zevi8

Brooklyn19,

Its very healthy not to eat animal products. They cause so many health problems, as i am sure you know. The human body thrives on a vegetarian diet. I, myself, am a vegetarian. Sadly, vegetables are a side dish, an afterthought, for most people

I have been to many weddings and it seems like people that know each other tend to gravitate to the same tables anyway. Why bother with place cards.

If someone is physically able to work, then they should. It gives jewish people a bad name when all these guys are sitting while their wives work all day [taking care of] 10 babies. Then when they dont have enough money, get welfare, food stamps and other govt. programs. What makes these people different then guys sitting on stoops, collecting welfare checks. Both are not working nor seek work. There is nothing wrong with getting a full time job and having a seder at night or in the morning.

What is so good about learning in kollel all day? What is so noble about living off the government and your inlaws? Jewish people are supposed to be a light unto the nations. How are you supposed to do that if you are sitting inside all day, never going out into the world? Can someone please quote a phrase in the torah where it says to sit and learn all day and mooch off people?

Joseph,

now you are going to start on that again? i already explained that i never used the computer on shabbos. Apparently, you just dont get it. I am not going to explain myself again.

I’m sure hitler took his boots off. Nobody here personally knew hitler so anything you saw of him is in pictures at rallies and marches. He isnt going to take his boots off then.Hitler was an evil man but he was just that, a man. He wasnt a demon or a chicken. I’m sure he had 2 regular human feet with 5 toes on each foot. All this is just superstition and jewish people are not allowed to believe in such nonsense. Alot of things that people believe to be halacha is in fact, superstition. Stepping on a fingernail will cause a woman to miscarry? Umm, yeah. We have to start looking in the torah and forget all this nonsense.

Why does everyone assume that just because he is elected president, that moshiach is coming? Give me a break. All politicians are the same. They make promises to get into office and once they get elected, dont keep them. Who cares if hes black, muslim, whatever… Hes just another president. I happen not to like him but i dont like McCain either. I dont like Obama’s stance on abortion because he doesnt mind people having live birth abortions which is just utmost cruelty. Look it up on the net.

noitallmr,

You said “Well you better spend a bit more time studying because in MY Torah it says that it’s forbidden to look or speak to woman who aren’t related to you”. That is totally made up. People of the torah and navi talked to and looked at women all the time.This is all recorded for you to read. Are you saying that all the prophets, moshe, aaron and all the forefathers were doing something forbidden? Rabbis of this generation look and talk to women all the time. Why are you making things up? Its not forbidden to look at a woman. Its not forbidden to talk to a woman.

jewishfeminist,

Thank you for defending me. I think that jewish people who are religious should realize that orthodox Judaism accounts for less than 10 percent of jewish people in the Usa. By sitting here and bashing only alienates non-religious jews and will never get them to see things religiously. The jewish people are supposed to be a light onto the nations and certainly a light onto each other. By sitting in ones own religious circle, you will never ever accomplish that and do any good. By the way, I am not denying the fact that i was using a nj ip address but that doesnt mean i was at the NJ ip. I am done trying to explain myself. I dont have to explain it to you. I despise the fact that you call my views blasphemous. Please qoute what you find to be so.

Qa,

You must be patting yourself on the back thinking “i got him now”. I caught him being mechalel shabbos and now i am going to post it in this forum for everyone to know. Its that self righteous, holier than thou attitude that i speak of when i talk about lakewood and other taliban type orthodoxy. The orthodoxy we know is not true Judaism. Qa, not that i have to explain myself to you, but it just so happens that Hong Kong is 13 hours ahead of Lakewood time. Think about that next time before you jump to conclusions and try playing rabbi sherlock holmes.

While this has no bearing on the topic,the answer to your question is yes. I am Shomer Shabbos. I dont know why you had such a random question. I may not have the same outlook as alot of people but everyone cant be the same and that is what orthodoxy around here feels. If someone has a tv, wears jeans or if a woman wears pants or doesnt cover her hair, she is looked down upon and somehow deemed less religious. Who made up all these supposed halachas that women have to wear skirts and men have to wear black hats and white shirts? These are not halacha. There should not be an emphasis on them. Even covering hair is not halacha. Its taken from a passage in the torah that has nothing to do with halacha for covering hair. It was common for people to cover their hair in those times, doesnt mean its required and doesnt make someone a bad person if they dont. Men used to wear robes and things of that nature. Does that mean that men are required to wear robes? No. I know i got off topic, just ranting

Jewishfeminist02,

I think that we are like minded in alot of areas. I live in Lakewood and the things i see everyday is just absurd. People here talk about how the internet is treif and they lock their kids out of it. These are the same people that dont use car seats for their kids, dont buckle up, smoke in front of their kids and let their kids just wander and play in the street. Somehow, these things to them are not a danger to their kids but using the internet is. I completely understand parents not wanting their kids to look at inappropriate things. You make rules, you monitor them. To completely ban something is just foolish. You cannot stop progress. Its been tried in previous years.Be sensible about it. Of course nobody is obligated to have the internet or tv. Thats a personal choice. I dont agree what is going on in Lakewood though. They have placed a ban on the internet in homes and if you have the internet in your house, it has to be for business, otherwise your kid cannot attend school.

Sarah,

It already has happened in lakewood. It takes me 20 minutes to drive from Kimball hospital to shoprite on a workday. The population in 2000 was 36,000. Now it is over 70,000 people. I’d much rather deal with the brick drivers than Lakewood drivers.

Why would you want to block the internet from your children? There is good and bad in everything. Do you know how many people are killed in cars each year? Maybe you should block people from using cars. You have to be sensible about it and monitor them while they use it. What makes it ok for you to use the internet but not your children?

Tzippi,

When Hashem gave man permission to eat meat, there was no difference in kosher and non-kosher. Noach and his sons and all the other people of that time ate everything. yes Hashem did make a distinction between clean and unclean animals but It doesnt state in the torah that more clean animals were brought onto the ark so that there would be more to sacrifice. Kosher animals are for the most part, the ones that helped man, working the fields and such. Nobody is going to have a pig or a lion help plow his field is he? It was more practical to have more kosher animals than non-kosher animals because they were more useful. Noach wasnt told to bring any sacrifice, he brought them on his own. It doesnt say anywhere that he was told to bring sacrifices. Although man did not eat meat up to this point, i am sure that they brought sacrifices, probably to the sun god and other such gods. When Noach brought a sacrifice to hashem, it says it was a pleasing aroma to god because he was doing it for Hashem and not another god. The sacrifice he brought was a burnt offering which is not eaten, but burnt because man wasnt yet given permission to eat meat. The whole concept of animal sacrifice is deeply rooted in paganism. It was impossible to ask people to give that up so instead god created the laws we have, to offer sacrifice to him and not to other pagan gods.

jewishfeminist02,

I dont know why everyone is attacking you. What is wrong with having compassion? These days with all the medical knowledge we have about how bad it is for your health to eat animals, why would anyone do it? Its just as unhealthy as smoking. I, myself am a vegetarian. I have been one for 7 years. These days, there really is no need to eat animals. Our bodies are not even designed to digest it. I like your point you bring up about the sacrifices in the `bais hamikdosh. At that point the jews were so entrenched in the culture of idolatry in would have been impossible for them to accept the Torah if they couldn’t do sacrifices. Good post and there is nothing wrong with your screen name. is just fine

zev

Bentzy18,

I am not doubting the permission that god gave for man to eat meat. It does not state anywhere in the chumash that god gave man permission to eat as a reward for saving them. This is simply a commentary opinion–Its not law.

Just because man sinned, and was kicked out of gan eden, didnt change the fact that man was still vegetarian and all animals as well. Nobody ate meat. Yes, sin was introduced into the world, but there were still no meat eaters. Meat eaters only appeared after the flood.

If it was perfectly good, and ok, to eat meat in the eyes of Hashem; would there be such an emphasis on ritualistic slaughter? These laws are meant to make it MORE difficult; for the person to REALLY have to think about taking a life. Regarding your comment about the pre-flood world not being “on the level” to eat meat: People in those times were closer to Hashem in that generation, than we are today (Yes, even here in “Lakewood ir ha kodesh”). Why are we eating meat based on that opinion? How does saving animals lives equate to being able to eat them? That claim is ridiculous. Basically, he was saying, ok animals, i am going to save your life and then when we get out of this boat, i’m going to eat you. Makes lots of sense.

The level of factory farming these days is unprecedented. The amounts of animal products that people consume has never before been seen. I do not wish to post on a yiddishe forum sources of kosher animal cruelty, but I assure you, a simple use of google’s powerful search engines, and you’ll find what I’m talking about. Animals living in cramped quarters, eating other animals purchased from veterinary hospitals after being euthanized (often from being diseased), IS against the Torah. Poultry being fed such fattening foods that their legs break because they cannot support their own bodyweight, is not against some law? Even indirectly? Hashem gave us common sense to know what is right and wrong. People are so blinded by their desire to eat meat, and the factories by their profit margins–common sense, and simple compassion, are a rare commodity, in these dismal times.

Animal testing may be beneficial in some cases but i was specifically talking about testing on animals that are alive. The same labs that test for diseases and other sorts also put shampoo into the eyes of rabbits just to see their reaction. That is wrong.

I’ll finish off by saying that it was god who created the human body. Anybody who knows a little about the body knows that the human digestive tract is very long and complicated. It is designed for digesting vegetation. This compared to a carnivore, whose digestive tract is very short and simple, designed to quickly digest meat in a few hours. It takes days, sometimes weeks for meat that is eaten to leave the body. Sometimes never leaving at all but staying in the digestive tract, and causing people to become sick. Hashem, who designed the body, knew exactly what was good for it, and what was not. The major diseases in this country can be traced back to the consumption of non fibrous foods (animal based products): colon cancer, heart disease, and prostate cancer are just a few ticks on a list that goes on and on. Hashem, who designed the human body, knew this. The permission to eat meat was a concession to mankind. Did anyone ever notice that when people get sick they always tell them to eat more fruits and vegetables? Maybe if we followed our diets the way Hashem intended, we would be sick less often, or even have a lower obesity rate? Its no mitzvah to get heart disease, high cholesterol or any of the other associated diseases from eating animals. Eating meat on this factory farming level also causes many problems on a global scale. It is just a very destructive activity. The level of factory farming these days cannot be sustained for a long period of time without major problems. There’s not a person on this planet, myself included, that doesn’t want their children to have a better life than they did. If changes aren’t made to our neshamos, our bodies, and our planet SOON–our future doesn’t have much of a chance at all.