Kfb – what plants did the EPA close? Did they close them arbitrarily or because of the massive harm they were causing to local residents? How many jobs have been lost? By all accounts that I can find, the energy sector is going great, hiring is up. And coal ash and chemical are pouring into the rivers and drinking water here in the south. Go look up the recent press conference where the governor of West Virginia announced that the water was safe, but refused to drink it in public!

I took your google challenge. And as I suspected, the conservative media was distorting an otherwise innocuous statistic. Prisoners were not released. The ICE chose not to issue charging orders (criminal arrest and detainment) for 68,000 of the 195,000 undocumented immigrants that it encountered in 2013. The reason? Allocation of resources. Any undocumented person is a “criminal.” So the story was twisted into “Obama releases 68,000 illegal immigrant criminals.” Am I terribly concerned that a guy who works 12 hours a day to support his family and otherwise follows the law is still walking the streets, mowing grass or working in a chicken plant? Not really. You may be, and that’s a valid criticism. We just disagree.

Kfb – Your wish would come true if you read or listened to something outside of the conservative bubble. What your saying are complete distortions or just fiction. Since Pres. Obama came into office, he’s DEPORTED more illegal immigrants that any president before. When did he release convicted criminal illegals? Do you have a link? He’s not going to waste the ICE’s meager resources to round up law-abiding folks who are going to school and working and paying taxes. He’s focused resources on getting actual criminals. You may disagree with the policy, and that’s fine. But at least deal in facts. Same with VP Biden’s comments, do you have a link to prove that’s what he said?

The EPA hasn’t done anything to the coal industry, much to the dismay of the residents of West Virginia and North Carolina. Did you hear about the coal ash and chemical spills? 300,000 in each state without water for weeks? People getting sick? This is why the coal industry needs safety standards. And if we can convert those jobs to cleaner, cheaper energy, why not?! If someone is employed making solar panels in a factory or installing wind turbines, how is that worse than working in a coal mine? Once upon a time, the oil industry was new and required government subsidies to get off the ground. People were afraid they’d put the whale oil trade out of business and everyone would be unemployed. But the oil industry is now the most profitable on earth.

A bit of forward thinking and living in the fact-based world would make your dream come true, I promise. The budget deficit is 1/2 of what it was, taxes are down across the board, we’ve had over 50 months of job growth. Millions more people have health insurance. The stock market is 2 1/2 times what it was when he took office. Corporate profits are at all time highs. This is the worst socialist president ever!

As Torah Jews, we learn a sugya of Gemara, we’re trying to get pshat. What did Rebbi Shimon actually say? What were his words? Three people may disagree about what he said, but one is true and accepted. And those true words are what shapes the halacha.

First, decide if you’re talking about chilonim in Israel or non-orthodox Jews in Western Europe. How non-Israeli Jews feel about Israeli Chareidi Jews is irrelevant (unless you care about achdus) because they don’t vote in Israeli elections.

Second, chilonim, and dati leumi, and working yeshivish and chassidishe Jews complain about non-working chareidim for many different reasons. Some of it might be pure bigotry, like Republicans complaining about African Americans on welfare in the US, forgetting that most welfare recipients are White.

Most of it is out of frustration that the non-working chareidim are gaming the system. Anyone that considers him/herself an orthodox Jew learns Torah. Some may learn 8 hours a day, some 3, some an hour a week, some 10 minutes a week. But we all learn. We make time in our lives, as instructed by Chazal, to work and learn Torah. I won’t quote, but Pirkei Avos and the Rambam have very harsh words for Jews who choose not work and live off the donations of others.

Also, let’s not confuse secular with atheist. I believe shul attendance on Yom Kippur in Israel is somewhere nears 80-90%. I read a statistic two years ago. So while chilonim might not follow all of halacha, they recognize Hashem, the Torah, and the importance of religion. Before the Gaza military operation a few years back, one organization shipped in tzitzits for the soldiers. They ran out in minutes. Who took them and put them on before going into battle? The chilonim! The orthodox obviously already had tzitzit.

Many chilonim recognize that there is intrinsic value in learning Torah. If we treated kollel like a university and the students eventually came out to become teachers, dayanim, shul rabbis and kashrut examiners, no one would have a problem with the system or government support. These are professions. Professions where one can continue to learn 8 hours a day. Even if some students spent their lives doing nothing but learning because they were geniuses of their generation, I don’t think the chilonim would say a word. And chilonim do recognize that there is a Heavenly benefit for society when we learn Torah. Maybe not on the same level as us, but they get the concept.

Akuperman is wrong. University students in the US are not “unemployed” because they are considered workers not in the work force. They do not collect unemployment benefits. A few get government grants to study for a degree, most take private student loans. But they have a goal! To get a degree and get a better job! That’s good for the economy. The unemployment rate in the US for college graduates is under 4%!

Chilonim (and dati leumi and working yeshivish) don’t see a goal, economic or otherwise, for sitting in yeshiva on the government dole. If private parties want to support them, yasher koach! I donate to yeshivas also.

Let’s not mix concepts in an intellectually dishonest way to support and unsustainable system.

You can go to law school with a degree in opera. Seriously, the woman that graduated #1 in my law school class had a degree in opera. As long as your BA is from an accredited institution and you have the LSAT scores, you’re eligible to go to most, if not all, law schools. You also have to consider preparation… do you have a sufficient background in other liberal arts and social sciences subjects so that you’d thrive in the law school environment?

Why would you want to go to law school, that’s the question.

Say it quietly while the Sephardim are saying whatever tehillim they say at the end of davening before Aleinu. I also daven with a sephardi minyan, and we sometimes have to make these little edits.