Rav Ovadia Yosef prohibits foi gras because of tzaar baalei chaim concerns.

There are some previous CR threads on this topic, in case you want to see what I and several other of these posters said previously.

Rabbi Dovid Sears has a book (The Vision of Eden) explaining rabbinic opinions for and against vegetarianism. A draft of the book is available for free online. It’s very interesting — highly recommended. Many famous rabbis have either been vegetarians or praised vegetarianism (the Sdei Chemed is in the latter category, for example).

While some hold that eating meat is required on Shabbos or Yom Tov, the majority opinion is that it is not required. The head of the Jewish Vegetarians of North America is an Orthodox Jew.

In my view the main issue with vegetarianism and veganism is hashkafic. Despite what some people claim, there is nothing wrong with being a vegetarian because you want to minimize animal suffering. It is an aveira to cause unnecessary suffering to animals, and modern animal production methods certainly do that, beyond any doubt. So being vegetarian, or near-vegetarian (eating meat only on Shabbos and Yom Tov, for example, as Rabbi Lazer Brody recently recommended for health reasons), is way to be machmir about tzaar baalei chayim.

What is problematic is the animal rights belief that animals have the right not to be eaten, or that we have an obligation not to eat them or use their milk or eggs at all. By that logic, the korbanos would be immoral, and so would tallesim and tefillin and sifrei Torah, c”v’s. You can certainly be a vegetarian for animal welfare reasons yet not think it is inherently wrong to ever eat or use animals.

Another hashkafic problem is that vegetarianism, and especially veganism, has kind of become its own religion. Many vegans are very militant and associate mainly with other vegans. Thus it is hashkafically dangerous to become vegan, as one may become infected with heretical notions and believe in an all-encompassing worldview that replaces Yiddishkeit in your life.

Realistically, vegetarians are never going to convince the whole world. And eating meat occasionally is not that different from becoming completely vegetarian, in terms of its impact on the market. So in my view the best way to reduce animal suffering without endangering your overall avodas Hashem is to be a moderate vegetarian or near-vegetarian (eating meat, fish, dairy or eggs at least in small amounts or on occasion) while supporting organizations (animal welfare-oriented, not animal rights) that work toward improving the conditions in modern animal agriculture.

As an aside, one halachic advantange to being a vegetarian (even a lacto-ovo-pesco vegetarian) is that if your kitchen is only dairy, you don’t have to worry about meat/milk mistakes.

Check out the book Soul Searching: Seeking scientific ground for the Jewish tradition of an afterlife by R’ Yaacov Astor. It reviews the (sort of) scientific evidence for the afterlife (including NDEs and reincarnation) and shows that they parallel Jewish teachings very closely.

I’ve heard the teaching (I believe from R’ Lazer Brody, not sure of the original source) that the punishment for aveiros between man and G-d is gehenna, but the punishment for sins between man that weren’t forgiven is another gilgul.

I guess it’s not that complicated, it’s just funny there’s not a standard name for that in-between category, besides “frum,” which has different meanings to different people too.

There is a great gain from it, due to its effect on reducing intermarriage and increasing fertility among the Jewish people. If the chilonim who survived the Shoah had moved elsewhere, most of their grandchildren and great-grandchildren would have been non-Jewish. Because they moved to a majority-Jewish country instead, thousands, perhaps even millions of Jewish babies were born that would not have otherwise been born. This is a huge benefit.

Israel has also enabled a large dati and charedi birth rate through its welfare policies. One can’t be sure about these things, but it seems likely that the birth rate among religious Jews (particularly the MO but even potentially the charedim) would have been less if they had all come to America or Europe, where it is not as culturally supported to have large families.

To be sure, the secular Zionists created a secular Jewish identity through identification with the state, but I don’t think this has meant less observance than if the state hadn’t been created. Like I said above, the Jews emigrating elsewhere wouldn’t have even had Jewish offspring, so there would have been few left to be observant. Moreover, the average secular chiloni in Israel is actually more religious than many of the temple-going Reform types in America, since they avoid eating pork and shellfish, fast on Yom Kippur, and take off work for major Jewish holidays.

The government forcibly removing people from learning is a jaundiced way of looking at it. They’re simply enforcing (to a very limited extent) the universal draft on a community that was except from it for many decades, and when they are enlisted, they are given time for learning each day. If they succeed with these efforts, and charedim contribute more to the army and workforce, the chilonim will have a less negative imagine of the charedim and be more open to kiruv attempts.

I’m not saying no one should drink, just that the halacha is not to drink if it will cause you to neglect any mitzvos, and that if in one’s experience that has happened, that seems like a clear reason not to drink. Of course one should ask their Rav is there is a doubt about what to do.

Is there a halacha that one should not stay up all night on Shavuos if it would cause you to neglect a mitzvah the next day? I wasn’t aware of that. On second thought, I suppose kavanah in davening is not a big enough issue, since for most people it probably varies so much anyway — perhaps I shouldn’t have put that in my list.

Little Froggie, what gadol says what exact amount to drink? Try asking a gadol or rav if you should drink if you know it will probably cause you to neglect some mitzvah — I bet not a single one will tell you to drink in such a case.

You’re welcome! Good Shabbos, and refua shleima!

Ibuprofen’s not just a painkiller, it’s also a potent anti-inflammatory. If you have a sinus infection, you have inflammation.

Yes, a sinus infection can give you a toothache. It’s happened to me before.

If you don’t really like spicy food, you might consider trying Sriracha with the rooster on it (if you can find it with a hechsher you hold by). It’s pretty spicy but for some reason it makes you want to eat more and more. That way you could end up eating enough to blast that sinusitis away. Hatzlacha!

“Just really congested that I haven’t been able to breath at all through one side of my nose.”

It’s most likely a sinus infection. These can last for weeks or even months, and they can make you feel awful all the time! Like I said before, learn how to use a neti pot (with filtered water and sea salt, not tap water and table salt), eat really spicy food, get some exercise, take ibuprofen consistently throughout the day for a few days — these things really help.

I sometimes used to get them but when I went running that could be enough to knock it out — something about warming up your sinuses and allowing everything to flow. A neti pot several times a day if necessary can also be great, but don’t do it right before sleeping. I just had a sinus infection last week, and that (along with spicy food) was what cured it.

Hashtorani, well that’s not the only view. Chassidic rosh yeshivah R’ Shalom Arush, recommends in Garden of Peace that wives be put in charge of the family’s finances.

Bais Yaakov Maidel, read a translation of the song Eishes Chayil. In it the Jewish wife is lauded for her business activities. It certainly wasn’t so she could support her husband’s full time Torah learning — as you mentioned, that is a newfangled arrangement.

Of course a woman’s working has intrinsic value. If a frum woman is a teacher and teaches children some Torah, or is a nurse and saves someone’s life, of course there is intrinsic value to that! No one could possibly challenge that.

While a woman receives merit for the Torah and mitzvos of her husband and children that she enables, that is not necessarily her main or only method of avodas Hashem. It all depends on the person and their particular interests, desires, abilities and situation.

The idea that everyone should have exactly the same lifestyle, with women always staying home, or women always working to support learning husbands, is simply not a requirement of Judaism — such visions, or real scenarios, of total conformity are a sociological or hashkafic phenomenon that are limited to particular communities in particular times and places.

For a compelling answer to the OP’s question, and a very effective shalom bayis guide, see Garden of Peace by R’ Shalom Arush (there are different versions for men and women.) For men at least, it is a must-read, because most people have misconceptions, or points of ignorance, regarding shalom bayis (including regarding the ultimate purpose of marriage) that cause problems in this area.

There are many, many documented reports of people remembering things they could not have known. Either lots of people are conspiring to fabricate these stories all around the world in a really bizarrely coordinated way, or they’re real. There’s a chapter in Soul Searching by R’ Astor about this, but there are probably more thorough and convincing sources available today.

It’s not mandatory to believe in gilgulim, since there are rishonim who spoke against it and it’s not explicitly mentioned in Gemara or Tanach. But virtually every major rabbinical authority since kabbalah was popularized 500-1000 years ago has believed in it (if they said anything about it). The Rashash is the only exception I know of.

No one is allowed to enter into contracts which they can’t fulfill. But a man should not be stingy or micromanaging with his wife. A wife will not be happy if she feels she is not able to buy what she needs to be, or if she is criticized and micromanaged.

Please do your wife and yourself a favor and read Garden of Peace by R’ Shalom Arush. It works.

I’m not defending the article as a whole, but he has a point about this: “Religious choice would benefit all. When choice is available, religion in general and Orthodoxy in particular will fare better because people will have the freedom to embrace faith willingly.”

In countries with official religions (like Scandinavia and the UK), in which the government pays the salaries of the religious functionaries, the clerics are lazy and arrogant. Consequently, religious belief and observance tends to go downhill fast, leading to a secularized society that resents or ignores religion.

In contrast, countries like America, with a free market in religion, end up more religious (including more strict religions), because various religious groups have the ability, and an incentive, to attract new followers, and no one feels like they are being forced into anything by the government. Read Thomas Jefferson’s statute of religious freedom — and think about whether you agree with the underlying sentiment.

For demographic reasons, Israel is going to become more Orthodox no matter what. But if the Rabbanut were privatized, it would happen faster, because the chilonim would resent religion far less, and a thousand flowers of kiruv would be allowed to bloom. If privatization helps the heterodox, such an effect would only be temporary.

I think that until recently, there were no detailed rules on how to check for bugs — you were just supposed to look and wash using common sense. An interesting paragraph on this issue from an essay by Rabbi Ari Enkin:

[such food]

If I’m not mistaken, Popa believes it is “outright theft” when the government, through the democratic process, decides to tax him, and use part of the proceeds to pay for someone else’s food stamps. We’ve been through this before.

“If that’s the case, why would Hashem use this method of punishment in our days? Who can possibly figure out (besides for those few holy people) why they were punished? Who can possibly judge and decide that?”

The books of R’ Shalom Arush discuss this, for example in Garden of Peace (his marriage manual for men). Well worth reading.

Great post, Sam2, and interesting example, RDoniel. RYochananWannabe should keep in mind that if you switch to an opposite extreme (let’s say a high school with very little attention to secular studies) you might find problems with that too (no group within Orthodoxy is perfect). Sometimes the mean between the extremes is best. Sometimes it’s good to be around people to your right and people to your left, rather than just being around a bunch of people who are just like you.

From the blog of R’ Shlomo Aviner, who advocates studying Torah on Nittel Nacht:

“Ha-Rav Moshe Sternbuch [currently on Eidah Charedis] wrote that this custom [of not learning on Nittel Nacht] was unknown in Lithuania and it is only a custom among Chasidim (Shut Teshuvot Ve-Hanhagot 1:551). The Chazon Ish would learn on “Nittel Nacht,” and said that it was forbidden to waste time from learning on this night and he criticized those who did not learn on that night. The Steipler Gaon would also learn on “Nittel Nacht,” but did so by heart so as not to upset those who have the custom not to learn. The Steipler Gaon also requested not to be informed when Nittel Nacht is so that he would not have to waste time from his learning (Orchot Rabbenu vol. 1 p. 193). And Ha-Rav Ovadiah Yosef has written that no such custom exists among Sefardic Jews (Shut Yabia Omer vol. 7 Yoreh Deah #20).”

However, the Lubavitcher Rebbe always observed this custom. His practice was apparently to play chess.

Anyway, if R’ Sternbuch is correct that this custom was unknown in Lita, then why should today’s Litvishers follow it? The Chasam Sofer followed it but he was, um, Austro-Hungarian.

If you do not know Hebrew well enough to daven in Hebrew from the siddur, or your concentration/intention is better while davening in English, I understand that it is permissible to daven in English, or whatever your native language is. If you would like to daven in Hebrew while understanding the English better, the interlinear siddur can be good for that.

In addition to davening the formal prayers from the siddur, it is very beneficial to engage in at least a few minutes a day of personal prayer in your native language, thanking and praising G-d for everything, analyzing your deeds and doing teshuvah for your sins, and asking for whatever material or spiritual things you need. Some rabbis, such as Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, emphasized the importance of this practice, and recommended strongly that all people spend at least an hour a day doing this. The Essential Rebbe Nachman, available online for free, or the books of R’ Shalom Arush, are good sources of information on this practice.

Democracy — meaning multi-party elections, checks and balances (executive, courts, legislature), freedom of speech, association and religion for everyone — is good. It is good because it protects unpopular minorities from harm, and ensures that an open discussion takes place about the country’s problems, rather than the closed group-think characteristic of dictatorships. For this reason, there has never been a famine in a democracy, though there have been plenty in dictatorships or colonial possessions.

Democracy has existed in the history of Yiddishkeit. In Jewish communities in Europe, for example, it was common for taxpayers to vote on how taxes should be levied and what they would be spent on. It is not alien.

Why do such regimes as the Taliban and Iran exist? In part, to show us that theocracy (even when partially or nominally combined with democracy, as in Iran) is inherently oppressive and dysfunctional, and prone to war and harmful nationalism.

If the charedim, in a few decades when they become a majority, try to set up an Iranian-style regime (in which a council of gedolim hold all the real power but elections still occur and have some influence, and in which vice squads roam around arresting people for holding hands or looking too Western), this will lead to disaster — civil war (the dati leumi would rather die than be ruled by charedi mullahs), mass emigration by the chilonim, economic collapse, etc. This is why we should value democracy, as a peaceful way of settling our differences and coming to deliberative solutions to our problems.

Even when Moshiach comes, who is to say there won’t be democracy (as in a constitutional monarchy, in which the monarch has certain powers and other powers are reserved for the legislature)? Even if Moshiach has ruach hakodesh and so on, he will not have unlimited time, and may not be able to decide personally on all aspects of how society should be run (what times should the local parks close, who should be the head dogcatcher of Tiberias, etc.)

I meant that I like miritchka’s idea of telling them the general idea, but only if it becomes necessary to tell them for some reason (like they heard about it from somebody). I just don’t see a reason to tell them very early if it’s not necessary.

You might as well do teshuvah anyway!

As the Gemara says, do teshuvah the day before you die (that is, since no one knows when they will die, we must do teshuvah daily). And why omit mentioning something in your daily teshuvah just because there is some doubt about whether you did it?

Of course, after doing teshuvah you can add a prayer to help you keep track of and remember your actions!