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“Decree”???? — a bad case of flu that mainly kills old people (and our community are a very low percentage of old people, since we have a high percentage of children). 90% of cases are so minor you might not realize you were diseased unless you went out of your way to get tested. And since most deaths are those older than boomers (in our community, holocaust survivors, an age cohort much reduced by the holocaust), we are less affected than most. An increase in the national death rate from 8 to 9 per 1000 is minor, most industrial countries had a higher death rate before Covid19; the life expectancy fell back to what it was in the dark and horrible period of the 1990s (how did we ever survive).
People and governments freaked out quite on their own. Harsh measures appropriate to smallpox or plague or Ebola were introduced needlessly. Terrified people flocked to hospitals and undermined medical services; people with real health problems avoided doctors and hospitals out of fear. Indeed, people in many places are dying due to the governments’ shutdowns. We choose our politicians, as do most countries (at least indirectly). So don’t blame Ha-Shem for evil decrees of those we put in power. Just look in the mirror.
1. Why is a “stay at home” mother considered to be “not working.” If she accepted a paid position as a cook, cleaning lady, housekeeper, nanny, governess, and chauffeur, she would be considered to be employed.
2. Our community has a long tradition of women engaging in economic activities (either employment or entrepreneurship) while males have a long tradition of scholarship. The idea that the primary duty of a male is to make lots of money is in fact alien to our culture. For Yidden, the “manly” thing to do is to learn Torah, and failing to do so and getting rich instead makes one a bit off by our standards.
Edited
Sounds like cataracts,in which case you’ll be functional for most purposes after the first operation.
300 years ago everyone was either Chareidi or humongously off the derekh (meaning becoming a member of the local state religion be it Christian or Islam, or joining a “reformist” group such as the Frankist or the followers of Shabbatai Zevi). Those who were willing be mesiras nefesh for Torah and Mitsvos converted (which offered immediate economic benefits). There were no “modern Orthodox”.
Remember that until the mid-20th century it was perfectly legal, and in fact was public policy, to discriminate against those who didn’t do their jobs on Shabbos. Just being Shomer Shabbos represented tremendous mesiras nefesh (and in that era, “modern” Orthodox synagogue often had people who drove to shul and parked a block away, and members who felt proud that they kept kosher at home while avoiding pork when eating away from home). In that era, being Shomer Shabbos and going to college or holding a job for a non-Jewish employer (including the government) was difficult, so anyone even a bit frum was regarded as a fanatic.
You don’t decide. It happens. You get used to taking Torah and Mitsvos seriously, and one day you realize you don’t really give a hoot about the outside world, since in the long run Torah and Mitsvos matter, and the outside world amounts to no more than a pile of dust.
Socialism comes down to the idea that the states should make decisions for you. The opposite of socialism is individualism, the idea that each individual can and should make decisions for themselves, and that the government should respect those decisions. By this standard, the Democrats have become very socialistic, feeling the the government should have a monopoly on decision making in most areas of daily life (just like their friends in Cuba).
The Democratic party of people such as Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy or Hubert Humphrey is ancient history. Today’s Democrats are socialists. Even those who claim otherwise have accepted the socialist dogma that the state should have a monopoly on decision making, and individuals should be obedient cogs in the state-run system. SO WHY WOULD THE DEMOCRATS BE CRITICAL OF THEIR FELLOW SOCIALISTS IN CUBA.
There is a different issues of “modesty” (covering up what should be covered up), not looking like a bum (wearing a gym clothes or sleeping clothes in public), and looking respectable so people won’t think Bnei Torah are slobs (wearing respectable but dull clothes). And fashions change over time (long pants only started become standard where streets were paved and sewers installed – previously one preferred short pants with high boots). The period of the early Achronim was very cold (relative to today and to the period of the Rishonim) which would have affected fashion.
Short pants that go below the knee are not really problematic (they were standard until about 200 years ago, and are still common sport wear under American men such as baseball and football players). While some Hasidim still wear them, usually with high socks, they are generally unfashionable in the US.
Unless the school uniform represents lower costs that what the student would normally wear (as occur in situations where the students would choose to wear expensive clothing), they aren’t justifiable and the money spent on them is a waste of the community’s assets better spent on Torah education (lower tuition, better pay for teachers, etc.). A dress code would be just as useful, and would not divert resources from Torah education. One should note that without wearing uniforms, and with no official dress code, frum adults seem to manage to dress quite uniformly.
No one objects to universal access to health care. If you mean a system where there is one national health care and everyone is required to use it, including the politically well connected, that never existed anywhere, even in totally socialist systems such as the Soviet Union (somehow the rich and powerful get better care).
Obamacare is just an expensive set of options towards getting access to health care for those without (which was never a very significant number in the US). For political reasons, they banned many “deplorables” from using inexpensive health insurance (the “deplorables” answered back by electing Donald Trump).
Managed care is a type of health insurance that offers (in theory) lower prices in return for the insurer taking control of what care you are offered (one can negotiate the price and standards).
They made kapotas in other colors in the past. When the goyim stopped wearing them (roughly a century ago, when King George stopped wearing them), demand fell, and at present the bulk of the demand is for black (meaning anything else is probably a special order that will cost more).
Styles are like that. If you look at clothes over time you see changes reflecting a mix of what the goyim are doing (which we sometimes ignore, but not always), as well as halacha, and dynamics within our own community. For example, goyim switched from long suits to short suits (for “business wear”) because King George V did, and gave up hats because President John Kennedy misplaced his top hat and walked bare headed at his inauguration parade – we weren’t impressed and kept wearing kapotes and fedoras. Whereas goyim look at their politicians and media celebrities, we look at our rabbanim, who tend to be proper and dull on matters of fashion (which in fact, are largely irrelevant to the survival of the world). However the frum community is influenced by the goyim (note that pants are worn universally by males, which clearly would not have been the case 400 years ago, and that many frum people wear neckties which wasn’t the case 200 years ago).
But note the changes in other areas of clothing such as shoes. Non-leather shoes, and even sneakers, are increasingly worn whereas once only formal leather shoes were acceptable. Polyester and other artificial fabrics have increasingly become common in the frum community. When wearing a short (i.e. normal length suit), we tend to follow the goyim’s styles but about 10 years late (so double breasted suits are becoming much less common). And except for the requirements of married women covering their hair and all women covering up much of the rest of their bodies (which is contrary to the goyim’s minhag in western countries), women’s fashions closely follow those of the goyim.
WE are the ones who choose to be frum! We get lots of tzuras from cousins who choose otherwise.
In defining OTD I suggest that one line is in total non-observance of Shabbos (including yuntufs) and Kashrus. To be on the “other” (assimilated, non-frum) side of the line, one must be working at one’s job on Shabbos and in no way making “Shabbos” special (e.g. if you make a festive meal on Friday in honor of Shabbos, you aren’t totally off the derekh even if you go to work on Saturday morning). Not fasting on Yom Kippur and not going to hear Shofar on Rosh Ha-Shana, and not going to some sort of seder on Pesach probably indicate you are “gone”, but if you take off on Yom Kippur, have matsa on Pesach and shake a lulav now and then on Sukkos, you are still not totally OTD.
This suggest that to study the problem, one needs to have a scale reflecting both halacha and how various halachot are understood socially (e.g. many totally un-frum people still make a special meal on Shabbos, or take off on Yom Kippur, or attend a seder), and one needs to ask if someone is truely OTD if they have gone from frum to some level at which they while be strictly not “orthodox”, are still acting in ways that are clearly unassimilated.
Definition of OTD and “modern” is very challenging.
It a father where’s a long coat on Shabbos and opposes Zionism, and the son wears a modern suit and supports the medinah, is the kid OTD? If someone who follows any aspect of Shabbos (e.g. not going to work, but otherwise doing all 39 melachos) or kashrus (not eating treff animals, but otherwise ignoring kashrus), still considered OTD?
Is some considered “modern” only if they are a zionist who learns Torah some times, but wears American-style clothes and follows liberal/zionist rabbanim. Some people would say the someone who belongs to a nominally Orthodox (meaning frumer than Conservative) shul but almost never attends, and makes makes no attempt to keep kosher or Shabbos, is still “modern” and that to be OTD you need to completely give up on Shabbos and Kashrus.
If there is “real” pandemic (not a bad case of flu), we will be dealing with all ages (not just the sick and elderly) becoming seriously ill, and with a most people who become infected become seriously ill or dying (rather than 90% getting nothing worse than cold symptoms, if that much), and with the death rate increasing by tens of percent rather than tenths of percent (not thousands dying, but tens of millions).
The measures that were regarded by many people as excessive for Covid-19 would then be appropriate, however the public health people and the various mass media (including YWN) have the “boy who cried wolf” problem and won’t be believed. In the false alarm of Covid-19, communities that didn’t take the established media seriously (in the USA, these tended be “red”, meaning conservative and deplorable) fared no worse, and perhaps better, than those who bought the story (the “blue” and elites) that we were dealing with a horrific pandemic that threatened the existence of society. In a real epidemic, that will not be the case.
Ha-Shem creates viruses and germs, and it is not for us to argue or question Ha-Shem. However Ha-Shem is not responsible for creating power-grabbing politicians, political correct scientists, or mass media drumming up circulation with fake news.
Between us and Ha-Shem, and given the broad times that are allowed for most things, it seems Ha-Shem is very laid back about time – several hours to say Shma, you can Mekabbel Shabbos hours early, and don’t have to end Shabbos until well after the the zman.
Otherwise its a matter of timing. Germans and most Americans tend to be punctual. Many other cultures consider arriving strictly on time to be rude. East European Jews tend not to be fanatic about punctuality, and many other cultures have a similar attitude towards time. As a practical matter, its best to figure out the custom of those you deal with, and not make an issue about (again, other than when it is a matter of halacha).
Vowel shift. Common among all living languagues. Also remember that most English speakers of Hebrew are descended from Yiddish speakers, and Yiddish since it was largely an oral language (Yidden spoke Yiddish, but wrote in Hebrew) was more likely to have vowel shifting.
Note that Ha-Shem and Moshe refrained from including International Phonetic Alphabet notation, and did not include a sound recording of how Hebrew is supposed to be pronounced.
essmeir: Are you aware that there are places in Israel other than Jerusalem, and in America other than New York. For a frum Jew, the minimum is to be in walking distance of a frum shul, with a shul, kashrus and mikva in the area. In America, that is limited to major cities. In Eretz Yisrael, you can meet that standard is most small towns and villages.
If your problem is that you need to live in the most expensive neighborhood possible, you will have a problem almost everywhere.
Coffee Addict – If you count all the Likud break-aways (Likudniks who didn’t get along with Bibi), the “Greater Likud” has 60+ seats, and if Bibi drops out of the picture (perhaps a deal not to throw him in in jail in return for accepting an unpaid decision as a senior statesman), the question then is who is best positioned to take over the Right-Center bloc, and as long as he doesn’t burn bridges, that’s Bennett. The people who broke away from Likud all left because of Netanyahu, and in general have no ideological disputes, so coming back, either in an alliance or formally rejoining Likud, is no big deal. By virtue of being Prime Minister, Bennett is poised to take over leadership of the Right-Center of the Israeli spectrum in a post-Bibi environment.
You have to define terms. If you are asking whether the government (i.e. a Bennett-Lapid led coalition of all parties, far right to far left, plus some Arabs) as it exists today will survive in this form, it probably will be measured in months if not weeks. However asking if a coalition led by Bennett and excluding Netanyahu will survive, that changes the odds, since while Bennett will probably lose all the left wing parties he can pick up Hareidim and Likud (once Netanyahu retires as party leader). One needs to realize that most of the right wing and centrist parties in Israel are Likud spin-offs, so if Bennett can get Netanyahu out of the picture they can all “spin-on” to a “new” Likud, and Bennett is well position to lead it. In a parliamentary system, especially with proportional representation, a “coalition” routinely can add and subtract members while staying intact.
If it was impossible to make a living in Israel, you would not see an ever increasing number of Jews living in Israel. You also would not see Israel’s standard of living steadily rising from the ranks of underdeveloped countries 70 years ago to the one of the most prosperous countries. Some individuals may have a problem and based on the comments, one might suggest the typical problems include: 1) immigrating to Israel without being fluent in Israeli Hebrew and with a “skill set” designed for America rather than Israel; 2) trying to duplicate an American lifestyle in a totally different country rather than adapting one’s lifestyle to the Israeli economy (note that many things that are expensive in America are cheap in Israel, such as education and health care, whereas other things are relatively more expensive such as a single-family house in an urban center or private cars)
Stop whining. You seriously underestimate the American people (probably since most people on the list live in the frum ghettos of greater New York and the only contact with goyim they have is with the woke nutcases who infest that area).
While the Democrats and the Republicans make be shooting themselves their feet and otherwise makes fools of themselves, the roots of democracy (small D) and the republican (small R) tradition are deeply imbedded in American culture. That is what makes America exceptional, and why we have good reason to feel that America will no get the way of Germany (which never had a democratic or a republican tradition, and from its earliest origin never had a spirit of tolerance towards anyone).
Changes in fertility probably resulted from a decline in infant mortality (in the past, wanting two to four children who lived to adulthood, required ten or more pregnancies). Antibiotics and improved surgical techniques (e.g. ability to do a ceasarian other than to rescue a baby whose mother had just died) meant humanity can survive without women having to spend their entire adult lives producing children. Combined with a collapse in maternal morality (formerly the leading cause of death for adult women), this lead to a greater number of women getting jobs and a willingness to invest in women’s education (since they were now surviving childbearing). This has been true in all countries, though is more obvious in the ones that industrialized first since it takes a few generations for birth rates to fall. It is hard to say if it will be good or bad in the long run, since more educated women (and education for women became cost effective when their survival became the norm) arguably make better mothers.
The frum community has hardly rejected the overall trend. In the period before industrialization most women received minimal education. They could read books such as “Tzena u-reina” but that’s about it. The average Bais Yaakov girl is on a vastly higher level than the average frum girl of 250 years ago (not to mention she is likely to survive childhood, childbearing and live to old age, something was exceptional back then). Also note that 250 years ago very few frum women were unemployed since they usually supervised large households, helped run business or if they were poor, worked as servants (remember most housework done today with appliances was previously done by servants, and anyone middle class probably had servants, and for obvious reason Jews were preferable as live-in servants). Unless you favor banning antibiotics, anesthesia and electric appliances, there is no going back to the “good old days”.
“fluff” (popular books) almost always have a bigger audience than “scholarly” books. Very few women and children, and frankly most men though many won’t admit it, have the language skills to read a serious sefer. We should say “Baruch ha-Shem” in looking at the large market for “fluff”, since it means that Jewish customers are preferring Jewish “fluff” (children’s book, popular literature, translations, books that dumb down sefarim so more people can understand) rather than buying the “fluff” produced by the goyim.
A few language have national government agencies to regulate the language. For example, France issues official lists of French words to use rather than English words, and in theory government employees can get in trouble for not using words on the list. In general, “standards” issued by government agencies are totally ignored by everyone except their own staff.
Someone tried to invent a “standardized Yiddish” about 100 years ago, in part combining aspects from different dialects (vowels from one, consonants from other, syntax from a third). Thanks to the German, onlyoone dialect of Yiddish now is common (southeast dialect, as used by Orthodox Jews). All attempts to standardize English have failed though some historical events have tended to promote standardization (e.g. the southern dialect has been considered “wrong” since 1865, and for the most part the mid-western dialect is “correct”, note who did what at Appomattox for an explanation how that happened).
However living languages by definition have ever-changing vocabulary and grammar, and Yiddish is unusually flexible since many native speakers feel free to “borrow” words from other languages without thinking twice. The grammar also evolves (anyone notice that the 2nd person formal form is dying out, probably since Hebrew and English lack one, e.g. using “DU” to mean you is no longer ruden when talking to a person who thinks they are more important than you).
Because the all wise wizards running the CDC have yet to figure out to what extent having been exposed to the virus gives one long term immunity. They aren’t even sure how long the vaccine will last. If you have trustworthy primary care physician, ask? The other side is they clearly understated the side effects (many people I known who took the vaccine were too sick to go to work the next day). All they determined in the testing for “emergency use”, was that it is very unlikely to kill you, and is likely to reduce your chance of getting the disease relative to a placebo.
Without Carter, there may never have been a Reagan.
IRS excuses:
Covid10 (and teleworkers who aren’t as efficient as when they come to the office)
Congress (which changed the tax law after filing was open basically the IRS to start over from scratch)
Delayed filing date (which delays the deadline for paying refunds before they have to pay interest)Originally the rich would buy the poor as slaves, or feel somewhat sad if they starved.
Over time, the goyim picked up the idea that the rich need to help the poor. They got the idea from us. Also we never had strong central institutions (even kings of Beis David were far from absolute).
The Christians combined our ideas of charity with the Roman idea of a powerful government, and you get a powerful government that gives lots of charity with other people’s money (while governments get money from many source, taxes seems to be the easiest way to get hands of money).The difference in terms of national issues is minimal. Purple states (such as Florida) don’t count. The “Red” states picked up perhaps two or three seats, but since part of the reason is migration of Democrats it will work the cancel any shifting (note how Georgia and North Carolina turned “purple” due to liberal migrants.
What matters to the frum community is the extent frum neighbors grew or shrunk, and whether that reflects migration patterns in our community. Also note that migration can result in increasing the number of districts in which frum Jews are common that the politicians listen to us (rather than if we approach a majority that can elect one of our own).
Treason, probably more than any other crime, requires intent. Therefore fools (including many if not most politicians) are incapable of being traitors. We should stop confusing stupidity and idiocy with malice.
Once Floyd was no longer resisting there was no reason to keep beating him up. While his misbehavior (possibly drug induced) would allow the police to subdue him, it would be for the judge to decide what to do with him (note that American law no longer allows beating up people as punishment). While there were elements of coercion used on the jury (letting them know that a wrong verdict would lead to massive violence, which implied their lives were at risk if they didn’t give a politically correct verdict), based on the press accounts it is reasonable that a jury could find that if the officer stopped using force at the point that Floyd was subdued and handcuffed, Floyd would not have died that night.
If a person was authorized by Beis Din to subdue an insane person or a criminal, and after the person had been subdued, the person sent by Beis Din decided to beat him up (note that the Beis Din had not decided to order the person flogged, which they wouldn’t do if his misbehavior was due to drug overdose), and as a result of the illegal physical punishment (beyond what was necessary to subdue the offender) the person being beaten died, the person sent by the Beis Din would be in very big trouble. Note that when a Beis Din ordered someone flogged, they had to confirm that they weren’t killing him.
To: Lakewhut
The mob on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6 were hardly Communists. Ask what would have happened if the police mowed them down. You would have dozens of martyrs, and the “deplorables” would be in open revolt against the government.
Consider the three examples I cited above. What if in 1905, on “Bloody Sunday”, instead of opening fire, the Czar politely accepted the petition, and told his staff to act on aspects that were tolerable. I doubt that anyone other than historians of failed Marxist movements would know who Lenin, Stalin or Trotsky were.
I don’t say one should “appease” a mob. But one can “catch more flies with honey than with vinegar”, and most mobs, by nature, are easily subverted and redirected.
1. It is politically incorrect to study ancient history, especially of civilizations that were deficient by 21st century standards. Since most dumb ideas have been tried previously, if politicians studied history they would have to give up all their favorite proposals and would be truely bored, and would have to come up with no, and probably worse, dumb ideas.
2. However not overreacting to a mob has much that can be said for it. What if, on Jan. 6, the Capitol Police and National Guard and opened fire and killed a few dozen unarmed, but rioting, protesters? Past examples of excessive force have often backfired (e.g. Boston 1770, Amritsar 1919, St. Petersburg 1905). If a mob is angry, one should find a way to address their grievances without making matter worse.
1. More Jews speak Hebrew than any other language. Among Orthodox Jews, that has been the case for a generation (at least), but is not true even among frei Jews (unless you use the Israeli definition of Jewish, i.e. anyone of Jewish descent within the last three generations who hasn’t converted to another religion).
2. Americans are increasingly become “online” rather than “printed word” oriented, so when the goyim go post-literate (i.e.skill in reading is for specialists only), Yinglish will start turning into a new language, just as Yiddish did 1000 years ago, with the caveat that there is no guarantee that frum Jews will stay in America (especially if the “blue” side gains strength as their anti-religion bigotry will force us to migrate).
Perhaps chicken #1 was pregnant (note that laying unfertilized eggs is a relatively modern development, from human supplied genetic modification).
Blue states have identical laws. Almost every business requires photo ID (drivers license or passport or equivalent) for significant transactions, including the companies such as Delta which screamed the loudest.
MLB may be shooting themselves in the foot since while most owners are rich blues, most of the American players and from “red” parts of the country. If the “red” states support a repeal of the baseball’s unique antitrust exemption, the result could be competing red and blue leagues, not to mention losing their reserve clause and exemption from playing minor league players the minimum wage.
According to our own sources, pre-dating modern sciences, the multiverse includes many places where intelligent extra-terrestial beings exist. As these extra-terrestials lack American citizenship, if they come to the USA they will be “aliens” (though presumably they are citizens of their home worlds).
The US equivalents were abolished in 1776. The United States is a republic (small “r”, and proud of it).
The only title of address is for a male is “Mister” (even “Mister President”). Attempts to have something more Brit-like fizzled out by the 1790’s (exception: calling judges “Your Honor”, calling elected officials “the honorable”, and lawyers using “esq” after their names).
I don’t eat hametz while wearing a mask, so no problem.
I am washing the white mask I wear on yuntufs that matches my yuntuf tie. I’ll probably wash the black and blue ones to match the ties I wear on Hol ha-Moed.
One has doubts about masks as health measures but they a great fashion accessories as coordinated with one’s tie.
The halacha is that the Beis Din that orders a “get” will decide the custody issue, though obviously if the marriage is between two adults (referring to maturity rather than age), a Beis Din will just ratify the parents’ agreement.
Whatever you favor, the “filibuster” (requirement of a super-majority in the Senate) is against. The super-majority requirements are likely to block Biden legislation, just as they previously blocked Trump legislation. Many things Trump wanted to do the Democrats consider racist, were blocked by the filibuster. The many administrative laws (executive orders) that were issued since Congress refused to act (due to the super-majority requirement in the Senate), would have been enacted as statutes but for the filibuster.
In general, the super-majority rule protects minority groups who fear the majority will gang up on them and act contrary to their interests. That is probably a good thing.
In a world of blithering idiots, the somewhat mad are kings.
Until the mid-20th century, men would be arrested for indecent exposure if they went swimming without a shirt. So are the Yidden in 2021 less modest than the goyim were 100 years ago?????
1. Define a language. By one way of defining things, Lashon Kodesh is a dead language, and Ivrit is a modern derivative (similar to the relationship of Latin to French, or modern American English to Middle English).
2. Fonts constantly change. Note the history of “Rashi” font (once used for popular literature, now only for serious sefarim). The writing system is independent of the language (e.g English uses the Roman alphabet, Yiddish uses the Hebrew alphabet, Farsi uses the Arabic alphabet, most ancient Mesopotamian Semitic languages used the Sumerian script).
If you exclude the situation where one party wants to stay married (in which case it is arguably premature to talk about a “get”, and that usually is a temporary problem), one way to address the matter would be to have the Beis Din be associated with a “legal clinic” that if the parties cooperate would do all the legal work for getting the divorce (details approved under Beis Din supervision) approved by the government courts, and if one party refuses to go along, to provide legal services to the other party (which in itself, would create a very strong incentive to be cooperative, since no one wants to go to an American court in which your opponent as “deep pockets”). There would be the need to raise money for such legal clinics, and the problem if that parties can’t agree on a Beis Din, though if they each prefer different Beitei Din, that should not be a big problem since most rabbanim get along much better than most divorcing couples. Also, if a divorce is caused by one party going OTD, the other party’s legal bills get paid by the our community. There would also be the mater of “Haseges Gevul” pertaining to frum matrimonial lawyers.
An excellent argument for why coffee, like all manufactured (processed) products, require a hecksher.
The alternative is to buy the raw ingredients in their natural form, check them for bugs, and process them yourself (what everyone used to do, and some people still do, but buying in a store is a lot easier).
Biden. He was elected fair and square (albeit with the help of the Republicans kicking the ball into their own goal).
Note that while Reagan was suffering from dementia, he successfully reinvigorated the economy that was tottering from stagflation after years of “big government” and launched the policies that result in the Cold War coming to a happy conclusion (freeing many countries from socialist tyranny without spilling a drop of blood).
From this we see that senility seems to have little or no impact on the ability of one to be president. The government follows the policies of the leader (which in the current situation, might be less than ideal given that the Democratic platform calls for destroying the private sector, appeasing our enemies and replacing with civil rights with entitlements to politically correct factions).