WolfishMusings

How would you judge it?

That’s not a defense of your position.

There are cases in halacha where life and death matters are not decided by a simple numerical majority of lives saved and where the proper course of action to take is one where more people die.

The Wolf

There are so many variables and considering the fact that you’ve given us absolutely no information to go on, how did you expect us to give you an answer?

The Wolf

And once Roe v. Wade is gone state laws will allow specific exceptions to the laws outlawing abortion. Just as they had prior to the Roe v. Wade travesty of a decision.

I think your overwhelming trust in arch-conservative lawmakers to make sensible exceptions in certain cases is severely misplaced.

The Wolf

I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. Can you please elaborate?

I bake (including baking challah), but I don’t wear a big hat when I do.

The Wolf

Kind of funny to see a guy who wrote “בשבילי נברק העולם” tell someone to check their spelling.

How do you know it’s a spelling mistake? Maybe he believes the world was lightninged just for him?

The Wolf

Instead of being proud of Ivana Trump

Ivana Trump is not Jewish, and anyone who says otherwise is 100% incorrect.

The Wolf

Rabbonim do NOT monitor those who have been megayer and withdraw their geyrus if the gerim go OTD.

If they did, the ger would never be able to participate in communal Jewish life.

How could you ask a ger to join you for a zimmun — perhaps ten years from now he’ll go off the derech and have his geirus revoked.

Any shtar he signs on? Invalidated years later after the fact (and if the convert is a woman, then it would apply to her children, grandchildren and so on…). Hataras nedarim he might have helped you with? Well, now you’re stuck with your neder again.

How you could count him for a minyan? Perhaps years from now, your minyan will be retroactively nullified.

How could you rely on him to be a witness to your kiddushin, or worse, a get? Can you imagine all the nightmares it would cause if twenty years later a geirus could be revoked and all the gitten on which he served as a witness were invalidated years after the fact?

Or how about if the ger’s daughter married a Kohen? Not only would a revocation of his geirus end his marriage, but also his daughters (and render any grandkids as challalim).

So, yeah, it’s a good thing we don’t monitor geirim after the fact.

The Wolf

Is that the same Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro of Frumteens?

The Rav Yaakov Shapiro of frumteens was highly commended by the Orthodox Union Magazine, Jewish Action, in a lengthy article focusing on his kiruv work rescuing teens at risk, and literally saving their lives, as the OU documented in their article.

Yes, we know you’re a fan of his.

< sarcasm > Thank you for not answering the question I asked. < /sarcasm >

The Wolf

Of course it is also very important that the girl’s brother, of any potential shidduch, are also checked out to be sure they are Bnei Torah.

If you had your way, my sister would never have been married. Fortunately for her (and her husband and children), they chose to ignore this.

The Wolf

Is the idea of someone being happy and loving Torah and mitzvos in a non-chassidic framework so foreign and alien to you that it is completely inconceivable?

Wolf, yes somewhat!

Well, then, I’m sorry that your existence is so sheltered and your experience is so limited that you cannot possibly imagine how someone could be happy if they don’t the same exact path that you do. I truly feel sorry for you.

The Wolf

A dog is a low animal. Would you have a pet pig?

We canines thank you.

In all seriousness, however, you can’t really compare a dog and a pig. There are rabbinic decrees against raising pigs. There are no such decrees against owning dogs.

The Wolf (who, as a youth owned two dogs and, were it not for family members with allergies, would probably have one today)

Ah, I didn’t realize you meant Eurogames.

I do, on occasion, but not too often.

The Wolf

I am a full third-generation American (i.e. all four of my grandparents were born here). My grandfather and his brother both served in WWII — my grandfather in the Pacific theater and his brother in the Atlantic.

My great-uncle was killed in action in Europe in 1945. My grandfather came home healthy and began a family. He longed to have a son, in order to name someone after his older brother but, alas, HKBH had other plans and he had five daughters. He never spoke of his service in the Pacific to any of his children and resisted any and all inquiries.

I have a copy of his service record and, recently, I inherited a photo album that he kept of his time being stationed in Hawaii. While they certainly provide some insight on his time in the service, I still don’t really know a great deal about it.

The Wolf

This is because it is not the type of watch that’s beged isha but the concept of wearing a wristwatch. (mods – please dont post the expected retorts like “women wear shoes too, so maybe we should wear shoes”).

Why not? I think that’s a very good counterargument.

Given that both men and women wear them extensively, why is wearing a wrist watch such an exclusively feminine concept that it would fall under the rubric of “lo yilbash?”

The Wolf

If a certain job responsibility requires you to go against your religion, it still might be allowed. or example if you had a job where you had to taste pork, you cant claim religious freedom

A better example would be a chef in a high-class restaurant where you would be expected to cook meat/milk together.

The Wolf

Arye

I think you may be confusing me with someone else.

The Wolf

I knew a Mary and a Peter or three (both Jewish) growing up.

Sidney

I had a great-uncle named Sidney.

The Wolf

I cannot foresee the need (except in one specialized case, described below) when I would need to ever directly ask a gadol a question as a first resort.

I have a Rav whom I trust to know halacha, and to know when he’s over his head. It’s not my place to decide “My Rav probably won’t know this, so I’ll ask Gadol X.” I know that my Rav will direct me to someone else if he is unsure of the answer to my question.

Frankly, if you don’t have enough faith in your Rav that he will do the right thing and admit when he’s in over his head, I would humbly suggest that you need a new Rav.

The Wolf

(The exception is a case where [for whatever reason] the gadol is physically there and my Rav is not. If I have a question regarding something happening right in front of me and the Gadol is there and my Rav is not, I will ask the Gadol — but not because he’s a Gadol, but because he’s on the scene. )

No, I never call a gadol hador with a shaila. They have far better things to do than listen to me.

If I have a shaila, I ask my rav. Were he to advise me to escalate it to someone else I would then do so. But no matter how pressing or how complex, the question goes to my local Rav first. I trust him to say “this is beyond me, please go ask X” if it is beyond his knowledge or areas of expertise. I have no reason to ever call a gadol and ask him my question first. (And, IMHO, nor does anyone else, unless the gadol happens to be their personal rav.)

The Wolf

c) What happens there?

You have to sit and talk to me 24/7.

The Wolf

Isn’t saying kaddish for a niftar a bit similar to doing teshuva for him?

No.

First of all, as I explained above, you cannot do teshuva for someone else. It’s a personal process. You can’t do teshuva for someone else no more than you can eat for someone else.

You can argue that saying kaddish may be a kapparah for the sins of the deceased (see my post above about the difference between teshuva and kapparah). It may also just be something that elevates the neshama. But it’s not teshuva.

Whatever the kaddish is doing, couldn’t one do/achieve something similar for a living person?

Perhaps. You may or may not be able to achieve a kapparah for someone else. But not teshuva.

The Wolf

That is why I (in conjunction with Gedolei Yisrael) am trying to do whatever we can to stop it.

And yet, here you are supporting them with every click and post.

The Wolf

Yes, it was.

And, yes, I know you’re going to say that in such situations I have no rights and either accept it or refuse.

However, I still feel that even in some circumstances, there is a limit to what an institution should be allowed to ask for. I even asked them if I could block out the names of doctors, and was told no. Now, we’re talking about co-pays of $20 or $30 here, not extravagant amounts. Nonetheless, I was told no.

I’m sorry… even if you are providing charity to someone, you have no right to demand personal medical information.

The Wolf

From a report on CrownHeights.info, it looks like they’re back in school today.

The Wolf

On the contrary. I think the rabbi has a duty to actively make sure his congregants know to stay home. While most will have the common sense to stay home, there will usually be a small number who, out of foolhardiness, genuine righteousness or some combination of the two, will think that they should risk it. It’s the rabbi’s responsibility to actively announce (or get the word out via telephone, email, text message or however) that the shul will be closed during a weather emergency. The rabbi most certainly should not do nothing.

The Wolf