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In the meantime, in a dank, cold cellar deep in the Congo, Shmuel and Chani were waking up.
The REAL Shmuel and Chani. They’d made sure of that.
Or rather, they HOPED they’d made sure of that… so hard to tell these days.
Shmuel and Chani were both yawning and stretching, looking around to figure where they were and what had happened to that nice man who had been offering them perfume samples as they walked through that parking lot, when Mohammed McDonald-McVeigh walked in.
“Ahhhh- Rabbi and Mrs Plonitzky. I’ve been waiting for you.”
Shmuel opened his eyes, took in the damp, dark, gloomy cave and the enormous, sinister-looking man with the enormous, sinister-looking scar, and the enormous, sinister-looking- wait, was that a streimel?- and, most of all, the enormous, sinister-looking machine gun and proceeded to quickly close his eyes again.
Must be just a bad dream….
Last time this had happened, he’d woken up again just as the rav was finishing his shiur.
But he felt something prodding him, and alert to the fact that it could easily be that machine gun, he opened his eyes again.
“Now, Rabbi Plonitzky, I’d like to facilitate an exchange of information. You have something I want, and I have something you want.”
Shmuel couldn’t understand- what was with this guy? Why was a man who looked like an amalgamation of the antagonist of every Jewish novel out there (not hard- they were all the same in the first place) except for the streimel standing in front of him waving a machine gun and a cell phone?
He listened, dazed, as MMM continued his harangue.
“Your daughter has been telling you that she works as a speech therapist in a special ed preschool, am I correct?”
Shmuel nodded mutely.
“Well, she was lying to you. She is currently working for the NSA in an underground laboratory and is busy making the prototype of the shidduch vaccine. But you need to stop her. The active ingredient in her shidduch vaccine will react badly with the active ingredient in the Shidduch Suppressor vaccine which we’ve hidden in the HPV vaccine for frum girls.
“Therefore, you are going to pick up this phone and tell Rivky to stop this, or her parents- her real parents, not the doubles or triples or quadruples- will be shot. But—“
There was just enough of a tantalizing note at the end of that “but” to keep Shmuel from screaming out “Shema Yisrael.” “But—“
“But, if you do what I say and she stops her plans, I can offer you–“
There was a definite breathlessness in Shmuel’s voice. “You can offer me—“
“—A shidduch for Rivky.”
And immediately a fight broke out, as Shmuel and Chani scrambled to see who would get hold of the phone first.
OOM: OTHER PEOPLE ALSO HATE COFFEE! I’M SANE! APPARENTLY…! 🙂
I can’t even stand coffee flavoring. Or the smell. Actually, I’ve noticed that there are two types of coffee smells. One of them’s okay. The other one makes me want to throw up.
Yogurt- stuff with bits in.
My cousin’s kallah made him cookies when they were dating.
Chocolate chip. REEEEALLY good.
They got engaged the next night.
Now, the causality I wouldn’t swear to, but…
BOY. WERE THEY GOOD COOKIES.
OOM: But that’s not what she said- she said, “This is not about feminism NOR are we looking to replace men.” They are two separate things, not a term and definition.
Actually, reading the comments, it seems to be that she initially wrote it the way you quoted it- someone called her out on it, and she replied, “It was two separate issues as in ‘This is not about feminism.’ and neither are we looking to replace men (b/c that’s [sic] a ludicris [sic] accusation) – If that was unclear or if I equated feminism to wanting to be men that was the exact opposite of my intention and I will try to clarify in an edit. Thanks for pointing it out.”
Just FYI, if you’re interested.
Anyway, the article was interesting, and I agree with her to an extent. It’s the sort of thing where people have asked me why is it fair that women can’t be rabbis, don’t I want to be a rabbi, and I was like, no I don’t want to be a rabbi- I want to be a psychologist/doctor/social worker/archaeologist/bus driver (hey, I was four years old…). But that was me. People have wanted to become rabbis, and I think many if not most (no, if you disagree with me, I’m NOT trying to generalize- I’m just saying based on my experience) women I know would at least understand to an extent why a woman may feel that urge. I think she takes it a bit farther than I would, but she has interesting points.
Shopping613: Teens don’t always type in txtspk…
OOM: Granted 🙂 – is it a waste of time to ask if you’ve also seen Sherlock? 🙂
jmh: Granted as well. I haven’t seen either one yet (I’m gonna try to convince my brother to watch the first one with me, though, over the summer) but if the new characters do add to the story then a lot of what I said is pretty much wrong.
I do wonder, though, if, had there already been a female character in the book, they would have added in more.
Besides, I wasn’t really thinking about the expansion aspect- how they’re really incorporating more of Tolkien’s ideas in.
147: IT IS NOT THE SAME AS BREUER’S WASHINGTON HEIGHTS.
It doesn’t even have the same name (BYDRH as opposed to YRSRH).
While many girls from YRSRH do go to BYDRH, they are NOT connected.
I know a bunch of girls who have gone there. To be completely honest, the three really yeshivish high schools (BY Monsey, Ramapo, and Breuer’s) are more similar than they are different. Most of the girls probably won’t have TVs, or if they do, they probably won’t talk about it. They are MORE LIKELY to, though, but I wouldn’t worry so much about it.
The people I know of who go there are really happy with it, and honestly, they don’t have just one type of girl- they get people from all over the place and send them all over the place. It seems like a great school.
And ultimateskier, I wouldn’t group all those schools together- for example, Ateres girls are MUCH more likely to have TVs.
I think that Lev and Prospect are good comparisons, though. Beis Rochel is in a league of its own.
jewishfeminist02: Yeah- that’s another one I didn’t figure out til way later and once I did, it was like, “wow, it actually makes sense now!”
Apples to Apples?…..
However, I do admit to not having known that “staying by” was incorrect until relatively recently. *blushes*
Gamanit- you’d be surprised to see the way people spell it out…
And ultimateskier: THANK YOU. My ULTIMATE pet peeve (or one of them at least). I don’t understand why nobody realizes this.
jewishfeminist02: yeah, I loved that line 🙂
If you only knew, JMH… if you only knew…
Feif Un: Sorry if it seems like I’m changing the topic here- I just really don’t get it.
PBA: I’m not sure why this isn’t an issue- IMHO, it’s actually very much a root of the issue. But I’m obviously not getting anywhere, and I don’t think I’m going to find answers here anyway (did I think I would to start with? Probably not… I don’t know why I started on this) but I think I’m just going to stop. Sorry for the annoyance.
I think I’ll skip the spin-off, thanks.
zdad: I think the joke is actually that some are actually aveiros, but some aren’t, like the ones about eating herring without kichel or not liking Be’er Mayin/Mayim Chayim/whatever (and if that’s an aveirah…). So you shove them all together and it’s like the whole thing where chumros kind of turn into halacha.
I found the song very annoying. I really didn’t like it, but then it got stuck in my head. And then, to my utter chagrin, I actually got USED to it.
I mean, come on.
Same goes for the Payphone song, only worse.
I loved the Things Not To Say On A Shidduch Date, though.
But what I don’t get is this- let’s say there is a hierarchy (which I’m not saying there isn’t). The issue that people keep brushing aside, which is how you GET on the upper rungs of the hierarchy, is really not irrelevant at all- it’s crucial to this discussion. Why is R’ Ovadia a gadol EVEN THOUGH he called a fellow Jew evil? What checkboxes must you be able to fill in on the Gadlus Form in order to qualify? Is bekiyus in Torah enough that you don’t need menschlichkeit as well? What about the other way around?
Like I said above, what if this attack had been against a different gadol whom you also respected? What would your opinion have been then? With whom would you have sided?
My grandfather was a talmid of R’ Moshe Feinstein, and my father met him many times, including when he was little and didn’t yet speak Yiddish. He says that the one thing that sticks in his mind from then, when he was little and saw only an unfamiliar man, was his kindness and menschlichkeit, and even once they were able to communicate and my father really understood his gadlus in Torah, the thing that really struck him about R’ Moshe was his smile, his goodness.
Honestly, nothing in here is meant to be snarky or rude or anything- it’s actually filled with pain. I genuinely don’t understand how someone who is considered a gadol can say such things any more than anyone else- call me defective (though in my heart, I’m really not sure I am) but I just can’t take it on trust.
ubiquitin: Exactly what Gamanit says. We don’t have a gun (though my dad says he’s tempted sometimes) which means that if someone notices that on the map they know we’re a safe target. (It’s actually more because I don’t think anyone on my block has one, so if you were to go on a spree my block would be a great place.
(If anyone is now looking up the map- if it’s still available- to plan his/her burglary of the night, get the idea out of your head. Yes, I’m talking to YOU over there.)
mod: This is taken from my above post to PBA:
“And I reiterate what truthsharer said: why is it that the RCA has to be so respectful when criticizing R’ Ovadia but he doesn’t need to be when he criticizes R’ Stav?”
Actually, you responded to truthsharer, so honestly, why is it so clear and obvious to you?
The only rationale I could see would be that thing your mom always says about “you need to show you’re better than the other person.” But apparently that’s a lost cause- if they’re automatically inferior, why keep up the pretense? Whom are they trying to impress?
I’m just not understanding the whole issue of a hierarchy.
Syag: Don’t I know it…
Mod: Until I know the answer to my questions, I won’t understand why it’s such a problem to criticize him for something for which we would criticize anyone else. It is 100% relevant.
If you think that last question was written in good faith or whatever, then you should realize that so was everything else I wrote.
I think the issue here is not the criticism, but the outrageous manner of the criticism. It’s the difference between your parents saying you were wrong to stay out late versus saying they wish you hadn’t been born.
PBA: 1) Okay, then, onward to the relevant tangent.
Besides, back to my original deleted question way back when, what if a rav whom I truly respect as a gadol were to tell me that e was appalled by this? What if this person was a woman (or is that over the line? What if one person whom YOU called a gadol said this about another person whom YOU also called a gadol?
And I reiterate what truthsharer said: why is it that the RCA has to be so respectful when criticizing R’ Ovadia but he doesn’t need to be when he criticizes R’ Stav?
2) If the letter was private then why did you post it?
Okay, mods…
You know, I actually have real, legitimate questions about this kind of thing. I think this is the second time you’ve deleted a post/thread where I’ve asked about the infallibility or whatever of gedolim. I really don’t understand- you’re not helping anybody here, and you’re not doing your side any favors, either. You’re just polarizing.
This thread is certainly not the place for that discussion. It does not matter here whether Rav Ovadia was right or wrong, or even grievously wrong. What the RCA did was horrific regardless, since even if he was wrong–it is insane to say such things about him. It is an appalling lack of respect and humility.
So- are you brave enough to let this through: why must I respect as a gadol someone who calls another Jew evil? Is it solely because he is called a gadol?
That is relevant. I’ll let that through. I believe it is an honest question.
Remember- you’re dealing with real people with real questions on here (or at least, I’m real, if nobody else is).
tzaddiq: You want to take it back now to avoid the payoff?
I can GUARANTEE that that’s not the case for at least someone here- if it turns out that everyone is a bunch of blind sheep (doubtful- you’re welcome, guys) then I’ll tell you that my mom always asked a doctor BESIDES OUR PEDIATRICIAN before giving us vaccines. (The doctor is my mom’s friend who also gives us our strep cultures :)- she knows us very well, is an excellent doctor and vaccinates her own kids.)
chance: “I am working on something for the HPV vaccine. Jewish girls are having terrible side effects like seizures. I am in touch with some drs. will keep you posted.”
Wait- so ONLY Jewish girls are getting seizures from the HPV vaccine?
That’s an interesting one…
In the end, it’s a cost/benefit analysis. And yes, there are benefits. Just remember- it’s all of the people who vaccinated against polio and diphtheria in the past (and still do) who are preventing your child from having even a tiny chance of contracting those diseases.
My parents have a lot of funny stories about singles shabbatonim they went on way back when…
Do they even have those anymore?
(Then my parents met al yedei my aunt talking to my moms neighbor at a Kiddush, with one saying, “do you have anyone for my brother?” and the other saying “oh what about this nice girl from my neighborhood?” and the rest is history.)
The point is, there are methods beyond professional shadchanim- my mom, for instance, is a semi-professional (I have no idea how to describe it) shadchan, in that she has a database of guys and girls and runs shidduch meetings but she does NOT interview people or tell them that they have no chance of getting married unless they fit the BJJ/BMG cookie cutter. Her credo is that networking is the best- that’s how she got married. Sometimes you can’t really tell the unique things about people on paper (I remember looking through her [initial only] spread sheet for someone and I couldn’t find her- the people all looked the same) and if you have people who really love and respect and are enthusiastic about a person you can really get more of an understanding of what they’re like.
The whole way we do shidduchim has become really sterile- I hope by the time I enter that parsha it’s a lot better :).
“You think that it is ok for 3 rabbis who are elected to run the RCA to say things like that about one of the gedolei hador? This is insane. Insane.”
You say it’s okay for a gadol to call ANYBODY an evil person? This is insane. Insane.
No I’m not (just) trying to be cute- I seriously don’t understand. Because a person is a gadol, any rechilus he accepts and any motzi shem ra he spreads is suddenly on a heilige plane?
No- no- I won’t let you die- I REFUSE to let you die…
“I am not suggesting that you move to Montana (I don’t think there is even a Chabad there)”
There’s one in Bozeman, if anyone’s ever interested.
Wait…. so it’s okay to call somebody evil? Just because he doesn’t agree with you?
Scarlet fever is a completely different matzav.
Baruch Hashem, we now have antibiotics and penicillin.
In around 1925, my grandfather’s brother and sister died of scarlet fever. His other brother then developed life-threatening complications that are still a problem to this day.
In 2008, my little brother had scarlet fever. He was on antibiotics for ten days, was up and feeling fine in three.
Modern medicine is truly one of the niflaos haBorei.
There is no such medication for measles, mumps, etc. They’re viruses- you take two Advil and hope for the best. As soon as you draw comparisons like that you lose your credibility.
Nobody’s inventing fatality statistics- go look up the polio pandemic in the forties and fifties. And vaccines work- polio is now virtually eradicated from the US. Doctors aren’t even taught to recognize the symptoms of diphtheria anymore, it’s so rare now that there’s a vaccine.
The Goq: I’m not Oomis, but in general, the problem is a backlight and reflective screen.
I have a Nook with a backlight, and I think it’s fine because it has a very natural screen.
Yes, but you can’t call both the opinion of the Rambam. The opinion of the Rambam is his second, edited opinion. He has already renounced his first opinion.
You’re still separating the person from the name. “The Rambam” is a mystical name to you- “the Rambam” can’t be wrong. but the human being R Moshe bar Maimon can change his mind and renounce his previous shittah.
The first opinion could easily be one of the shivim panim laTorah, but it’s not the opinion of the Rambam. The Rambam changed his opinion.
I think there’s something hashkafically wrong with saying that any human being can’t be wrong. Perfection is Hashem’s realm.
Sleep hygiene is important. (Or so said my rheumatologist; DON’T EVEN ASK.)
Some tips:
Use your bed only for sleeping, not for anything that you associate with using your brain.
Sleep in the dark.
Don’t eat, especially anything with caffeine, for an hour or two before sleep.
For about half an hour before sleep, begin to wind down- get into bed, take a shower, listen to soothing music, etc.
For about an hour before sleep, do not use a computer or anything else with a backlit screen.
Keep your sleep schedule regular.
Don’t nap during the day.
Exercise- vigorously during the day, and gently, such as with yoga, right before bed.
Be exposed to natural light. This helps to maintain a good circadian rhythm.
Good luck!
And you WISH I’m doing all this stuff. My rheumatologist can just DREAM.
benignuman: Of course the description I gave of a scientific theory is vague and not particularly good- I just wanted to make the point that theory in everyday parlance is a hypothesis in science-speak- a scientific theory has a lot more backbone behind it.
That’s not to say I wouldn’t like your book :)- just that I get where you’re coming from and no, I don’t think I win the prize for the most concise and correct scientific definition.
rebdoniel: No it is not a law.
According to NASA.gov, a theory is “an explanation for why certain laws and facts exist that can be tested to determine its
accuracy.”
A law is “a logical relationship between two or more things that is based on a variety of facts and proven
hypothesis. It is often a mathematical statement of how two or more quantities relate to each other.”
direct experiment or observation. A proven hypothesis can be expressed as a law or a theory. A
disproven hypothesis can sometimes be re-tested and found correct as measurements improve.”
Okay. I can stop trying unsuccessfully to explain it. My sole point was that in science the word “theory” doesn’t mean “oh, we thought it happens to sound cool so we’ll just put it in all the textbooks an dhope nobody’s noticed it doesn’t make sense.”
benignuman: of course it’s hard to fathom- it’s mindboggling to fathom, as our brains simply do not have enough scope or context to picture billions of years of evolution. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
If you show me a later quote from the same place that gives scientific reasons why one doesn’t compel the other, then ok. But saying that the problem is just that we can’t comprehend it when we think about it in real time doesn’t mean that it can’t be real.
Can you picture what Hashem is like?
Do you think that means He’s not real?
Lehavdil elef alfei ALFEI havdalos, of course, but just by being a Jew you know that just because we can’t picture something we can’t just throw it in the bin.
Yes, but the whole question just sounds funny.
A taste for wine seems like something you’d come across organically and naturally- not by starting off drinking Malaga and suddenly buying the “Idiot’s Guide to Wine Appreciation” on a quest to develop a “keen taste for wines,” as the OP describes it.
I’m not saying that’s exactly what OP’s doing, but the question is kind of interesting.
But it isn’t. because he stated he was wrong. Which means that he negated his own previous opinion.
You’re basically respecting the name, not the human being. Because the Rambam said so, it has to be right. But personally, if the Rambam is as great as you say he is (which I obviously won’t doubt) then I’ll trust his judgment as far as whether his OWN opinions are good. I won’t let it come down to what the four-letter acronym said.
Put it this way- let’s say I, a normal eleventh grade (actually almost twelfth-grade– YES!) girl were to give you my opinion on, say, the whole NSA thing. Then, I realized that I changed my mind. My other opinion was ridiculous and wrong, based on information with missing pieces. I said that this new, diametrically opposed opinion was my new opinion and correct, as opposed to the other one. If you said that wow, writersoul is so awesome that she’d never say something wrong, so both of her opinions must be right- I’d be a bit ticked, as I specifically changed my mind, and the judgment that you respect, which decided that my second opinion is right, has already decided that the first is wrong. By saying that both are right, you’re saying that the CONTENT of what I’m saying doesn’t matter, but rather only the person saying it matters.
I’m not actually comparing myself to the Rambam actually- I’m just trying to show how saying that they’re both right is actually a disservice to the Rambam and not a compliment at all.
This doesn’t, incidentally, necessarily mean that I buy into the whole “he-changed-his-mind” business- but even if I did, it wouldn’t make sense.
Okay, granted. I didn’t think the word sounded right.
But still, I assume his life isn’t empty and purposeless- and if it was he shouldn’t be looking for fulfillment in wine tasting- but why does one look to learn how to appreciate wine?
But HE SAID he was WRONG.
By saying he’s that the opinion he thinks is wrong is actually valid, you’re saying he’s wrong.
That’s what I don’t get about the notion that someone- ANYONE- CAN’T be wrong. It means that their own opinion on the matter is discounted.
Why do you want to?
People don’t generally go around looking for habits to pick up.
jewishfeminist: In this case I think you guys are both right- it’s a major thing for a guy to be learning with his mom and it really shouldn’t be.
It’s just not considered a “normal” thing to be doing, which I think is a shame.
However amazing this teacher is, I think that this is more in praise of her son for getting rid of the stigma (that, as I already said, shouldn’t be there).
Personally, I’m just happy that a)I can’t vote and b)I don’t live in NYC, because this election is getting ridiculous and I don’t want to have to think about who I’d vote for.
I’m not 100% sure I’d care what the candidate’s personal beliefs are- it would depend what they were and what the tradeoffs were- not just monetarily.
When you live in Monsey, it doesn’t matter who you’d vote for because the people the chassidim pick are the people who are going to win.
Why on earth does recanting not disqualify his original shittah? Unless he was merely mimicking someone else’s shittah- otherwise, if HE thought up the theory and then HE stated it was wrong, WHY would it be a credit to him to say that the position that HE satated was wrong was actually right? It’s making the only value of his learning his name and not his actual opinion- th eonly reason why this shittah is still valid is because it’s the Rambam who said it and not because he felt it was correct. If he’s already said that he thought it was wrong, it’s a disservice to credit him for it.
DON’T LET THIS THREAD FALL OFF THE MAP!
For me, if I were the kid who was woken up, it wouldn’t be the whole halachic aspect that would bother me- it would be the fact that omeone woke me up to correct the way that I was sleeping.
Are these kids already baalei teshuva or not frum at all? If they’re not frum at all, then I don’t think it’s a good idea to regulate what they do in private AT ALL.
I thought YWN had their own ads… they seem to all be frum ads on my computer.
ummmmmm…..
not commenting on who was right or wrong in this case- just saying that I can ABSOLUTELY see where the kid was coming from.
rebdoniel: As I believe I mentioned earlier (or if I didn’t I’ll just mention it here) a scientific theory is not what you or I would call a theory- that would be a hypothesis. A scientific theory is more akin to what we would call an empirically proven and scientifically accepted dogma. It can be disproven upon the accumulation of significant data against it, but it’s not just another theory- it’s been scientifically tested.
See: theory of relativity, atomic theory, cell theory. Are these considered by you to be just as non-credible as evolutionary theory? Why not? They’re both theories…
And scientists still can’t really explain the Big Bang. So I don’t think that the inyan of yesh mi’ayin is really an issue, because where did stuff come from in the first place?
Plus, were they contesting Darwin’s theory of evolution bichlal? As in, no microevolution? Or did they only have an issue with the idea of our world as we know if having evolved? Because we’ve established here that microevolution is very real.
IsometimesAgree: And you’ll get the same answer…
My dad’s friend has a gun in case of burglary- he was interviewed for that Mishpacha article.
It’s funny- I live in Monsey, and I don’t know if any of you guys looked at that Journal News map of gun-owners a couple months back, but I never realized how many people I knew had guns.
Most people I know of were livid about that map- like my dad was annoyed because now burglars know to just make their way to our hose.