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“I do it because it’s what I do, it’s what I was commanded to do, and that’s it. Reward?”
I’m not sure that this is a negative. If you look at it from a different perspective, you are doing it l’shem shamayim- because you are commanded, not to get a schar. that seems to me to be a very high level.
If you are feeling that you are just doing things by rote, then that is something else. But this does not sound like a spiritual issue, but rather an emotional one. It is the depression talking. If you couldn’t daven properly because you were terribly sick, lying in bed, would you think that you are a horrible person because you didn’t daven? So, too if depression is affecting your approach to mitzvos, it does not mean you are a rasha. I hope you can deal with the depression and see how valuable your mitzvos are.
I would have bet that it’s the same person too, even without coming across the H”H by MsPrincess, but what do we do with this statement by Sparkly: “no. i just started in the coffee room”? It is Elul, I am dan l’kaf z’chus that she would not say something not true, right SparklY?
I found her- she was Ms. Princess, and here is part of her old posts
“i am in a not jewish college to become i dont know something big in the med field right now doing the pharmacy field. i grew up being frum i live at home. i learn hebrew subjects bymyself… i am very confident of being very religious where i am.”
See what I mean about the similarities- maybe she’s your long-lost twin, Sparkly! She also has the same habit of emphasizing some words in all CAPS like you do.
When you say “lots” I assume you mean more than a 4 or 5. Why do you think there is this trend in your community to start college at 16- is there a lot of early admission? Is going to seminary/yeshiva in Israel not a popular option? Are there many HS drop-outs or homeschoolers? Is there an issue with the school system in your neighborhood why this would be so common?
It’s not amusing anymore. Yes, Sparkly we know what you are saying, and what everyone else is saying. that’s my point exactly- we’ve been saying the same things for 9 pages already! You are not convincing anyone that boys who smoke are OTD and they are obviously not convincing you that they are not, so why bother continuing this thread?
If Hillary becomes president and then can’t stay president due to health issues, we won’t have Hillary as president.
That’s assuming that there isn’t a cover-up to pretend that she is healthy. And there is precedent for sick/incapacitated presidents to stay on, as mentioned above. What could be worse than a president with AD? And he stayed on!
No the Princess I was thinking about was definitely more recent- I was not lurking 5 years ago. It really did sound like you, Sparkly, it’s funny that you know so many others like you- you seem so unique.
But still, why the “we” in your post?
Sparkly-“why do you want the thread to end? we still havent come to our conclusion. “
Yes we have, everyone has been saying the same thing over and over. Just maybe no one has convinced anyone else to change their minds.
nisht- “Kasher of a Maaser” -he means “a kashe (question) of a maa’seh (a story)”- i.e. you don’t ask questions on/delve too deeply into a story.
“It’s been my dream for a number of years now to suggest matzah-print duct tape to Duck Brand. It would be great for packaging all our Pesachware for the year. But I’m too lazy.”
cool.. we could use it to tape down the counter-top and stove-top coverings!
I wonder how many of you know why there is no turn on red in NYC (only in the city, outside it may be allowed unless otherwise posted).
During the energy crises in the 1970s, idling was considered a big waste of gas. so instead of making cars wait to turn on red, they (I think it was government mandated) said to turn as long as it was safe to do so. NYC begged for an exemption from this gas-saving policy on grounds that it was too dangerous in such an urban area.
WinnieThePooh – we opened it to discuss halachos.
Who is “we”- is Sparkly more than 1 person? Or is is the royal “We”?
Actually, your posts remind me a lot of someone who posted here about a year ago, her screenname was Princess or something royal like that, and if I remember correctly, she also did not go to HS, but was in college at a young age, and was interested in some sort of medical field. Was that you?
Yeah, and what about those annoying people who hold up all the cars behind them while they wait for someone to finish crossing the street at the crosswalk? Apparently that is just as bad, I’ve been honked plenty of times doing just that.
Health- do you have any? Been trying to make some in the lab by incubating sucrose with acridine orange, but while it gave off a nice glow under the microscope, it didn’t taste anything like honey. And then the people from Safety came and made a big fuss that I was eating inside the lab and wearing my red shirt and not a regular lab coat. Sigh. Life was easier back in the 100 Acre Wood.
It was worth agonizing thru 9 repetitive pages to get to DY’s last 2 posts- brilliant!
Perfect way to end this thread, no??? Please???
Sparkly: “i KNOW plenty more than lots of other halacha teachers. “
Then why did you open this thread?
“Not some common sense”- your work sounds very interesting and complex, and glad to hear that it does not become monotonous. Sounds like you do have a bit more than common sense and get to apply it daily!
Can you answer this question- what are the functional cellular effects of resveratrol metabolites? Literature has not been helpful.
Sparkly- Thanks for the advice, but “been there, done that”, my school days are long over. I have B”H been learning/practicing science for more years than you are alive, I think, but not as a pharmacist. There is always more to learn, which is why I love my job, it gives me opportunity to learn and think all the time.
Clinton’s episodes may really be no big deal, not many 68 year olds can keep up such a pace, and not even the left-biased media can change the fact that she is mortal and bound to get sick every so often. But being president is a demanding job and requires more than the usual stamina-it’s not like they’re spending all day on the golf-course or at Camp David. Yes, other presidents have had serious ailments, which were mostly covered-up while they were president (FDR’s fireside chats were on the radio, remember). It is doubtful that if the public had known the extent of their issues that they would have been elected or retained their positions. Reagan was a great president, but are we really ok with the fact that Nancy ran the show at the end when he was suffering from AD?
I’m glad CTL is here too- check out the description the mods gave me. CTL, Want to do victuals?
See mods, there are some other people like me who come from an era (translation: time) when being articulate (translation: write/speaks well) was considered an asset (translation: a good thing).
Borrower of Some Common Sense’s account:
This question may be coming ~20 years too late, and probably should have been asked way back when I was deciding career choices..anyway, how much of that course load does the typical pharmacist actually use in his/her daily job? I would imagine that the physiology is important – in terms of knowing drug side effects, combining medications, drug classifications and comparison of similar drugs would all be important, but are the other aspects that you mentioned relevant to the practicing (retail) pharmacist- like mechanism of action, formulation, etc. Does it stay interesting or does the routine of counting out pills, labeling bottles take over?
What would happen if Clinton is forced out before the election- due to health issues- would Kaine automatically become the nominee? Would Sanders let that happen? Would they need a new convention to officially pick someone? I’m not sure I would be happier with Kaine- he is very anti-Israel.
Why is Einstein the default example of a genius?
Sparkly: “since im VERY BAD at concepts is there any way to memorize and get away with it or will the understanding like chemistry, math, and physics still harm me? “
Memorization is needed for parts of orgo, but only so that you have the material in your head so that you can the apply your logic/understanding. You will not be able to get away with it just by memorization. I am afraid that if you found g-chem hard, then you will find orgo even harder, especially when combined with A&P and calculus, which obviously needs math/logic skills. Are you sure this is really what you want to do? Lately you don’t sound as positive as you did earlier on in previous posts.
Sparkly:
“I decided the reason why EVERYONE is having this conflict over which is worse if its smoking or watching a movie is because we come from different places and in different communities where we see things differently. where i live we think its worse to smoke than see a movie while like in israel its worse to see a movie than smoke.”
It took 8 pages of this thread rehashing the same points over and over to finally come to this very important point- everyone is different and one cannot judge others by a narrow view of reality! Someone can have different values or priorities and still not be OTD!
ZD you are right about proselytizing. That’s not what I had in mind. I have been around many non-Frum Jews long ago in school, now at work. I knew that people at work were very wary of the presence of a chareidi among them, because they thought I would want to forcibly “covert” them. But I also got many questions over the years, which I tried to answer and although no one became frum, at least I hope that I decreased the negative anti-Torah attitudes that they had before they met me. One story always makes me feel good. I was once trying to find a place to go for shabbos, it was Thursday and had run out of my usual options. In the end one of my regulars set me up by her married kids, who I didn’t really know. My co-workers, when hearing the details, were floored that someone would agree to host a stranger, and that I considered it perfectly normal. So that was a kiddush Hashem! Still, I always wished that I could have done more.
Artscroll’s purpose is to bring Torah to the masses, to those who otherwise would not be able to understand it on their own. I don’t think they or the gedolim that they rely on, would want kaballa to be brought to the masses.
Putting personal situations aside, I have a general question about kiruv. Kiruv mostly has been left to the organizations and professionals, many of which have been mentioned on this thread. But there also is a push for the average frum Jew to get involved, even without being a kiruv professional- the “Just one Jew” philosophy, where he can be a positive model of a frum Jew to his non-frum neighbors, co-workers, classmates, etc. from what many have said here, they would not agree with this, since the person doesn’t have the right training and support system in place. I’m not sure- can’t we all be ambassadors for Torah, and try to bring Torah into others lives..at least as a starting point so that they get interested enough to attend a more official outreach program?
I think even the frum person would gain this way, if he does think of himself as a 24/7 ambassador of Torah- will be more likely to grow in Yiddishkeit him/herself.
Sorry Health for pushing the point and lecturing. I posted before your concession came up. But I did think some pointers might be helpful to others following the thread who have no idea what we are talking about. It wasn’t meant only for you, sorry if it sounded too harsh.
Funny how a thread titled orgo and A&P has already gone onto the 3rd page.
I don’t think it’s good advice at all.
Who will be “m’karev” whom?
The idea is for Sparkly to be mekarev others. Yes there is a danger of being influenced by those you want to influence, or by leaving a more sheltered environment (see comments on NCSY above), but in this case, Sparkly is already in such an environment in a non-Jewish college, and having a kiruv goal in mind might ensure a proper perspective in her relationships with her non-frum Jewish classmates. Often when given a kiruv challenge, the mekarev grows too because he/she is forced to think about things that might otherwise be taken for granted.
Health- “But you made a simple mistake! mRNA is part of a macromolecule, not one itself!”
I don’t know what you are referring to- what part of what macromolecule is mRNA? Or in other words, what are the other parts of the macromolecule of which mRNA is allegedly only a part?
Just change the word macromolecule to “very large molecule” and see if this statement still makes sense.
Let’s get back to the basics again, without relying on Google.
nucleic acids are polymers of nucleotides, i.e macromolecules. these come in 2 flavors- ribonucleotides and deoxyribonucleotides, the difference being an OH or an H group on the ribose molecule within the nucleotide. If it is a polymer of the latter, then it is DNA. If the former, it is RNA. There are many kinds of RNAs with different functions. Viral RNAs encode genes, like our DNA does. mRNA is the carrier or messenger for the protein-code; it is transcribed from DNA, and is used by the ribosome to translate proteins. rRNA is the RNA component of the ribosome. tRNAs bring an amino acid to a specifc codon on the ribosome. Then there are “new” types that you will not find in a basic biology text-book, but of which researchers are becoming more aware of their importance: miRNA and siRNAs (short stretches of RNA that regulate gene expression), lncRNAs, snRNAs, asRNAs and many more.
Health
“It says molecule, Not Macromolecule!”
A great example proving how you can’t get a true understanding of a topic from googling.
A molecule is a combination of atoms. A large combination of molecules is a macromolecule.
Saying that mRNA is not a macromolecule because nucleic acids are macromolecules, is like saying that proteins are macromolecules, but not keratin or tubulin or hemaglobin or pyruvate kinase (all are examples of proteins).
Or in non-scientific terms:
John is a ___ (profession): Doctor would be a correct answer, but so would radiologist or neurosurgeon or podiatrist.
You can start small now, person by person, since you are in close contact with non-frum Jews, you have lots of kiruv opportunities.
and you can also use this time to grow and develop, learn as much as possible, so that you will have more to give when you are able to start your own organization.
Christopher Robbin. He always knows how to get honey 🙂
“what did you or would you do with a gap year? if your still single, and have NOTHING to do for a WHOLE year????”
“its for the WHOLE year that i have off!! but its for kids!! also hopefully ill be married by then h’h!!”
The premise of your question is if you are not married yet when you finish college. If “hopefully ill (sic) be married by then”, your original question does not apply. Although of course even then you would still have to find something to do before you start grad school.
If you are still single- I third the motion of learning in an adult program in E”Y. You have stated that you were home school and did not attend a frum high school, went straight to college. So you have not had limudei kodesh classes in quite awhile. You would gain a lot from them. Considering your current challenges in a non-Jewish college, I think you would find it so nice to be among other frum women, in a totally Jewish environment. It’s not necessarily putting your life on hold for a year- you can date in E”Y too. And what you learn would be a great preparation for life and marriage.
There might be learning programs in the US for young adults too that you can attend, if you do not want to go far away.
If not, or if you get married this year, you should re-consider a job. After another year of college, you will probably be more employable and might have better luck with finding a job in your field of interest. Your parents might be supporting you now, but you can always save for the future.
If you can afford to forgo the salary, you might have more options as an intern or volunteer. Another great idea if you want to explore research is to intern or work as a lab technician in a research lab.
Why is mRNA not a macromolecule?
A macromolecule is a large molecule made up of smaller building blocks. There are 4 classes of biological macromolecules: protein, lipids, carbohydrates and nucleic acids. By this definition only, the answer would be nucleic acids.
But RNA is one of two types of nucleic acids, so it is also a macromolecule.
Here’s some quotes to back me up:
Ribonucleic acid, or RNA is one of the three major biological macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life (along with DNA and proteins). (RNA society)
“I’m glad I live in chutz laaretz. Being that how can a person feel the Tom tov kedusha when 6 out of 7 days a person is allowed to do melacha.”
I guess you have never been to E”Y for a chag. Everywhere you go, people are walking around in shabbos clothing, chasidim in shtreimlach, spending time with family, visits to kosel (lulav and esrog in hand) special seudos, simchas beis hashoevas every night (on sukkos, obviously). Geula, usually a very busy shopping district, is quiet- stores are closed, there is a feeling of yom tov everywhere. It’s not strange to take off work or school for all of chol hamoed. Stores are stocked with chag-related items, even the bus drivers will wish you chag sameach. In chutz L’aaretz you need the extra day to achieve what comes naturally in Eretz Yisroel.
Hashem created the body and made disease. He also created man with a mind and wisdom and gave him permission to practice medicine (Ve’rapo yerapeh, ???? ???? Mishpatim, 21:19). Hashem created medicinal plants and antibiotics. Hashem made smallpox and cowpox, which essentially was the first (unintentional) vaccine. We are not outsmarting G-d, but fulfilling His Will.
Re the original quote, I don’t know what study shows that getting measles gives some sort of immunity to cancer, but I think it is more logical to conclude that these diseases protected against cancer, because once-upon-a-time people died young of bacterial infections and viral diseases before they could develop cancer!
That reminds me of a story I used to tell my kids, based on K’ton-ton (anyone remember him?). He was curious during davening, climbed up on the bima to inspect the shofar and fell in. Fell asleep while waiting to be rescued. Ba’al Tokeia could not blow, until he “cleaned out” the sleeping K’ton-ton.
Sparkly-Good luck. You really do have high idealistic aspirations, which is very admirable. But do you really think that once you are married with kids (full time “job”), and a researcher pharmacist working on the cure for cancer (full time job) that you will have more free time than you have now to work on this organization? Granted that you will be older and more experienced and better equipped for it if you wait, but single-hood has its advantages in terms of your time is not as divided in so many ways. Running a kiruv organization is probably a full time job, too, no?
I would also have answered mRNA, nucleic acid is general, could also include DNA.
Re pharmacists- I stand corrected that pharmacists do not do research; when I was investigating it, I never came across that option and was advised that to do research you need a PhD in a basic or applied science. I imagine that pharmacists that do research do further training beyond the BPharm? I know there are masters programs for pharmacy. But still, I imagine that the type of research that a pharmacist does is somewhat different than a PhD scientist, because of their different training backgrounds. Developing a drug for any disease will involve many steps- identifying the biological aspect that causes the disease, figuring out how to correct that, screening for/generating a drug that accomplishes that action, then testing the drug, studying its pharmacokinetics, mode of delivery, bioavailability, effective dosage, performing clinical trials, etc etc. I would imagine that the pharmacist would play a role in these later stage, but that is just a guess. I had previously thought this was the realm of pharmacologists. Sparkly, do you have more info on this?
Sparkly, I think it’s great that you want to do research to help cure cancer. But you should realize that pharmacists don’t do research- they dispense the medicines that other people have developed and tested. If you really want to do research, whether clinical or basic science, then you should consider a slightly different track- continue taking science courses at the undergrad level as you are doing, and then you would have to do a PhD program in biology, or maybe medicinal chemistry, but since you said you don’t like chemistry, I would think a biology track would be better. With an MsC, you can get a job in a drug company, for example, but you won’t be doing much- more technical work. You would need a PhD to do any real research- either in academia or in biotech/pharma. Or, to make things harder, an MD/PhD if you really want to do clinical cancer research.
I know all about this because once-upon-a-time I also considered being a pharmacist as a practical profession, but then realized that I really could not see myself standing all day putting pills in bottle. I also really wanted to do research, especially in drug action, so then I considered pharmacology, which eventually led me to my current field. I work for a basic biology lab that studies tumor suppressors and other processes involved in cancer. I/we have not found a cure for cancer, nor do we expect to, but we have contributed to the body of knowledge to help us understand how cancer and other diseases develop.
And by the way, long hair, even in a pony, in a lab is a hazard, you would need to put it up! (see, this wasn’t off topic afterall)
Long hair will also be problematic when you are married, both for being able to cover it adequately, and for mikve. Since you want to be married soon, you might want to get used to the idea of parting with the long hair.
I’m reading the Little house books to my kids now at bedtime. I wanted them to realize that the “olden days” is not just when Mommy was little. There are some great lessons there for kids-and adults- like being satisfied with what you have and grateful for the extras (like candy). Even the non-Jewish things- like how Sunday is described, was a springboard to show how different and beautiful our true shabbos is.
mild edit
But although I love kids’ books, there are adult books out there that are Kosher. I mentioned Austen because even though her books usually involve some female heroine and her romantic hopes, they were written in a time when morals were quite different, and they are sweet and innocent.
LU, I think people are just trying to figure out if this is a question they should answer.
“Yekke2, are you perhaps related to A A Milne?
Your comment brought his great body of work pleasantly to mind.
Of late, it seems he’d be a good author to recommend in these pages.”
I may just be a silly old bear, but I agree totally. Anyone have any honey?
If you want books written before ’80s-90’s, try Dickens or Austen.
I loved Anne of Green Gables when I was 11 or 12. Presumably, Sparkly is looking for adult reading, although I myself love reading the old children’s classics.
Sparkly, with your new really difficult classes and all this recommended reading, when are you going to have time for the CR?
Is this a hypothetical question (like the one about how to become more religious), or do you really want to know? If someone tells you that it is not tznius, would that matter to you?
Health
I am not talking about people with medical issues either. If someone knows they have a problem, they would have to tell. I just don’t think that women/girls should be obligated to find out if they have a problem- even if they are older. Women can still have kids well into their 40s, and it will vary for each woman. Ultimately, it is up to Hashem to decide who has children, and there is no guarantee that a 25 year old will have children either. Statistics might say something about older women and fertility, but Hashem is not bound by those statistics. As long as one does not test, one can hope for the best (and get medical help), and hashem can bring that about without it being considered an open miracle. But testing is just looking for problems, and should only be done if necessary after marriage. Yes, there will come a point unfortunately that a woman can no longer have kids, but that does not mean that older guys (45+) need only look for spouses that are under 30.
By the way, I did not mean to be judgemental about the guys- I was afraid someone would take it that way. I was just thinking, that the importance of the mitzva of pirya v’rivya should be just as pressing when they are younger, and that if men really feel the urgency of the mitzva, they might consider their options better when they are younger, so as to avoid the unrealistic scenario of expecting women to marry someone 10-15 years their senior. Girls in their upper twenties/thirties are told all the time that at their age they should not be “so picky” and they should think out of the box. Well, maybe guys at that age should also be told, that the mitzva is important, and to fulfill it, maybe they should start thinking out of the box too, instead of relying on the fact that they can always date girls in their 20s no matter how old they are. Just my humble two cents.
Lilmod-
the more I read your posts, the more I admire your strength and attitude. I hope this difficult stage passes soon, and that you do find your zivug, whoever he may be, and he will appreciate the wonderful person that you are.
Health:
“These assumptions make no sense. Either a person can have kids or they can’t. Any woman can be tested if they are still able to have children. I personally would go out with s/o my age, if they can prove they can have children!”
and
LU -“I do think it’s a problem when guys won’t go out with girls their own age or even a few years younger then them (in some cases”
Why is that a problem? That’s the reality!”
It may be reality, but it is still a problem- for the older girls whose dating opportunities plummet after a certain age, and for the older guys who insist on dating much younger girls, who turn them down because the guy is so much older! Yes the guy has a chiyuv to have children, but for some reason he did not feel that a pressing enough reason to get married all these years…
In terms of testing- without going into inappropriate content, fertility is quite complicated, depends on lots of factors, often in context of the couple, and there are B”H many solutions available today that can help what would otherwise seem hopeless. It would be a gross violation of tznius if this was asked before marriage. Plenty of younger women also have issues- should this then be a common requirement on a shidduch resume?
lightbrite: I think that you need to figure out who you are and where you want to be before you date for marriage. Then find someone who has similar aspirations- even if he is holding on a somewhat different level. meaning you both need to be on the same escalator going to the same floor, even if you are standing on different steps.
If you want growth and want to get closer to Hashem, then you need to find someone with similar values. It can be someone not-frum who wants to change, like you, or someone frummer who understands your challenges and will help you achieve the growth you want.
I think the message that everyone was trying to convey about b’shert is that it really is not something we should worry about. we just need to find the person who is compatible, who will help us to bring out the best in us. You are not davening for a specific person, but that Hashem should help you find the right person at the right time. In the meantime, you need to work on yourself to be the very best you can be. I don’t look at a shidduch as a prize to be won based on merits- more merits you have, better catch you get, or the sooner you find it. You need to improve yourself for your own sake. Then you will have what you need to bring to a marriage and complete your neshama with its missing half. And then you both work/grow together.
One more thing- Middos and Torah are hand-in-hand- we learn what are proper middos from the Torah, by doing mitzvos we develop proper middos. Without a specific set of guidelines (i.e. Torah) as to what are proper middos, truth can become very relative and things get very messed up.
Sparkly- Maybe you bit off more than you can chew. If you are taking very difficult classes, then take fewer credits that semester, or balance them with easier ones. Maybe you need a vacation-next year consider taking one instead of summer session. even if it takes a bit longer to graduate, it will be worth it if it keeps you from burning out.
Just wondering- you are very set in being a pharmacist. Why did you decide that if you were not successful in science before?
Syag, is it the degree you specifically need, or the learning/training such courses would give you? There are many free online courses out there, some you only pay if you want the certificate at the end. There are also many online MSc programs, study at your own pace. Online learning is very competitive nowadays, so with enough research, you may find an affordable program. I am not sure that you can get government student aid at the graduate level, but some programs have fellowships, work and learn options. I see education switching directions in the near future in terms of the job market- with so many online options that are cheaper than brick and mortar universities, it will be less critical where you got your degree, and more important to a potential employer that you have acquired the right skills and more practical knowledge. It’s also great for the frum community, because they can get degrees without being exposed to the campus environment- whether it is pritzus, liberal brainwashing or the ever-growing anti-semitism.
I disagree with a few of your terms:
10-12 are preteens, tweens are those in their twenties- hence the “tw”
These used to be simply considered adults, but now are culturally apart so have their own categories. Also, I would put young adult as younger than you did- say 18-21- overlapping some of the other categories.