears that Nachmanides [Ramban] implicitly REJECTS the Three Oaths as Halachically binding.
The Three Oaths are Agadic Midrash, and therefore they are not Halakhically obligatory [they are not legally binding].”
If the Three Oaths are Halachically obligatory, then where are they mentioned in Rambam or Shulchan Aruch?
I have never been drunk in my life, and I do not intend to start now.
In the 1980s, an elderly [retired] Torah scholar told me that “Halacha LeMoshe MiSinai” is not [always] meant literally, and sometimes means “a very old law”.
“We know that, if need be, we could pick up and move tomorrow to a state with an army and nuclear weapons.
This sense of security that the existence of Israel provides cannot be overstated.
It makes life in an uncertain Brooklyn or Toulouse possible.Anyone who denies this, I believe, is lying to you or to themselves.”
FROM: How to fight anti-Semitism (chapter 6, page 193)
by Bari Weiss, published by Crown in year 2019
in New York, ISBN 9780593136058 & ISBN 0593136055Democrats have made all these stupid wicked choices:
(1) Israel’s enemies over Israel
(2) Muslims over Americans
(3) socialism over democracy
(4) criminals over police
(5) illegal aliens over citizens
(6) atheism over All-Mighty G*D.============================
Caroline Glick said:“Over the past several years, Congress made several attempts to amend Title VI to include anti-Jewish discrimination. These efforts enjoyed broad bipartisan support.
But they were all blocked by members of the progressive camp inside the Democratic congressional caucus. Like the anti-Semitic boycott activists ostracizing Jews on campuses, the progressive lawmakers claimed that expansion of the protections of Title VI to include anti-Jewish discrimination would undermine the free speech rights of anti-Israel activists on campuses. That is, they said the rights of anti-Semites to preach anti-Semitism superseded the rights of Jewish students not to be harassed.”
SOURCE: Why American Jews slander President Trump
by Caroline Glick 2019/12/15 www (dot) JNS (dot) org============================
Ammiel Hirsch said:“The Democratic Party is increasingly tolerant of voices that are opposed to Israel’s existence…”
SOURCE: Prominent US Reform Rabbi Warns of Growing Anti-Israel Sentiments in Democratic Party
by the Algemeiner Staff, 2019/10/30============================
from Mosaic Magazine (2019/10/30):…the extreme progressive Democrats and their allies who try to delegitimize and demonize Israel have managed [to make commonplace] a set of mantras…
about the Israel-Palestinian conflict without questioning their veracity.For instance:
“Israel is or is bound to become an apartheid state or lose its Jewish identity”;
“Israel is a colonialist and racist state that illegally occupies Palestinian territory and builds illegal settlements”;
“Israel occupies Gaza”; [and other] nonsensical claims.
SOURCE: When It Comes to Israel, Moderate Democrats Are Now Under the Sway of Progressives
Jeremy Rosen [an Orthodox Rabbi] said:
“We were fooling ourselves if we thought that anti-Semitism had disappeared.
And if the left wing of the Democratic Party achieves dominance, you can be sure it will increase.”SOURCE: The One Easy Answer: Blame the Jews by Jeremy Rosen, 2018/11/27, The Algemeiner
==================================
“Writer David Steinberg identified 105 news stories written in the immediate aftermath of [Ilhan] Omar’s victory [as one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress], and not a single one mentioned that she believed Jewry possessed mind-control abilities or that Israel was evil.
No one called on the Democratic Party to distance itself from this rhetoric.”SOURCE: Here’s the anti-Semitism the Media Doesn’t Want to Mention by David Harsanyi, 2018/11/11, www dot NYPost dot com
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Jonathan S. Tobin [editor in chief of JNS] said:“If even a popular, pro-Israel Jewish Democrat like Adler was afraid to stand up to Ilhan Omar in his own city, then it’s not clear under what circumstance any member of that party would think they could afford to do so.
That means that the battle to quarantine an anti-Semite like Omar to the margins of American politics has been lost. Not only are she and Tlaib among the young rock stars of their party, they have far greater influence than anyone would have thought only a few months ago.”
SOURCE: Is it Ilhan Omar’s Democratic Party now? By Jonathan S. Tobin, 2019 May 22, www (dot) JNS (dot) org
==================================
Daniel Greenfield said:“The Democrats have made it clear that if they win the presidential election, they
will restore the flow of cash to the terrorists.”SOURCE: Loyal and Disloyal Jews by Daniel Greenfield, 2019 September 1, from SultanKnish on blogspot com
NOTE: The Democrats did win the election, and they gave around $950 million dollars to the so-called “Palestinians”, with another $50 million dollars soon.
“In January, Pew reported that liberal Democrats side with the Palestinians over Israel by a margin of nearly two to one. Conservative Republicans support Israel over the Palestinians by a margin of more than 16 to 1.”
FROM: Heeding Dem Warnings by Caroline B. Glick, 2018 May 25
==================================
Keith Ellison, an anti-Israel Muslim, became Deputy Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) by a UNANIMOUS VOICE VOTE of DNC members, according to Wikipedia.==================================
“…leading members of the Democratic Party like Keith Ellison and luminaries like Linda Sarsour openly espouse anti-Jewish sentiments and propagate anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, Democrats ignore, whitewash, deny and minimize the significance of the swelling chorus of anti-Semitism within their ranks.”FROM: The peril of Politicized Anti-Semitism by Caroline B. Glick 2018 June 22
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“Rising stars in the Democratic Party, including Rep. Ellison and Women’s March leaders Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour along with the Congressional Black Caucus embrace Louis Farrakhan, and defend his notorious, virulent hatred of Jews. They demonize Israel and its Jewish supporters.”FROM: The peril of Politicized Anti-Semitism by Caroline B. Glick, 2018 June 22
==================================
Mark Steyn said:“It is embarrassing that this nut [Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan] is a power-broker in the Democrat Party, and the media won’t cover it.”
FROM: Why don’t the media care about Democrats’ ties to Farrakhan?
a youtube video by Fox News, 2018 March 8,==================================
Shmuley Boteach said:“Even the American Jewish community is feeling more and more isolated as anti-Semites now openly walk the halls of Congress and parties that have previously been stalwart foes of anti-Semitism, like the Democrats, cannot muster the moral courage to condemn Jew-hatred specifically and unequivocally.”
FROM: Trump’s Love Affair with Israel and the Jewish People
by Shmuley Boteach, 2019 April 8, The AlgemeinerKitzur Shulchan Aruch, chapter 183, paragraph 3:
“Similarly with all other taxes, it is forbidden to attempt to influence a government official to excuse him, because through this, the burden is increased for other [people].
And whoever does this is called a betrayer [mosair].”