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Pick a career and choose a major accordingly. Questions to consider: 1)What do you like doing; 2) Are you planning to supplement a husbands income while raising a family (look for areas where part time jobs abound), OR are you planning to be the primary support of a family while a husband in learning or working in hinuch (look for a job with good pay but some flexibility in hours), OR (and this is highly unlikely) do you know you will not being having children (flexibility in hours are less important)
Majoring in a subject because it is interesting or sound like fun is very expensive. One can always study a subject for fun for free outside of a university.
If by what theory are you saying an FFB can’t become a BT?
I assume the writer is an FFB, since a BT wouldn’t need to ask such a question.
Many places have free mikvos for keilim, sometimes with big signs on the halcha and the brachos, and a trash can for the stickers and packaging. Stores sometimes have a mikva for keilim.
Many in the Dati Leumi movement hold that learning in yeshiva is at least as important in the army, and in fact, many in the Dati Leumi movement do not support the aggressive policies towards the goyim that have characterized that movement over the last generation. However Israel is a democracy, and the Dati Leumi voters support those who feel that army services is a great mitzvah and one that requires giving up limud Torah, and also support a policy that reflects the view that subjuating the Arabs is a mitsvah. And these are the people who want to close down the non-zionist yeshivos and conscript their talmidim (and incarcerate those who refuse and the rabbanim who support refusal). If the less fanatical Dati Leumi want to speak up, they can remove Mr. Bennett as their leader, or deprive his party of support in the next election. Since (unlike some hareidim) all Dati Leumi support the Medinah and take part in elections, how they vote is a good reflection of how they feel as a group.
MoshbenDovid: A third of NATO are former members of the Warsaw Pact (or were former Soviet Republics). They are terrified of Putin. Letting Putin grab Ukraine points a dagger at the rest of them. Admitting Ukraine sends a message without starting a war. The Europeans remember 1938, and the lesson is clear that sending a strong message prevents wars — and showing fear to an expansionist simply encourages more expansion. Economically, building up NATO would be a good decision – Europe is afraid of deflation, and government spending would help prevent deflation, and would create new jobs to reduce their abusrdly high unemployment rate (which also means the cost is low since European welfare states pay very high unemployment benefits, which can be refocused as the beneficiaries get jobs).
OddAnon: Which Roshei yeshivos? Based on past experiences in Israel, it will consists of those with the closest ties to the ruling class (this is politically important because if the Sefardim feel insulted, even pro-zionist Sefardim will continue to support Shas).
How they will deal with anti-zionists isn’t clear since the zionists didn’t realize they exist, and are only now beginning to realize that much of the hareidi community never bought into the zionist narrative about Jews having a right to rule Eretz Yisrael, or of the Arabs being a mortal threat to Jewish people (rather than former friends and potential friends annoyed at being chased off their land). When the anti-zionists refuse to do paperwork, will the Israelis start rounding them up? Will they be included in the 1800 exempt from Chappers?
Already the left-wing parties (both the zionists of Labor and Meretz), as well as the three non-zionists, predominantly Arab parties, have realized that they may have a new ally that could radically change the Israeli picture by making a “left” government possible (after 30+ years in which the right/center controlled the government). I suspect that fear of this happening will encourage the nationalist zionists to find a way to exempt many hareidim, even if it means allowing for any Israeli to be a “conscientious or religious” objector to military service, and that will transform the “1800” is a cap on the number of yeshiva students offered state subsidies. Bayit Yehudi and Likud Beiteinu may hate Torah, but they hate losing power even more, and the possibility of a Labor led coalition including Hareidim and Arabs will force them to back down.
Alcoholic beverages definitely facilitate understanding Israeli politics.
NATO is a small club that makes its own rules as it goes along. NATO already admitted the Baltic states (who have serious issues with Russian minorities), Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. Russia annexing pieces of a neighbor will make all the Europeans nervous. Unlike Georgia, Ukraine borders many NATO countries. Ukraine has many historic ties with western Europe, unlike Gerogia.
Of course it depends on elections, but the Russians are hurting their cause by nibbling at the provinces with large Russian populations (thereby reducing the numbers of Russians in Ukraine), and alienating the rest of Ukraine. In Georgia the pro-western party lost an election. If that doesn’t happen in Ukraine, after the next election expect Ukraine to apply to join NATO and the EU.
At most shuls, all that paying dues gives you is a right to reserve a specific seat for three days a year. Shul hopping is a well established and ancient custom. My guess is the “kiddush club” was affecting the person’s judgement skills.
More a nibble than an invasion. By nibbling at the most pro-Russian pieces of Ukraine, it increases the liklihood the of the rest of Ukraine joining NATO and the EU. This will end up being good for Ukranian Jews (NATO/EU and more involvement with the west), but will hurt Russian Jews (Russia will be increasingly isolated). It will encourage the NATO countries and the US to stop the program of emasculating our armed forces, and while many Americans don’t want to be the world’s policeman, we more than almost other group have reason to want a strong friendly cop patrolling the beat.
As we have had good relations with both sides, it is best for Jewish groups to be neutral and support a peaceful solution. Putin isn’t necessarily our enemy, and many Ukranian nationalists are exactly our friends.
The people making the call on generally very underpaid poor people. You shouldn’t pick on them. Politiely and quickly hang up on them. If they called and you are on the “do not call list”, file a complain against their employer (who tells them who to call).
to Moshebendavid “Will Anti-Zionist Jews be drafted? Will we soon be witnessing armed Satmar, Brisk and Neteurei Karta IDF soldiers?”
They wouldn’t even consider serving in the IDF, though a few individuals may be inclined to assist the Palestinians, or if inducted into the IDF, would be inclined towards “monkey wrenching”. However they will refuse to register and be the first to be rounded up. They will file complaints with international human rights groups (religious conscientious objection is protected under international law). Some will request asylum abroad (usually a victim of religious persecution is a “slam dunk” when seeking refugee status, which in most western countries gives you an equivalent of a US “green card”). Remember they hold the medinah is “glatt treff”, and the war is “michemis aveirah”. Some might set up a yeshiva in an Arab part of the country so they can both fulfill the mitsvah of living in Eretz Yisrael while embarassing the Israeli government by showing frum Jews living at peace with Muslims. If enough people do this it could lead to a single, non-zionist state replacing Israel.
What will be interesting are the “hareidim” who in the past supported the existence of that state, held that the IDF protects Jews (as opposed to endangering Jews), sometimes flew the Israeli flag and served in the IDF when they left yeshiva and often said that their learning was a “national service” (an idea the Israelis rejected)– one possibility is they will turn into anti-zionists, the other is that they will compromise and you’ll see new frum units and frummer hesder unit. Netanyahu and Bennett expect the latter; the former (turning into anti-zionists) could undermine the existence of the medinah.
The drafters of the law assumed cooperation from the yeshivos, but it now appears they will be facing mass resistance. The “chappers” assumed that the Czar would allow mass executions to crush resistance. Neither Israeli nor world public opinion would allow that today.
If the patient doesn’t want a “guest” in the room during a medical procedure, it isn’t for a court to be involved. Privacy counts for something. The “back story” of the case may be fascinating (or tragic, or pathetic), but it really isn’t of legal significance.
DaasYochid: While at present the only arrests of hareidim are for not properly requesting military exemptions (and they are released quickly), the Kenesset has enacted a new law for serious penal sanctions (equivalent to what in the US is a felony) for any yeshiva student who refuses to serve in the military, and would also allow prosecution of their rabbanim and the yeshiva as accessories to the crime. If your support of zionism was based on the idea they didn’t throw people in jail for learning Torah, it is now time to change sides.
Sam2; Your view that a country can decided that your religious practices are illigimate is very unAmerican (sounds very European, the Romans were like that and it shows to this very day). In American, if you have a religious objection to jury service (your example), you will routinely be exempted (at worst you’ll have to show up for voir dire). Under the law in most states and federal law, a statute that interferes with religious practices is unacceptable in most cases. Persons with conscientious objections to military service (similar to Israeli hareidim who hold that the medinah is contrary to Torah), are exempt in virtually all western countries, and persecution of a religious minority for refusing to serve in the military would violate international human rights standards. The rulers of Israel, heavily from a European “state-centered” background, regard individual liberties as something to be ignored in favor of the supremacy of the state – to most Americans, that is how one defines fascism.
Well, their position life is clearly inferior. Women usually end up having children. Men end up making, playing with and taking credit for children – clearly the preferable lot.
Health: That depends on how you define “hareidi”. Most Israelis define “hareidi” in part by not serving in the army (so if a hareidi serves in the IDF, he isn’t hareidi), along with not being employed (so if a hareidi works other than in a yeshiva, he’s not hareidi), dressing “funny” (so if a hareidi wears a modern suit, he’s not hareidi), and so on. Needless to say, the typical Israeli is a bit confused. That’s without getting into the fact that many Dati Leumi learn full time in yeshiva and some where funny clothes (okay, at least a frock and a homburg, both of which went out of style a long time ago in the western countries).
I prefer to use terms such as pro-zionist (supports the state), non-zionist (tries to ignore the state but will work with it as necessary), and anti-zionist (wishes the state would go away) ,
There is room for the Likud and Bayit Yehudi to back down. However they are pressing for penal sanctions (as opposed to cutting off subsidies), and that means a de facto war with the hareidim. Likud and Bayit Yehudi could stop demanding criminal sanctions for those refusing to serve in the army, but they have certainly not been acting that way. Labor could offer to cancel the penal sanctions, and make long lasting ally with the hareidi parties (much to the detriment of Likud and Bayit Yehudi).
It should be noted that many on the left also don’t want to serve in the army, so Herzog can please two groups by ending conscription (or allow ing exemption for any religious or moral reasons), and that in economics and increasingly matters of national security, the hareidim are “left” to begin with (especially since the hawkish pro-zionist hareidi were stabbed in the back by their former allies in the Dati Leumi/Settlements camp).
rabbiofberlin: Discretion to a government official is fairly meaningless. So someone gets a job, and next election the discretion changes. As it is, most jobs outside of “informal sector” or the “hareidi economy” are closed to hareidim, and having revocable permission isn’t going to help. Its like saying “you can work as a temp, but that’s it”. A law prohibiting discrimination (rejected last year) would help.
And it doesn’t solve the threshold question of conscription which the Israeli courts have held is non-discretionary (absent a Basic Law to overrule the courts). If any hareidim are being thrown in jail for refusing to serve in the army (whether because they insist on learning full time, or feel the army discriminates and fails to accomodate them, or because they hold that zionism is contrary to Torah), then most hareidim will refuse to serve.
If the zionists were serious about compromise, the only sanction for hareidim refusing to serve would be loss of yeshiva subsidies and being treated like a Palestinian citizen in terms of welfare state participation. If they were serious about hareidim contributing to the “official” (on the books) economy, they would legislate that hareidim are able to work to the same extent as those Palestinians who don’t want to serve in the IDF, and pass an anti-discrimination law.
Yserbius123: Israeli polls in secular news sites suggest Lapid is quite unpopular, but this reflect many of his policies.
The polls and online discussions in secular sources suggest the biggest objections were to funding yeshivos, and especially to funding yeshiva students who weren’t serving in the army. The ire of the public appears focused on a stereotypical yeshiva students who is very Israeli, very hawkish and pro-settlement, and dependent living well on government money while not serving in the army. When you move away from that stereotype, the ire dissipates. It doesn’t appear most Israelis favor throwing anti-zionists in jail as long as they don’t accept or solicit government funding, which will probably lead to a compromise. It also appears there isn’t opposition to funding yeshiva students who have served or are serving in the army.
popa_bar_abba: Anyone who believes that halacha is settled both as the establishment of the State of Israel being a mitsvah, and that the Dati Leumi/Modern Orthodox holdings on halacha are all correct (and anything more strict is just a humra), will be puzzled by the hareidi opposition. In all fairness, most of the Israeli leaders seem puzzled as well.
Does it state that someone who refuses to serve in the army will not be subject to arrest, regardless of whether their refusal is based on the fact they are learning full time, or perhaps that their level of religious observance goes beyond the IDF’s willingness to accomodate, or on grounds that they hold that since zionism is contrary to halacha their service in the IDF is proscribed by Torah.
As I understand it, the army exempts some but not all yeshiva students, assumes that the army will accomodate religious practices (as is already the law, in theory), and totally ignores conscientious objection. Am I wrong?
benignuman and DaasYochid: However Lapid’s goal is not to either increase soldiers (the army needs more jobniks like a hole in the head), nor to increase hareidi participation in the workplace so they can better support hareidi institutions without relying on the government (ending conscription would accomplish that). The goal of Lapid (and Netanyahu and Bennett) is to “break” the hareidi community before its so large it can overwhelm the zionists electorally. They are relying on the past success of conscription in turning many frum recruits into less frum and more “modern” and more likely to vote for Likud, Bayit Yehudi or Yesh Atid. Assuming the Israeli leaders aren’t idiots, its rather obvious that their goal is to destroy the hareidi community, which explains many of their policies in addition to conscription.
Agudah is right. The only thing is maybe they admit they goofed for the last few generations in accept zionist money and building up the state (considering Agudah could probably have derailed the zionists in 1948 if they insisted on an American trusteeship for Palestine – they agreed to support the zionists in return for promises that have now been broken).
The Jewish Press should be seen as having engaged in Avodah Zarah by making worship of the Medinah into its new Torah.
MDG: The webpage for the kashruth agency in question boasts about inspectors in Hindi, which is spoken in one area of India (where few Jews live, and not in the most commercially active areas such as Mubai/Bombay)- but the site claims to be providing services in both India and adjacent countries.
One can not have a psharah (compromise)between good and evil. Once the zionists said you must choose between Torah and Zionism, it became impossible to waffle and seek compromises. Netanyahu, Lapid and Bennett decided to switch to a zero sum game, and precluded compromise. Money issues can always be negotiated. So can political questions. But demanding that even one Jew become less observant moves you into an area where even life itself becomes secondary (and it doesn’t help that the army regularly engages in the other two prohibitions that push aside the halachic preference for life).
edited
They have a website. One needs to ask whomever one relies on for an evaluation of their competence.
The fact that they post having inspectors fluent in Hindi makes me worry since most of the the places they claim to give hecksherim in, and most of the places where Jews live in the region, speak languages other than Hindi.
Assuming they are both Jewish and of different genders, why not?
nfgo3 – beyond the need to to honor our treaty guaranteeing Ukraine’s borders, the US has no interest. In fact, if Ukraine got rid of the pro-Russian provinces, it might be better off. The boundaries are very artificial.
As Jews we have less interest to be involved given the history of Ukranian nationalism, beyond hoping for peace in the region.
yytz: That’s only half true. Many jobs in Israel require military service even if that isn’t a reasonable requirement for the job (it’s a vehicle for discrimination against both hareidim and Arabs – in the US it would be illegal to have an irrelevant job requirement insert for reason of discriminating). Also, most secular Israelis don’t like hareidim, and Israeli law doesn’t prohibit discrimination on the basis of religion, nor does it require employers to make a reasonable accomdadation of religious practices (the current Kenesset consider such a law and voted it down overwhelmingly).
charliehall: The hareidi community insists on staying as frum as they have been for millenia, and their opponents insists on the hareidim becoming “normal” (stop being hareidi). There really isn’t room for compromise.
Not really. The primary goal of the policy is to cause the hareidim to switch from voting for Degel ha-Torah, Agudath Israel or Shas, and to become supporters of “normal” parties such as Likud or Bayit Yehudi. Israel has a pending demographic crisis since the secular Jews don’t like to have kids, and the frum ones do. For zionism to survive, they have to “break” the hareidi community. Otherwise by the late 21st century, Israel will be a Jewish state (imagine Aryeh Deri as Prime Minister, and you see what the hilonim have to fear).
The army doesn’t need thousands of unhappy jobniks. If soldiers to fight the Arabs were an issue, the last thing they would do is draft yeshiva students from non-zionist yeshivos. As it is, conscription will reduce the number of combat soldiers.
If they wanted hareidim to join the “workplace” (meaning the mainstream economy), they would repeal the laws the restrict employment opportunities for those who don’t serve in the army, and enact laws to outlaw religious discrimination.
It isn’t the economics of the hareidi community, or the defense of the country, that is at the heart of the issue. It is the existence of the hareidi community.
Up until the last election, Israel was a tremendous supporter of learning Torah (even if it was done as part of a political deal rather than out of love of Torah). Israel also has been great for frum publishing (suggesting we should aspire to disband the IDF and give the money to Mossad ha-Rav Kuk and the other Torah publishing houses – we’ld all be better in the long run). If you are the equivalent of “modern orthodox”, its great for Yiddishkeit and having a secular career (America has hassles for “conservadox” or frummer, Israel only has hassles for those frummer than the kipad srugah crowd).
How much impact Israel would have had on the holocaust is questionable. If the British, French and Dutch empires (at the time huge, globe encircling empires upon whom the sun never set) couldn’t stop Hitler, its doubtful we could have made a difference. And a very good argument can be made that the reason the British blocked Jewish emmigration from Europe was to keep the zionists from going to Palestine (i.e. if the hareidim and De Haan had prevailed in making peace with the Arabs, there would not have been any attempts by the Brits to keep Jews from fleeing, and most European Jews would have ended up safely elsewhere, though only the fanatics would have preferred Eretz Yisrael). And in all fairness, American opposition to holocaust rescue was based on the fear that most Jews would be socialists and communists, and if not left wing radicals, they would be frum which to Reform Jews was just as bad (Reform Jews then were both very anti-socialist and anti-frum — and were politically the dominant group in the Jewish community, and led the opposition to holocaust rescue plans).
If you are really concerned about goyim trying to wipe out the Jews, you should favor having Jews widely distributed in many different countries, or perhaps should consider space exploration (something the Americans looked into to solve the “Jewish problem” – but not workable in the 1940s). As it now, nukes on Jerusalem and Bnei Brak would be devasting to the frum community. Of course you could trust Ha-Shem to protect us, but that would make you a hareidi fanatic.
I’m descended from Adam ha-Rishon. What are you descended from?
In the eyes of those who look at people who choose to study Torah over “normal” secular goals, it is a kiddush Ha-Shem. In the eyes for whom the measure of a person’s worth is how much money they earn, or how many people they rule over, or how much power they have – it is a sacrilege. To those Jews who have made the pursuit of wealth and power the central tenet of their version of Judaism, the demonstration is ridiculous. However just as many people will respect people who consider Torah and Mitsvos to be more important than getting rich and killing goyim.
Neither side is especially anti-semitic, and there has been a tremendous growth of Yiddishkeit in both Ukraine and Russia since the 1991 (when the Soviet Union collapsed). Arguments can be made both ways whether a Ukraine that is pro-EU or pro-Russia is “good for the Jews” – which probably means we should try to be very neutral and encourage a peaceful resolution of the matter.
The different minhagim go back at least to the separation between Bavel and Eretz Yisrael which goes back to Bayis Sheini. However the pot is constantly mixed as communities move around and intermarry. Note how the Arizel was a mixture, and his minhag is the basis for all hasidic nusachs, and mixes aspects from different mnhagim.
Linguistically, the temanim are probably the most authentic since they pronounce all the nekudas and dageshim, which no one else still does, but its clear Hebrew must have been pronounced that way since the mesoret includes the dageshim that everyone else ignores (e.g. a gimel or daled, with or without a dagesh).
zahavasdad: It will not fail. IF the zionists don’t back down, the end result will be the hareidim supporting a “one state” solution, which means their won’t be a zionist majority in Eretz Yisrael. The UN and the US will demand a free election, with all Palestinians voting, and the zionists are out of power. Don’t underestimate the impact of a large non-zionist Jewish population being in the spotlight. For those learning Torah, an Arab government isn’t a threat. Job discrimination against hareidim will be no worse (currently second class citizens, still second class citizens with the Muslims back in charge). And the Arabs don’t oppose Torah and Mitsvos. For secular Israelis, it will be a disaster – which is why they’ll probably back down. Remember Israel is dependent on American foreign aid, and that will dry up the moment the first US immigration judge hands a green card to a hareidi refuguee fleeing Israeli persecution.
The three parties that sit in the Kenesset have grown very zionist over the last 65 years. They accept and cover government money. Most of their Kenesset members have served in the IDF at some point. They have encouraged future baal ha-battim who drop out of yeshiva to join the IDF. They have politically been fully involved in the wheeling and dealing of Israeli politics. One might say they forgot their roots in the hareidi opposition to zionism of 90 years ago. The current events are a rude awakening (similar to when German Jews discovered their countrymen didn’t like them, similar to American isolationists who discovered that their view of the world was totally disconnected from reality, similar to many American leftists when they discovered that “Uncle Joe” was really not a nice guy).
I’m hasidische, dress modern during the week, with a kapote and homburg on Shabbos, and daven in a shul where the announcements are still in Yiddish.
This is hardly a joke. If the pro-zionist Hareidi parties (Agudath Israel, Degel ha-Torah and Shas) can convince the seculars (particularly Bayit Yehudi and Likud) to give up on the idea of mass conscription, the crisis will end. At worst the only penalty for anyone who refuses to serve will be to be treated like an Arab in terms of benefits (which isn’t all that bad). Based on the secular media, at this point Likud as well as many with Bayit Yehudi believe that with conscription most hareidim will end up (sooner or later) going to the army for a lengthy period of time, and will emerge as “normal” people who will likely vote for Likud or Bayit Yehudi. They thought they would get an extra brigade similar to the existing (volunteer) hareidi one, and a lot of new supporters (once they “see the light” and stop being hareidi. If the demonstrations fail to disabuse the Likud and Bayit Yehudi of these notions there will be a conflict that could destroy or at least disrupt the state (at best the hareidi ally with the Israeli left to stop conscription in return for a pull out from the West, at Bank, at worst, an alliance with the goyim to replace the zionist state with a non-zionist one that will recognize Hareidi autonomy and religious freedom in return for letting the Muslims run the government). The demonstration may be the last chance for the pro-zionist hareidim to end the crisis before those willing to embrace the anti-zionist (Eidah hareidis, Satmar, Neturei Karta, etc.) positions retake leadership of the hareidi community and pursue a path leading to confrontation.
Veltz Meshugener: The calendar isn’t so shocking. They obviously knew about the solar calendar since the Egyptians used it, and the scrolls reflect materials from the period in which the Romans switched from a luni-solar (what we use) to a solar (they encountered the problem of the people in charge cheating on adding the month to enhance revenue or terms of office – an issue we resolved be excluding those with ulterior motives from the calendar Beis Din). Also the Beis Din clearly was using a modern calendar in order to know where to look for the new moon and when.
WolfishMusings: A few letters. The “settled science” 80 years ago would predict that at most a vague rough draft existed during the Bayit Sheini period.
1. If you were on Medicaid (including various CHIPS programs), which many frum people are, you still are. You might even be eligible. Minimal change.
2. If you had good insurance (typically from a major employer such as the FEHBP or a state or local government or union), you still do. Be happy.
3. If you had lousy insurance, you still do but it might be lousy in different ways.
4. If you are a healthy, single frummie – stop whining about health insurance and find your beshert (and then you’ll be in the class causing health care spending to increase, baruch ha-Shem).
Beyond the fact they have nothing to do with christianity, no one is sure about the “Dead Sea Scrolls”. One theory is they are the leftovers of a library, or perhaps a genizah, and probably represent a variety of groups. They are especially interesting to frum Jews for several reasons: 1) they totally disproved the assertions made prior to their discovery that Taanach was written in final form in the medieval period – according to the secular opinions of the early 20th century a complete text of Taanch couldn’t exist that early; 2) in some cases they have details of discussions that are referenced or replied to in the gemara (but not detailed, since halacha went diffrerently); 3) some of the arguments on halacha sound very modern (as in who won’t eat at someone’s house and why. Dr. Schiffman’s books are probably the most readable ones – when anyone other than frum Jews looks at them they tend to end up comically displaying their ignorance. Note that from a halachic perspective they are totally irrelevant, but from an historical perspective they are fascinating.
Are they required to accept testimony from apostate moslems in America?”
Since in the United States religious courts are private courts of arbitration, the rules would be governed by the contract signed by the litigants and the courts. If the parties stipulate that heretics’ testimony is inadmissable, so be it. “Private” means the government doesn’t get to tell you what to do and how to run your life.
A largenumber of yeshivos have boarding students, and even many who don’t have many students and teachers who live close by. The more modern schools and public schools tend to be all “day students” (commuters) and teachers are less likely to live in the same neighborhood. You should be comparing them to private schools with on site dormitories.
I seriously doubt a yeshiva would penalize a teacher or student who didn’t make it from a different neighborhood (especially if they had to drive). I suspect the teachers who need to drive to work were very much annoyed, but after all, its their boy who got elected on a promise of helping surpress anti-union activists (which is more important than money to them).
Some Muslims want a situation similar to what exists in Muslim countries in which Muslims would be required to use shariah courts and they wouldn’t be a need to gain their consent. That is very unlikely to happen. The danger is some people want to make it illegal for a Muslim court to exist and such laws would prohibit arbitration according to legal system other than American law – such laws would probably violate equal protection, freedom of religion, and right of contract and would severely restrict the rights of Orthodox Jews, Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and many groups of businesses that rely on private arbitration according to non-US law (which include major companies engaged in international transactions).
heretohelp: In terms of civil law (other than domestic relations) they are very similar. It appears they copied much from us, and much that reflects commercial custom in the middle east at the time. Their criminal law is totally different (our criminal never amounted to much since the evidence rule was so strict – most crime was probably dealt with as a dine mamonos). They are a little less strict on ribis, and allow polygamous and temporary marriages (which would be banned in the US under the public policy exception). They have a little more variety with greater difference than our Sefardi-Ashkenazi or Hasidic-Yeshivish divides.
Absolutely none in theory. From the point of view of the American legal system they are private arbitration tribunals, meaning that if the parties sign a contract to accept the ruling it is legally binding (with the same exceptions as apply to any arbitration). Sociologically there is a difference since Muslims aren’t used to being a minority group and are more likely to forget that they aren’t in charge in America (Christians have the same problem, Jews on the other hand have centuries of experience at being a minority and negotiating life in a world we don’t control).
I am using one user name and have no intention of using more than one. I suspect the others are following the interpretation that one should observe Purim in Adar Rishon in all matters other than the specific mitzvos (i.e. except for megillah, seudah, matanos).