I think R’ Nachum Eisenstein claimed that the gerus is invalid if the ger believed in an ancient universe (one that is millions of years old rather than 5k.) Since R’ Eisenstein was close to R’ Elyashiv, that may have led to the rumor that R’ Elyashiv has similar views (extending them to evolution and the like). But I’ve never seen evidence that R’ Elyashiv actually stated such views.

“Actually, I think that the fact that you are reducing children to a monetary decision is kind of disgusting.”

That’s similar to my response when I hear people say they won’t have children for environmental reasons: You think the extra few tons of CO^2 emissions and natural resources consumed is really more important than the human being you might bring into the world (with G-d’s help)? Now that’s a materialistic way of thinking.

I don’t know anything about the seminary, but the sefer is great. Google “tomer devorah” filetype:pdf and you’ll go right to it. The sefer, a classic work of (pre Mussar-movement) mussar by Ramak, is a beautiful guide to emulating Hashem’s traits. Everyone should learn it at least once.

About time: You’re the one trying to exclude people who are commonly regarded as Orthodox, so I think you should be the one giving a definition.

Of course the world has a purpose. You really think dati leumi or MO don’t believe that?

Mdd: Not so sure about that; see Avos 1:6 and 2:5. It’s a Jewish value too, even if there may be exceptions.

A good article on this issue from Cross-Currents:

The Coalition Plan For Charedim

By Yitzchok Adlerstein, on March 20th, 2013

This did not happen. Like the plan or not, it does show some serious thought and consideration.

An exception, apparently, is that even immediately, anyone over the age of 22 is free to enter the workforce, even if he did not do any army service. We can anticipate that many will take advantage of this offer, and begin the slow process of having Israeli charedim accept what many, if not enough of us, do in the States: that there is room for both learners and earners.

The school issue is more ticklish from the standpoint of the extremely anti-secular community in Israel. The government is demanding two and a half hours a day of core curriculum instruction. Schools which do not provide it will now be denied funds. Again, this becomes a funding crisis rather than grounds for a holy war against the nouveau-Czarist agents set to padlock the doors of the chadorim.

Again, it could have been handled more stupidly.

Many in the States (depending on where they daven) will be hard-pressed to find these measures as objectionable as people in Israel. Many undoubtedly will join the mourning, but others will daven that these measures will be successful in solving the growing problem of poverty and the burden that the charedi community is perceived to place on unwilling Israelis. Many will look expectantly to the building of a society in which the Torah community is seen as having the best and most attractive approach to living a meaningful life, attentive to all normal human needs.

Another danger is more insidious. The choosing of the 1800 yearly exemptions may go the same way as the reaction to the hated Cantonist draft of the Czars. Some rabbonim at the time excelled in their fairness in guarding the vulnerable, like the orphan children who were targets for the khappers (kidnappers paid off by the wealthy to secure replacements for their own children to escape the draft.) Others were not effective. If Roshei Yeshiva protect their own children and sons-in-law from service, or if there is significant infighting and no objective standard in choosing the 1800 elite on the basis of merit, it will bring down the charedi world faster than any universal draft could.

We all need much siyata deShamaya in charting our reactions in the next weeks and the course in the upcoming four years.

Popa, I don’t understand how you’re reading all that into Rambam’s rather vague statement. If he meant that the community were obligated to support anyone who deigns to declare themselves a new-quasi Levite, he would have actually said that. He was perfectly capable of laying out the halachic details, if there were any.

This is lengthy, but it’s very interesting. It’s a quote from Sefer HaBris by R’ Pinchas Horowitz of Vilna on the importance of learning a trade:

Also, such a person can be confident that he will not miss even a single day of his service of G-d, since his means of support is always at hand, and his sustenance is available in his dwelling and his own city. He will not lie down at night without having eaten, because a tradesman is never without sustenance, nor will he need to travel to faraway places in other lands to seek his sustenance. For when travelling, by necessity a person must be neglectful of the service of G-d, as is well known; there is no way to turn aside and focus on Torah and prayer with concentration when one is away from his place and has set out on the road.

[work and Torah learning]
[of Torah]

– Sefer HaBris 2:12:10 (2:13:2 in the DBS version)

For a number of intersting additional sources on the obligation to work and the issue of combing it with Torah study, see pages 7 through 10 (on Google books you can read it for free) of Torah Study: A Survey of Classic Sources on Timely Issues.

On the ball, please provide quotations and citations for the alleged statements of R’ Feinstein, etc. about combining Torah and work.

Thanks, JasonX — you’re welcome!

I’m sorry, Daniela — I didn’t mean to sound offensive, and I should have mentioned the existence of other opinions. I don’t either “support” the church or not support it; I was just pointing out why some Jews might support them or not. I agree with you that mutual respect has grown over the years and that this is a good thing.

I do appreciate the new Pope’s history of caring about the poor and speaking out for policies helping them, combined with social conservatism — a combination you don’t see very often in the US, at least among politicians.

Me:”perhaps the less successful the church is, the more likely a Noahide movement could spread among non-Jews and lead them on a the true path.”

On the other hand, maybe the more religious the world becomes, the more open to Noahidism (or Judaism) people will be. Also, in the meantime (before the spread of Noahidism and the coming of Moshiach), Xians’ belief and trust in G-d and prayer and cultivation of brotherly love and humility (all important Jewish values) will probably be of much benefit to the individuals involved, despite their theological errors. So I guess a religious Jew could reasonably wish the Catholics well in reinvigorating and spreading their faith (among secular non-Jews.) I’m not sure what my own view is…

Popa, do you have ruach hakodesh? How else would you know he’s a frum Jew trolling? I see no reason to think he’s not telling the truth. I’m surprised we don’t see more non-Jews on this site — we’re less than 1% of the population, and the whole world seems to be obsessed with Jews.

About the use of the term “retard,” what else does derech eretz (as in, derech eretz kadmah laTorah) mean other than to abide by the basic standards of politeness and decency in our host societies? Isn’t it pretty universally frowned upon (outside of schoolchildren and fratboys) to use the term “retard” or “retarded” as a derogatory adjective? If so, then how can any frum Jew justify using such language?

As for the Pope, although Jews generally consider Catholicism both heresy and idolatry, some Jews figure that since the world is divided among secularists and religious people, and Catholics and Orthodox Jews share some values (regarding things like euthanasia and gay marriage), and reinvigorated Church would be a good thing.

I’m not sure about that myself — perhaps the less successful the church is, the more likely a Noahide movement could spread among non-Jews and lead them on a the true path.

On a practical level, the Vatican is widely believed to have many holy Jewish artefacts from ancient times, so it’d be nice to get those things back. If Francis did that, many Jews would be very happy with him. I’d also be pleased if the Vatican took a less pro-Palestinian stand, or just kept its mouth shut on Mideast politics.

Gateshead, that’s crazy — I don’t believe people said such things. Like you, I’ve always loved maps, so I don’t understand it.

But I know that many people here in America have no clue where anything is. Even my wife (despite having traveled to various countries, including Belarus) often is unsure about where particular US states are on the map, at least until recently, when we started going over maps with our kids.

I would guess that 90% of Americans have no idea that Belarus is a country. Jews are more likely to know it’s a country, since many have ancestors from there.

Another one: how to convince people to be frum? Logical and historical proofs for the truth of the Torah? (Aish HaTorah-style.) Or should proofs be avoided, in favor of gently encouraging people to do mitzvos by emphasizing how holy and important every mitzvah is? (Chabad-style.) Or is some other approach better?

If present demographic trends continue, an Orthodox majority in the Knesset should be possible within the next few decades, perhaps 50 years or less. If the Orthodox Sephardim, Chassidim, Litvish, and Dati Leumi parties together have over half of the Knesset seats, they could technically form a coalition and govern.

But it wouldn’t be so simple as to simply change the laws in accordance with halacha, because each group has their own interpretations, and their own batei din for that matter (which already makes the existence of the Rabbanut kind of pointless, except as a way to assert dominance and get people jobs.)

Also, there will be a machlokes about to what degree it’s desireable or permitted to impose halacha on the chilonim before the arrival of Moshiach. Chabadniks, for example, would probably never agree to forcing the chilonim to do anything, or punishing them for transgressions, because that goes against everything their Rebbe ever said about kiruv. The dati leumi will probably be sensitive to the fears of the chilonim and keep them from leaving the country (to avoid an economic collapse, for one thing).

I think as a practical matter, democracy as we know it (as opposed to a theocracy run on non-democratic Torah laws) will have to continue until the Messianic era. It might even make more sense to have a separation of shul and state after an Orthodox majority emerges, because that way each community can rely to a large degree on their own autonomous batei din, and wouldn’t have to worry about the Rabbanut or the state getting in the way of their communities’ practices.

That doesn’t mean some things won’t change — I’m sure they will. Perhaps pork will be illegal. Perhaps some civil law and tort law principles will be changed to align with halacha. But I wouldn’t anticipate punishing Shabbos desecrators and heretics, and things of that nature.

Doesn’t Starbucks always have music playing, including women singing? Or are their leniencies that can be relied upon in such a situation?

“Nachman” means comforter. Perhaps we derive some comfort from the fact that a rabbi with parents of the same name died just before the baby died? Even though it is very sad, at the same time perhaps it is a hint that the deaths were for the good and all part of the divine plan.

There are so many striking “coincidences.” Did you know that Gabriel Sanders, the boy killed by a terrorist in Toulouse, France, was named after Gavriel Herzberg, the Chabad shliach murdered by terrorists in Mumbia? And his parents weren’t even Chabad.

Also, on the anniversity of the Mumbai attacks, a pregnant Chabad shlucha from India (visiting Israel to give birth) was killed by a rocket from Gaza. Who knows what the meaning is — perhaps it has to do with the principle that the death of a tzaddik atones for the generation. (Moed Katan 28a).

Have you ever noticed that Avraham was born in 1948 in the Hebrew Calendar, the same year (in the Western) calendar in which the state of Israel was founded? Of course, Hashem promised Avraham that all of the land of Canaan would be his descendents’ everlasting possession. (Bereshis 17:8.)

Caleefornia, I don’t have any specific advice, because I don’t know what the right thing for you to do is. But I thought I’d mention that in my experience, when young people are dating, it does sometimes happen that a girl will be attracted to a guy, but then when she finds out that he really likes her, then all of the sudden she’s not attracted anymore.

I don’t know what the psychological mechanism is, but it’s a thing that happens sometimes. Part of it may be that women feel attracted to confident men who don’t seem to care about them — there are actually even (non-frum and perhaps quite wicked!) relationship columnists who tell men to be reserved with women (dates, girlfriends or wives) and to not give them too much affection or attention because that will turn them off.

Anyway, when this kind of thing happens, I don’t think it’s a sign that the relationship will or won’t work out. You just have to wait and see how you feel.

Think First, I don’t know if I would read to much into Caleefornia’s use of the word “flirting.” Flirting is in the eyes of the beholder. One person’s flirting is another person’s talking or being normal. Some people refer to it as flirting whenever a girl talks to a guy at all and happens to smile.

My wife prefers my homemade chummus to store-bought, so I’ve started making it each week before Shabbos. It’s very simple — just a large can of chick peas, a few tablespoons of tahini, some lemon juice, some olive oil, salt and some water (so it’s not too thick), blended in a food mixer. I usually taste it and then add more lemon juice or water or salt or even tahini depending on how it tastes, before mixing it and trying it again. The baby likes it too, as long as it’s not too lemony.

Zahavasdad: thanks for the Berel Wein anecdote. If anyone has other stories about well-known rabbis exercising or playing sports, please share them.

I believe they’re listed in his book Career of Happiness. I don’t have it on hand right now.

A shalom bayis manual I highly recommend is Garden of Peace by R’ Shalom Arush. There are separate men’s and women’s versions. It’s much different than R’ Avigdor’s advice (The men’s version at least — I haven’t read the women’s one.) Following R’ Arush’s advice really works wonders.

Studies have shown that eating a really large breakfast helps with weight loss, because it helps you eat less the rest of the day (and especially at night). I think that’s one of the most important things you can do.

Most Americans get a huge proportion of their calories for animal products such as meat and cheese. Nobody did this before recent times, because it was too expensive (the Gemara talks about a rich man eating meat once a week, for example). If most of your calories come from other, less calorically dense foods — such as legumes, whole grains, vegetables and fruits — this will help with weight loss.

One food that is healthy, high in protein and is shown to make people feel full is buckwheat, which was an Eastern European staple food for hundreds of years. I like to cook buckwheat with lentils and eat it for lunch, along with some bread and an apple.

Contrary to what Popa suggested, it does sometimes happen that people graduate from law school, hang out a shingle, and end up with a successful practice. I know people who have done this in the last couple years (out of town). But it is fairly rare — most people don’t have the guts to even try, because it’s not easy. It can be done, but it’s not for the faint of heart.

The law job market is just awful, awful, awful. Anyone graduating with any kind of job is extremely fortunate. Aside from (most) government jobs, lawyer jobs tend to require long hours and many have negative work environments. This is not exactly conducive to combining Torah study with work and spending time with family.

Justice Scalia has complained that too many of the brightest people go into law. He argues that society would probably be better off if many of them went into other socially useful fields in which there is not a surplus. I think he has a valid point. Think this over before going into law. Perhaps you’d be happier and make a more positive impact as a physician assistant? (Yes, they make a lot of money too.)

On the issue of lying lawyers, Popa is right! People always think of criminal law examples, but the fact is that the vast majority of lawyers never represent defendants in criminal cases.

Bottom line: don’t go to law school unless you’re really, really sure you want to be a lawyer, even if it means long spells of unemployment and feeling pressured to stay in jobs you dislike.

Snowbunny: Sorry you can’t buy books. Plenty of the same advice is on R’ Brody’s blog (Lazer Beams) and the Chut Shel Chessed Yeshivah’s webmagazine (Breslev Israel). They might even give you copies for free if you showed up at the yeshivah (13 Shmuel HaNavi Street, Yerushalayim.) I hope your sleep improves soon!