akuperma

1. There are two separate halachic issues: 1) whether a Beefalo (a Bison-Cow hybrid) is a kosher animal; AND 2) whether it is permitted to breed them because of a distinct isur of mixing separate animals (the “mule”) issue.

2. There should be no problem with eating a “Beefalo” since it is just a funny looking cow (as are all Bison), and they are clearly cattle with which we have always been familiar. Unlike mules, they naturally mate and produce fertile offspring. No shailoh.

3. The “zebu” was due to a person ignorant about biology asking a shailoh based on a false premise, i.e. saying that since a “zebu” is a new animal we have no experience with, do we need a separate mesorah to hold it to be kosher. If the person did his research properly before asking, the question would have been based on “a zebu is a funny looking cow from India – that is in all ways just another type of cow, not a separate species”. When one asks a shailoh, one states facts and the Rav answers on the basis of those stated facts, and if you mess up with your facts, the answer you receive is no more relevant than the misstated facts upon which the shailoh was based.

1. Removing the power supply (as in unplugging) is most effective.

2. Disconnecting from the antenna (cable hookup, internet connection) works well, and leave open the option of using the hardware for other purposes.

3. It seems most frum people addicted to things, somehow manage to break their addictions on Shabbos and Yuntuf (which according to the professional psychologists isn’t possible if they are truely addicted).

If the goal is admission to an elite national law school and finding employment in “Big law”, a BTL is not the best way to go. In all situations, other than working for a frum organization, a BTL is quite unimpressive, meaning the other aspects of the resume have to be impressive, such as standardized tests, references, job history, specific courses, other accomplishment. A BA/BS from an elite university carries the most weight.

For some purposes, a BTL is fine. Non-elite law schools don’t mind them (but again, they’ll look at the rest of the resume). Government agencies that require “a bachelor’s degree” don’t mind them – but they may request a specific subject background.

Assuming you aren’t an exercise fanatic, excessive eating leads to becoming fat. Then you start experiencing symptons such as blurring vision, loss of feeling in limbs, problems in the body processing food and removing wastes, difficulty sleeping due to having to wake up frequently, etc. Then it will be much easier to diet. Remember the famous saying, that the sight of the gallows helps one focus one’s mind. Once you see food as an invitation to a reception given by the local hevra kaddish, it will be easy to eat less.

getzel1 who said “a husband from divorcing his wife who wishes to remain married to him.”

In that situation, in virtually all legal systems, including our own, it is too early to talk about divorce. If one spouse wants the marriage to survive, they need counseling, not lawyering.

Any competent legal system will wait until the spouse agree on the need to divorce, which usually doesn’t take long (either they decide the spouse opposing the divorce was right and they reconcile, or it becomes obvious to both that marriage is over).

The issues arise when one spouse (usually the man) is using the “get” as leverage to get a money or a better deal (typically involving custody). It is rarely over a desire for reconciliation.

yichusdik: It’s not a matter of justification (assuming neither side seriously wants to “save the marriage” which suggests its too early to talk about “get”), but rather why we never hear about men complaining about wives not accept a “get”, which is because it is a statistically different situation.

There are ways to deal with a wife refusing a “get” that allow the husband to marry, and don’t result in mazerim. That is why we don’t hear about women refusing a “get” but do hear about a man refusing to give a “get”.

1. Why should the issue be different than for men. Since no one holds women have an obligation to spend all day learning, there’s no problem with women doing something that causes “bitul Torah”, and we have a long tradition of women working ourside the home with many gedolim having had wives who “worked” (and not just as teachers, e.g., as merchants). If college is allowed for a man to earn a parnassah, kal v’homer its allowed for a woman. Various career tracts for a woman is a separate issue.

2. Given the low status of secular women in most societies (e.g. being primarily seen as “sex objects” and the general denigration of motherhood), the outside world is far less attractive to women than for men. Looking at half-naked women is for more tempting to men, than being the one on display is for a woman. Also when a woman makes it clear she “isn’t available” (being modestly dressed and acting business-like, as opposed to social, when talking to males), that is generally respected and the person is not likely be harassed.

3. There are some all-female colleges in the United States, including at least two run by frum organizations. In addition, there is always the distance education option. And a “normal” co-ed school is less problematic for women than men.

It’s a style. It’s a matter of fashion. In most western countries a black hat is considered a very formal hat worn only by persons of importance at special occasions, e.g. by royalty at a royal wedding. If black fedora became something associated with being lower class (e.g. if construction workers and garbage collectors wore black fedoras), the style would change.

Socks are a good example of how fashions changed. In 19th century Europe, white socks were a very important garment (remember, this is prior to paved street being common, and when horses tended to make the street dirty). Only rich people could manage to go with shoes (other than boots) and white socks. In America it’s opposite since white socks are preferred only for recreational or physical work and are distinctly undress – and you will notice that the percentage of frum people wearing white socks on Shabbos has fallen noticably over the last two generations.

Fashion is how you communicate to the world who you are and how you perceive yourself and how you want to be perceived. It has nothing to do with halacha or kabballah. Most frum Jews are communicating that we are respectable people who are very traditional in our outlook. A black hat does that.

As a percentage of all Shomer Shabbos lawyers, those in “Big Law” are a distinct minority. Anyone who incurs several hundred thousand dollars of debts (that aren’t dischargeable in bankruptcy) to go to law school in the belief that he is guaranteed making partner at a “Big Law” firm is probably making a big mistake. And remember that most frum lawyer wannabees are likely to be married before starting law school (on the other hand, if someone is single, can live at home, and has parents who can pay $50K tuition – their only costg is the opportunity cost so it isn’t a bad deal). If someone goes to law school considering it most likely they’ll join the number of lawyers serving the “99%”, either in a government agency or a small firm, they will make better choices (and probably would decide that a non-fancy law school with a large scholarship is better than an Ivy and owing a quarter million on graduation).

The typical requirements are an accredited bachelors degree (though in some cases, an equivalent can do) and whatever courses they list in their list of admissions requirement (for medical schools it is very set, for business and law its whatever catches the fancy of the admissions officers, for most non-professional graduate programs it is the equivalent of a BA major program in the subject). Then there are the standardized exams such as the LSAT.

Once you meet the minimum requirements, the trick is to convince the admissions officer that you are interesting. Some programs have essays and interviews. You have to convince them your background is a good fit for their program. It is actually quite subjective.

Also remember that the prestige of a school doesn’t necessarily correlate with employability. If your goal is to be a lawyer in the frum community (i.e. a small firm in Boro Park), a degree from Harvard or Columbia may be less valuable than one from a lower ranked school that specializes in preparing students to practice in Brooklyn rather than working for “Big law.”

Off the derekh Jews are always the major problem. We can survive anything the goyim throw against us. At this point, we are three generations past the holocaust, and there are probably more Jews learning Torah than there were before. But if you look the demographic impact of the massive shmad led by the secular Jews of the mid-20th century (the “Reform”, the “Socialists” and yes, the zionists)- the effect on our community is still felt. Frum families that were almost wiped out by the Nazis have recovered and are thriving. But the secular families that were decimated (from a Jewish point of view) by the secular movements have not recovered and are approaching a point where their descendants are no more like to become a baal tseuvah than a random goy is to convert (and of coursem many of their descendants are goyim).

If it was your duck, I’m sure you would intervene. Most ducks live coddled lives until WE eat them.

1. The theme of the story has strong Christian overtones, with Harry being the “messianic” character.

2. If you were writing a Jewish equivalent, it would end up being radically different. There’s no one to one equivalence between the Christian/ British concepts and Jewish ones.

3. An important aspect, and probably the one frum kids relate to, is that the wizarding sub-culture is a small sub-culture largely hidden from the mainstream and existing with its own values, while be regarded by the mainstream as being somewhat deviant.

If you are speaking American English, “race” is a function of skin color, and believing one race to be superior to another verges on being an apikores since you are throwing into doubt the ikar in Humash that HaShem created everyone quite recently (Yaakov Aveinu was aquainted with the son of the common ancestor of all people). That’s make you very close to the “multiple creations” idea embraced by some goyim which is clearly apikorsis. If we are descended from a common ancestor who lives only 150 generations ago, all humans should be genetically close to identical (which, BTW, is what DNA analysis suggests).

If you are speaking British English, “race” is just a function of ethnicity and culture, and at most regarding other “races” (Americans would say ethnic groups) as annoying is quite rude in mixed company.

Does anyone want to argue that Denielle Steele or Sir Arthur Clarke or Alice Walker could write a frum novel if they tried? An author can only write about what they understand. Most frum authors no matter how competent are alien from the goyish world, and vice versa.

1. I did some random word counts, and whereas the Babli is perhaps 70% Aramaic, the Yerusalami is at least 70% Hebrew (including Aramaic cognates).

3. The commercial language of the region was Aramaic and many when two languages are used together, words get borrowed (cf. Yiddish and Hebrew in Jewish Brooklynese)

Siddurim have only been printed for the last few centuries. Before that they were handwritten and very expensive. Indeed, prior to the invention of typesetters and pulp paper, all sefarim were very expensive. From records of early printers, it appears that books that were heavily used frequently have no surviving copies (and with pre-1500, even fewer existed).

If there is a record of someone introducing a tefilah, that answers your question. If it suddenly appears, that allows you to date it. Consider dating the origin of the prayers for the Israeli government and the IDF.

Do the temanim say “Modeh ani”? Does anyone not say it? In what early siddurim is it absent? Is it attributed by contemporaries to an author (as would be the case if it is recent, meaning the last 1500 years).

1. It isn’t a “hiddush” about waking up being compared to reviving from the “near death” of sleep. The idea appears in many cultures.

2. The way to date a tefilah isn’t necessarily by looking for the oldest “siddur” that has it, but to see whose siddurim don’t have and seeing when they split. If both Ashkenazi and Sefardi sidduring have something, it probably dates back at least to the period that the Talmuds were being written (before the Ashkenazi/Sefardi split). Physical sidduring don’t last very long since they are heavily used and wear out, whereas a nusach will survive and leave its trace on future siddurim.

There is no secular basis for Halloween (a.k.a. All Saints Eve). It’s unlike holidays such as Thanksgiving which is arguably secular (the government declares it), and much closer to Dec. 25. Whether seen in its pre-Christian/pagan original, or in the slightly repurposed form of modern Christians (as “All Saints Eve”) it is clearly Avodah Zarah and the way of doing this Avodah Zarah, and giving candy is part of the Avodah Zarah (not unlike the Jewish custom of giving out candy on Purim, which is clearly a religious obligation regardless of any secular connotations).

DNA testing would indicate.

In response to: “Akuperma: You’re still being silly. Why wouldn’t the proper pronunciation be part of the Mesorah just like vowels are? “

The proof is that diverse groups of frum Jews pronounce Hebrew differently. If the pronounication of the letters and nekudos were part of the mesorah, we would not have distinct accents among frum Jews, i.e. a Sefardi would sound like a Hasid (southeastern dialect), and a Teimani would sound like a Litvak (northeastern Europe dialect). This proves that the diversity of pronounciations is either a tolerable thing or a good thing, but definitely not a bad thing. It also shows that those that want to establish their pronounciation (according to their family’s or community’s traditions) as the “official” or “correct” one, are seriously misguided. Ha-Shem made it clear there is one Torah – but did not make it clear there is one way pronounce the last letter of our alphabet.

And I’m not discussing the Israeli/Zionist dialect, which is merely a combination of the obvious “mistakes” of all the dialects (not distinguishing Aleph and Ayin, or Daled and Thaled, or Saf and Taf, or Patach and Kametz, etc.), and actually demonstrates a well known rule that living languages tend to simplify over time.

It is unknowable even how people such as George Washington or Robert E. Lee, sounded. The only way to guess at past speech was from mistakes people made, or parodies, or attempts at transliteration into different languages – and that’s all really guessing. No one can possibly know what Moshe Rabeinu sounded like (though he probably had an Egyptian accent since he grew up among Egyptians), or what Avraham Aveinu sounded like (though compated to his children, grandchildren and great-children, he probably sounded like someone from Mesopotamia), and Kal v-Homer no one could know what Ha-Shem sounds like (and yes I know that ever Litvak thinks he has a Vilna accent, and every Hasid is sure thinks he prounces “oo” and “e”, and “kametz” as “oh”).

In response to: “Did he do anything illegal? “

Under existing law (and yes, they had public international law at the time) it was widely debated whether the Europeans had the “right” to go into America and conquering people and stealing their land (as well as going into Africa to kidnap people for slaves). In general the lawyers said “NO”, most governments instructed their agents to behaive themselves, and the people “on the ground” in America decided that there weren’t any lawyers for thousands of miles and most governments would not be too upset when the cash rolled in.

The Bnei Yisrael conquered Canaan only because Ha-Shem told them to. The Europeans never claimed that had a divine mandate to engage in slavery or conquest (the closest is the American idea of “manifest destiny”, and not really). Unless Ha-Shem tells you to do so, theft and murder are not allowed, even for goyim.

What is the correct pronounciation of “come” or “light”? You do know the “e” at the end of “come” is pronounced (just ask Chaucer – it’s written for a reason). You do know that “gh” is pronounced similar to the “ch” (the ? ) in Chanukah.

Languages evolve. Even the accepted international standard for English, how the Queen speaks, evolves (as has her accent if one compares her speech in the 1930s and 1940s to how she speaks in public today). The correct prounciation of American English was largely determined at Appomattox in 1865 – Ohio rather than Boston or Richmond – though most of the English speaking world considers American English to be in error.

If you are Ashkenazi, the correct pronounciation of ? is like an English “s”. If you are Israeli sefardi, it is probably like a “t”, and while it was probably a “th” in ancient times, only a handful of Jews (e.g. Temanim) pronounce it that way.

But if you still pronounce “come” and “kom-eh” and “knights” as “k-nicht” (“ch” as a gutteral), feel free to try to speak Hebrew that way some anthropological linguisists think it might have been pronounced in the past. However living languages change over time, and Hebrew has always been a living language (no matter what the secular fanatics claim).