akuperma

RebbeDebbie: an alien is a non-citizen, and in modern usage, a non-human. Clearly those whom the call refer to as “Angels” qualify. There are also discussions of various sentient non-humans in our traditions. Its easy to see where the goyim wouldn’t have gotten the idea of “alien visitors” from. We aren’t allowed to learn kabbalah with them, so we’ll have to let them go around being confused and foolish. The same would go to discussing whether HaShem would have told us (or whether we would have understood) if sentients beings were created outside of our own planet (world, universe, etc.).

The mishna in Shabbos mamkes clear that weapons of war are inherently not Shabbos’dik. And they probably had in mind someone wanting to wear fancy parade armor. Furthermore, if a terrorist can easily identify who has a weapon, they know who to target first. If it is necessary for civilians in their community to carry weapons on Shabbos, it is best to conceal them.

And I seriously question how many frum Jews have the sort of training to be able, in a crowded shul, to hit a moving target that is firing back at you, but that’s a different matter.

We have been using “fake” meat (e.g. Morningstar Farms) for a very long time, as well as “fake” pork products made from other types of meat (e.g. Lamb bacon, hot dogs made from beef, chicken and turkey). Even though Chinese cuisine is largely based on pork, kosher Chinese restaurants are very popular (usually substitute beef or foul for the treff foods ). The only real issue is whether we will regard parve fake meat as part of the fleshig cuisine (i.e. an alternative to buying real hamburgers or real hot dogs), or whether we will continue to see it as part of the mikig cuisine even if the new “fakes” aren’t dairy (and thus see them, as we now do, as alternatives to pizza or pasta).

If anyone was going to object to these “fake” meats, they would have objected back in the 20th century when they became very common. What is new at present is that such “fakes” are catching on among goyim in part since many goyim believe (rightly or wrongly) that they are healthier than real meat and that switching to fake meat will prevent global warming (since livestock, similar to humans, produce gases that they believe with a religious fervor cause global warming).

Declarations of war are done by the Congress. They have a lot of baggage which is why they have disappeared since the mid-20th century.

Killing on Iranian general, in Iraq, where he was organizing terrorist activities directed against the US, is not a big deal. It is interesting note that those objecting to Trump’s latest action, were previously complaining that he wasn’t helping the rebels fight the Iranian-supported regime in Syria.

Given that the Democrats include significant leaders who are openly anti-Semitic, and the party is increasingly anti-Israel, and supports many policies that would seriously hurt the frum community, there isn’t much choice. If the Democrats returned to the leaders in the mold of John Kennedy, Skip Jackson, Joseph Lieberman, Harry Truman and Hubert Humphrey, it wold be different. But the Democrats have “evolved”, which is why many Republicans (e.g. Ronold Reagan, Donald Trump, et al,) are former Democrats.

Based on public information, it is clear that Trump was justified in demanding the Ukranians investigate corruption that took place during the Obama administration, which accepted bribes from Ukraine. It also appears that the Democrats colluded with Russian intelligence to spread “fake news” defaming Trump, and lied about it in order to get the a federal court to authorize otherwise illegal political espionage directed against the Trump campaign. In other words, so far the evidence is that Obama was guilty of high crimes.

The rising divorce rates, among both Jews and goyim, have been taking place over a long time. A strong argument can be made that the cause is the use of antibiotics in general, and improved obstetric care in particular. In the good old days, few marriages lasted all that long since one (of both) of the spouses would die. It used to be very rare for a marriage to last 25 years. An unfortunate side effect of marriages lasting so long is that leaves time for the couple to “grow apart”, which leads to divorce.

The families always have the option of staying together in their homeland, but are choosing to separate in order to enter the US. Often the adults have engaged in criminal activities. One should note that most of the people involved are coming from democratic countries where their chief complain is about corruption and incompetent law enforcement, not persecution or even horrible living conditions. They should elect honest and competent governments.

One can not be Democrat unless one supports abortion on demand, without restrictions. It would be like wanting to join the Nazi party (in Germany, during the Third Reich) but opposing persecution of Jews, or like join the Communist Party of the Soviet Union but favoring private property.

In all fairness, other cultures have allowed murder of children, such as the toleration of infanticide for a variety of reasons (e.g. birth defects), and in Rome a head of the family could order the execution of any descendant at any age. The American left feels that mothers should be able to kill their babies at least until birth, and some argue longer. If this boths you, become a Republican.

Giving gifts on or about Dec. 25 is the avodah the Christians do in honor of the birth of their “diety”. The issue is discussed in the gemara, and it is clear that this constitutes avodah zarah. Anyone who thinks otherwise is ignorant.

just like Avraham Aveinu (and that seemed to have worked out)

The Eidah grew out of the leadership of the pre-zionist Ashkenazi community in Israel, and tooks its current from under R. Sonnenfeld’s leadership after the rest of the community (e.g. Agudah) became zionist.

“Rabbi” is poorly defined. Arguably is acts more as a courtesy title such as “Mister” in English, or “Monsieur” in French (both of which once indicated the you were addressing person higher up on the feudal ladder than a mere peasant). Academically, it seems to indicate you can teach older children (meaning it is similar to a Bachelor’s degree, or in modern times with watering down of credential, a Master’s).

“Admor” (literally, My Lord and Teacher and Rabbi”, and “Lord” is in the fedual English meaning showing respect to someone whom you acknowledge outranks you substantially) implies you are accepting the person as a leader.

As to whether it is inherited, one should note that in most traditional cultures, our’s included, positions of leadership will tend to stay in a family, with flexibility to get rid of the unworthy and raise up the worthy. An OTD from an hashuvah (“important”, though “noble” is a better translation) family is seen as having died a horrible death and ignored, and a BT who distinguishes himself gets to be the distinguished ancestor from whom people are proud to trace descent (so in many ways we are more like the Americans, than the English in such matters, even though we are still a very non-republican (small “r”) culture).

Note that among Americans, names such as Brown of California, Cuomo of New York, Kennedy, Bush, etc., appear to end up in positions important based on inheriting from their parents (so while the son of a leader isn’t necessarily a leader, it sure helps).

Bloomie is a traditional Republican (think Bush, Reagan, Eisenhower) on issues such a free trade, immigration, foreign policy and national defense. Unlike the other Democrats who are at least paying lip service to the “woke” (radical socialist, somewhat bolshevik, agenda), he would appeal to many of the “Country Club” (“Wall Street”) Republicans and the NeoCons, who can’t stand Trump but are terrified of what the Democrats are offereing (e.g. Trump may be an isolationist, but most Democrats are surrender monkeys, Trump is undermining world trade but the Democrats will destroy the American economy, Trump may be making a mockery of the Constitution but the Democrats threaten to tear it up). Remember that Bloomie is running against a Democrat field that has apparently turned Marxist (though occasionally they get confused and follow Groucho rather than Karl).

If you love Trump, Bloomie is your biggest threat. If you hate Trump, Bloomie is your best hope.

Many 12 step programs are steeped in Christian culture, and many secular programs work with basic assumptions that are alien to the Torah world. There are often frum equivalents.

The only way one can do that is to buy on Friday, and pay extra money for Shabbos delivery. Outside of New York (or Israel), one can be reasonably sure that you aren’t paying a Jew to do work for you on Shabbos (though there are occasional non-frum Jewish blue collar employees elsewhere as well). Perhaps it would be better to save money and not pay for next-day delivery when you order on Friday.

My complements to Connecticut, though for a “sin” tax that is a low rate.

The idea of a tariff, unlike a tax, is not to reduce consumption but to shift consumption to an American brand, e.g. instead of Scottish Whiskey, buy American Bourbon.

“Sin taxes” may be a good idea, but no one found a way to tax lawyers.

1. President Pence would be good. He could appeal to the traditional Republicans as well as the “basket of deplorables” who put Trump in office.

2. To remove Trump from office would require much Republican support, which would alienate the Trump-base and result in Warren or Sanders getting elected. To win a national election the traditional Republicans (“Country club” or “Wall Street” or “Chamber of Commerce” flavor) need the populist base. Anything that alienated the “deplorables” costs the Republicans.

Non-Orthodox Jews tend to assimilate. So what’s the hiddush?

Trump is not “our hero”. He’s the least annoyng alternative. A lot of the social conservatives and neo-cons are our friends, but they were all unelectable. The Democrats have been taken over by anti-Semities, the friendliest of which only want to get rid of frum Jews, and the worst are little better than Nazis.

and to the original poster, the United States does not have a Rosh Memshalah, since we have separation of powers. All we have is a Head of State (an office based on the British kings of the 18th century). Ther is no “memshalah” in our system, only an executive and an independent legislature. You should get a book on civics before discussing a government you apparently don’t understand.

That’s been their policy for almost 100 years (before then, there were no elections). No hiddush.

The content isn’t a problem, as it is the same content on any computer system. The problem is that individuals are spending all their time staring at the phone rather than engaging in normal human activities. In the case of children, this is especially problematic and detrimental to their education. These problems have been observed and complained about in almost all cultures, and is not a uniquely “Jewish” issue. Indeed, since frum Jews manage to turn off their smartphones one day a week gives us a special advantage since even the most addicted frummie still knows he or she can survive without the online connections 24/7.

Given the historically unprecedented integration of American Jews, and the mass assimilation over the past few centuries, any and all American politicians are likely to have supporters who are Orthodox Jews, and who are religiously non-Jewish descendants of Jews (some of are, or are not, halachically Jewish). Some are Republicans and some are Democrats (not to mention that one of the leading Democratic candidates to oppose Trump is a well known heretic who is almost certainly Jewish according to halacha).

If the husband and wife are in agreement on all issues, the process of the “Get” and the government’s divorce is quick, easy and not expensive. Unfortunately (well, for lawyers, fortunately) that is not the case in most divorces.

1. The last recessionwas caused by the Democrats encouraging banks to make sub-prime loans, not that the Republicans not the banks objected.

2. The current slowdown is connected with the disruption on world trade caused by the Americans with great help from the British and the Chinese. Whether the disruption of world trade is a bad thing is yet to be seen. According to standard economic theory trade is good and helps all, but many are skeptical (particularly American workers who have trouble competing with low wage countries), and as of late, conventional economic theory has been very good at predicting or explaining economic behavior.