WolfishMusings

I have lots of friends that have been out of seminary from anywhere to 3-6 years and have never had a date they sit there waiting for the phone to ring, and they done plenty hishtadlus.

If this is a common phenomenon (i.e. girls who have been waiting by the phone for three to six years and not getting a single date) then the system is terribly broken. That’s the point where you have to start organizing a few singles functions.

The Wolf

You obviously didn’t read what I wrote. The problem is that neither you, nor I, truly know what the extent of Pollard’s crime was. Neither of us (nor, I suspect does anyone on this board) know what truly passed to other parties, to what other parties that information ended up being passed to, or what the damage was to U.S. interests and the intelligence community. You can’t say that his sentence was too long (or too short, for that matter) because you don’t know what the consequences of his actions were. Neither do I.

It’s easy to say that other people who passed information to allies got shorter sentences. But that could also be because the damage they caused to the intelligence community was far less. It could also be that you’re right and that his sentence is disproportionate to the crime and the damage — but none of know that — and we’re not likely to find out anytime soon either.

The Wolf

doing hishtadlus for a neis

Isn’t that a contradiction in terms?

The Wolf

There are several problems regarding Pollard’s situation.

The first and perhaps most important is that no one here — not I, not you, nor anyone else, knows exactly what was handed over and how far afield the information went. Just because it went to his Israeli handlers does not mean that the information did not go any further to other possibly unfriendly countries. Of course, no one here also knows that it didn’t. As a result, none of us are qualified to say that he got a sentence that is too harsh, or too lenient. None of us know if he really should be a free man or sitting in jail for the rest of his life. None of us know the true magnitude of his crime. It could be that his sentence was disproportionate, but none of us *really* know.

The second issue that has to be made is that there is a difference between a pardon and a commutation. While I might be able to support a commutation (you *can* make the case that he was railroaded at the sentencing), I don’t think you can plausibly make the case for a pardon. When all is said and done, no one denies the fact that he *did* commit a felony and pleaded guilty to the same. Even if he’s allowed to walk out of prison today, he should still have a criminal record.

The Wolf

It’s not the labeling that’s bad… it’s the rejectionist attitude that follows the labeling that is bad.

The Wolf

i understand 1925 was a year when there was a birchas hachama…but did it fall out erev pesach?

Yes

and why would that be apikorsis?

Poor joke on my part.

The Wolf

Shouldn’t we all just aknowledge that the internet is here to stay and begin to adapt it to our purposes.

It will happen. As the internet becomes more and more necessarily for life, and as things (banking, for example) start becoming only available via the internet, it will eventually pervade the rest of the Jewish community as well. At that point, not having access to the internet becomes a “gezairah she’ain hatzibor yachol la’amod bah.”

The Wolf

Wolf: The issue may be due to midnight mass, not the actual day attendance (night = more Tumah?)

Okay, but then so what? Not all Christians who go to church on Christmas go to the midnight mass. Firstly, only Catholics have a midnight mass — Protestants don’t have Mass at all! Secondly, even many Catholics who go to Mass don’t do so at midnight but rather during the day.

In addition, I’d wager that you have more people attending a midnight mass at the Vatican than in all the churches in New York combined. Perhaps we should not learn when it’s midnight in Rome?

The Wolf

R’ Elyashiv says that the reason is that on Dec. 25, all the christians go to pray and there is so much tumah in the world, that al pi kabala if kedushas hatorah comes it can be extremely harmful.

Based on this reasoning, it should be a greater problem to learn on Easter. Church attendance is much greater on Easter. In addition, Easter is far more of a holy day for Christians than Christmas is.

The Wolf

Nope. I’ve never met Joseph. However, it’s not terribly difficult to find my email address.

The Wolf

Wolf,

In a nutshell, are you actually stating that you believe there is a shred of a possibility that human being (you) descended from an ape or some other non-human being?

Joseph,

I responded to you in another thread, titled “Shred of a Possibility.” Let’s leave this thread about zoos.

The Wolf (who is not in a zoo)

Sigh.

I really don’t want to turn this thread into a debate about evolution, since it’s not the main point of the thread. Let’s just say this:

I think we can agree on the fact that not every word of the Torah is to be interpreted absolutely literally. I suspect you would agree that Chava was not the literal mother of all life (including lions, tigers and bears — oh my!). I think you’d probably agree that HKBH does not have a hand in the literal sense.

I’m also pretty sure that we can agree on the fact that there is far, far more to Berashis 1:1 (and the rest of the parsha) than a simple, literal reading would indicate.

What we don’t necessarily agree on (and, in fact, what I’m pretty sure that we vehemently disagree on) is exactly what *must* be read literally and what *can* be interpreted differently. In addition, while we would probably disagree on just what the meaning behind the simple, plain reading of Beraishis is.

Does that mean that I think you’re wrong? No, it doesn’t — in fact, I don’t know the answer. Is it possible that animals evolved for millions of years (including man-like primates) with HKBH creating a brand new “model” of man? I suppose that’s a possibility. Is it possible that Gosse is correct? Yeah, it’s possible (even if I don’t agree with it). IOW, there are plenty of possibilities out there that can conform to the Torah (provided you don’t hold to a completely literal and simple reading of Beraishis — which I don’t think you do.)

So, what does this mean? It probably means that we have to agree to disagree. I’m willing to admit that I don’t have all the answers to the origin of the universe and of life on this planet. I never claimed to. Nor do I claim to know the ultimate truth that the Torah reveals on the subject.

If you want to discuss evolution, perhaps another thread would be best suited for that. This all started because one careless poster chose to make a joke about a user’s name. Let’s put this topic back in it’s place — the zoo. If you want to discuss evolution, abiogenesis or anything else, I’m more than willing to do so in a thread dedicated to that topic.

The Wolf

Wolf, no record player there?

No. The needle would jump if the car hit a bump.

The Wolf

there are many aspects to the theory. sof kol sof, yes they do believe humans have evolved from a species that was similar to an ape. ever looked at those pictures?

Ah, but that’s not the same thing as saying that he’s going to visit his ancestors in the zoo. Not one scientist will tell you that man descended from present day monkeys.

Now, personally, I descended from wolfish ancestors, so you *could* ask me if I was visiting my ancestors in the zoo. But the same does not apply to the poster to whom BLAHBLAH was poking fun at.

The Wolf

Joseph,

Yes you did. My error and apologies.

The Wolf

and you just have to know your kids.

I could have *sworn* that I heard that said somewhere… 🙂

The Wolf

If relativity were controversial, would we give any weight to the opinion of a 16 year old supporting one side or another?

Why not? The factuality of what he says does not stand or fall based on his age. He is either wrong or right, regardless of his age.

There’s too much to analyze for someone to have a true opinion just after reading a single slim book.

Oh, the irony! 🙂

The Wolf

The points you raise (including mixing with females) are very serious, and worthy of great consideration.

Why should mixing with females be more of an issue than in any other workplace?

The Wolf

Brooklyn,

You’re not telling me how to use my common sense… I’m trying to find out the extent of your rule. I *already* know how I would act in each of the cases I mentioned.

When you use vague terms like “any event,” I want to know the extent of that “any” according to you. While you (and I) may think it’s obvious that a five-year’s old party (sans the exotic dancers) can proceed without a gadol’s haskama, others may not feel so. Since you were vague in your rule, I simply wanted to find out how far you were willing to go with “any.”

The Wolf

And I know of plenty of kids who played with matches and didn’t get burned.

Are you giving your 13 year old a box of matches to play with?

And there are plenty of adults who crash cars. Are you giving adults cars?

The point is that there is no “one size fits all” rule. You have to know your kids. If they are capable of using the technology responsibly, then they can use it. If they can’t use it responsibly, then they shouldn’t be allowed to use one.

The Wolf

Ashreinu,

My apologies for upsetting you. I’ll attempt to stick to the topic at hand.

The Wolf

Chaim,

Well, let’s look at the points you provided:

1. Every activity has a certain amount of risk involved. Even just getting up and walking across the street. I’m certain that there are civilian jobs that are more dangerous than those of a non-combat solider in the Air Force. Of course, you still have to do your hishtadlus to determine if you are, in fact, putting yourself at *unnecessary* risk.

2. I know next to zilch about military culture, so I can’t really address this point. All I can tell you is that there are frum chaplains in the military. Perhaps you should reach out to one of them and have a serious discussion on the matter.

The Wolf

Joseph,

I have never made fun of the “uncultured idiots of the Coffee Room,” as you so derogatorily put it. Sometimes, however, I do find statements that are so outlandish (such as the ones about statistics not affecting yidden) that I do call attention to them (and, as originally presented, that post wasn’t even doing that — it was simply presenting my POV on the value of education). But attack people? Sorry, I don’t do that. Most of my posts that involve the YWN coffeeroom are to discuss (and offer my views) on subjects that come up here.

I don’t know why you have such venom towards me. You offered an opinion that it might be assur to serve in the military because of pikuach nefesh. I simply asked you to define that and to find out if you held that other occupations that have a higher mortality rate are also assur. That’s no reason to get upset with me.

The Wolf

talking, texting, picture messages

The same could apply to any telephone, typewriter or camera. Why not ban them? Because they’re not combined into one device? So what?

The Wolf

Indeed. The zionist army is probably the MOST morally corrupt military in the Universe.

Oh, please. Cut the hyperbole and do some reading on military coups in the last fifty years. If you object to the Israeli Army, fine — but stick to reality.

The Wolf