Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
To mythoughts: You sound like a Republican. You did not state whether you agree or disagree with the OP’s observation. I personally do not trust personal observations about other people’s money or tzaddikdik.
I believe that independent studies of the general population (i.e., mostly gentiles) generally find that wealthy people donate smaller percentages of their disposable income to charities, but we must be careful to get our facts right on this.
I think Raphael Kaufman got it right when he suggested that “Chanukah spirit” is an assimilated cousin of Xmas spirit. If you look at the treatment of Chanukah in Jewish writings prior to about 1850 (or, if you prefer, 5611), you will not see much about Chanukah, and certainly nothing about “Chanukah spirit.” There is no denying it: the “spirit” of the gentile culture has rubbed off on, and infected, frum culture.
To miritchka: If someone is knocking on your door, he might be desperate, or he might be a criminal looking to harm you. Your fear is well-grounded in the real world. There are plenty of opportunities for tzeddakah that do not require you to put yourself at risk.
The OP states that the Israeli government has not learned from its past mistakes, but the OP does not tell us what he/she has learned from the Israeli government’s past mistakes. The OP does not state what Israel should now do to protect its citizens and its interests.
Here is what I have learned:(a) The world does not strenuously object to Arabs’ lobbing rockets into Israel if Israel retaliates and kills more Arabs than the Jews killed by the Arab-lobbed rockets. (b) The US, regardless of which party controls the White House, publicly scolds Israel but continues to support the Jewish state. (c) The Arabs have been attacking Israel with lobbed rockets or similar attacks for the last 64 years, and Israel is, relative to the Arabs of the region, flourishing.
concerned.1 writes in part: “Hashem gave us Eretz Yisroel and we have got to protect it.” I agree with the first clause, but where in Torah are we commanded to protect Eretz Yisroel. I thought Hashem agreed to do that for us. We have not lived in Eretz Yisroel for major portions of out history. Should we not conclude that when we are again worthy of residing in EY, Hashem will take us there and protect us?
You misspelled the name of the tropical bird: it’s repelican.
Don’t try this famous opener: “Call me Ishmael.”
The OP reference to Staten Island begs a question: has the bagel reached Staten Island yet?