akuperma

zahavasdad: Teachers are employed. Only Israel considered teachers to be NOT WORKING, and then only in the frum schools. If they were “learning” in a university, they would be considered employed. If an advanced student studying Talmud who lives off of stipends paid to students is in a yeshiva he is unemployed in Israel, but if he is in the university he is employed.

And that doesn’t count the huge number of people who are actually working off the books, but need to avoid the army since the army (except for select units) is hostile to haredim (you will know if the army changed when you hear of promising well connected officers being dismissed for being anti-hareidi, just as in the 1960s the US starting dismissing officers for racism – it hasn’t happened yet).

In a welfare state, being cut off from the welfare state puts you in a very bad way. It means that in a hospital, you pay the rate charged to rich American tourists. Most housing in Israel is in someway subsidized – so it means you can only buy housing in the “tourist” apartments. The major tax benefit yeshiovos receive is to be able to avoid taxes on foreign contributions (which otherwise would be taxable income). And they are still banning hareidim who want to work “on the books” from doing so unless they serve in the army (as opposed to Arabs, who can get jobs).

By avoiding arrests, they avoid an immediate confrontation, unless they (as their press suggests) see these only as first steps, with stricter measures to be applied if they don’t work at lowering the yeshiva population. By establishing a system in which 15% of the people have restricted civil rights, you guarantee instability. Since this is religion based, it will violate most human rights principles.

At the very least, it will end cooperation in other areas between hareidim and dati leumi. The Hareidim will offer to ally with Labor based on common support for the welfare state, and an agreement to end conscription and equal rights. Imagine the situation at a school in America where some students are raising money for hareidim who are being denied basic medical care and housing since they learn Torah and the Dati Leumi are responsible, while their classmates are raising money for settlers who are left homeless by policies to reduce settlements which they will blame on the hareidim who will be supporting such policies.

The ideal situation is for the wife to be a homemaker and the husband to learn all day. For those of us without independently wealthy parents, it becomes necessary to work for a living.

Frum women have always worked outside the family. While some jobs are prohibited to women (most of which we can’t discusses on YWN), the real issue is how much a woman wants to work outside the home, can she arrange childcare (very easy if her sister or sister-in-law is available to babysit), etc. Beyond that, everything depends on what she wants to do. As with anyone else, making a lot on money usually results in long hours, risk taking and hard work. Whether it is worthy it is an individual choice. Running a small business out of the house is easier than being a vice-president of a Wall Street investment bank, but it brings in a lot smaller income.

The Israelis have been experimenting with a variety of formulas – largely as a result of the desire of the secular parties to minimize the influence of the religious.

Israel has a parliamentary system meaning that the government is run by the party or coalition controlling the parliament. It doesn’t have to be the largest party, and after the previous election it was the party with the second highest totals that was able to form a majority government. An advantage of a parliamentary system is that the legislature and the executive always work together, without gridlock (as opposed to he USA, with an executive chosen separately from the legislature). The Israeli experimented with a system by which the prime minister was chosen is a separate ballot, and they ended up with a prime minister from one party and a kenesset dominated by the opposition – which doesn’t work in a parliamentary system. Some Israelis have preferred a “strong president” system such as the USA, but that could lead to a new set of problems.

In addition Israel uses proportional representation, which is reasonable given Jewish history (we always try to be inclusive, rather than preferring to have a ruling group and ignoring the rest). Thus no party gets a majority. However for the period 1948-1977 the socialist parties usually had majority, and from 1977-2013 the nationalist parties usually had a majority. Since the hareidim are being kicked out of the “nationalist” camp, it isn’t clear will be in the future.

I believe the hospital believed she was in a hospice situation in which death was imminent regardless of what was done, and that she was there to die. Based on the British press, it appears to be part of a larger controversy in which the health care providers (who are working for the government in most cases, rather than for the patients or the independent insurance companies that are responsible to the patients) are very willing to decide the a patient is moribund without consulting, or in disregard of the opinions of, the patient and the patient’s family.

Yossibroch who said “…however my only knowledge of Satmar is from Wikipedia, the book/film ‘The Chosen’ …”

Wikipedia is inherently unreliable since it reflect whomever wrote the article, though it often has useful bibliographies. It is especially unreliable on controversial topics in which partisans strive to manipulate the article (they have had a great deal of trouble with Palestinians and Zionists in this respect).

The author of “The Chosen” is a Conservative Rabbi trying to justify his going off the derekh. Consider it as good a source for understanding orthodox Jews as Der Sturmer was for understanding the holocaust (except that Potok never got into a fight with people who hang troublemakers – but he’s just as guilty as people such as Streicher)

Do not believe the propaganda that Satmar hasidim (in all their flavors) are sub-human perverse misanthropes incapable of dealing with the real world.

A yarmulke is worn for indoor use when one would normally be bareheaded (for a goy). They are not very good as outdoor hats since they blow away. An outdoor hat is usually needed. Some people put the outdoor over the yarmulke, others put the yarmulke in the pocket while wearing an outdoor hat.

Baseball caps are a popular style of outdoor non-dress hats. One would not wear a baseball hat at a formal event. Other non-dress hats currently popular include a wide variety of caps. Among all Americans, baseball caps are quite popular.

I have never seen anyone wearing a baseball hat to shul on Shabbos.

If you mean yeshivos with leading academic standards, that would depend on one’s haskafa.

If fitness is the goal, I’ld suggest strength training (weight lifting, calisthenics) and aerobics (such as biking or hiking or running). Sports are fun, and perhaps fun is mutar (I played baseball back in the era when the bats were made of wood and major leaguers took off-season jobs to make ends meet, and I’ld still root for the Dodgers if they ever came back to Brooklyn) – but from a fitness perspective sports all have serious question marks.

yytz: Avraham Ibn Ezra, in a poem, reflecting an earlier version (e.g. the Queen was a Vizier and was much more limited, the “mad queen” of the 16th century was way in the future)

What’s wrong with Chess? One of the Rishonim even wrote a book on the subject.

Daniel Rosen: If you want to run a business, you have your answer. Unless you want to work for a big corporation, for which an MBA might help, you don’t to spend money on graduate school, or even college. There are no academic requirements to run a business. All you need is something to sell and customers.

If you prefer some other line of work, pick the line of work based on what you want to do. Ask yourself about hours of work, risk, whether you could move to Israel if that ever becomes a facot, what are working conditions like, does it interest you. If you are already married with your own household, law school will cost about $250K (remember to include living costs) – that might be tolerable if you really want to be a lawyer, but think of what sort of return you could get if you borrowed that much money to invest in the business – and what you’ll do if you can’t pay back the loans.

Zahavsdad: The British were anxious to leave in 1948. Remember the Empire went out of business in 1947, so it wasn’t important to control Suez anymore. The alternative to Israeli independence was an American trusteeship (all mandates were being converted into trusteeships). The Americans were quite interested in encouraging Jewish immigration to Palestine, since frankly, a great many Americans (including if not especially the upper class secular Jews who dominated the American Jewish community 70 years ago) didn’t want them coming to America. Most zionists were socialists, and the last thing they wanted was to have capitalist America taking over. Whereas in 1922 (when De Haan was shot) the Hareidim were talking about an Islamic state with a Jewish autonomous community, in 1948 they were talking about an American takeover (meaning the American armed forces would be in charge). Based on what has happened to other American trust territories, it means that Palestine today would probably have a legal status similar to Puerto Rico.

Placing Torah and Mitsvos ahead of army service is a tremendous Kiddush ha-Shem. THe world will see our faith in Ha-Shem, his Torah, and insistence of following his orders.

This would be true even if the Israeli army was glatt kosher (in fact, except for segregated units, it is very hostile to anyone following traditional halacha interpretations), and even if the zionist cause wasn’t clearly hypocritical (if they claim based on the claims in Taanach, how do they justify rejecting the Torah imposed as part of the deal giving Jews Eretz Yisrael – if they reject Torah, then where do they get any basis to go to war in order to drive the Arabs out of Eretz Yisrael).

We joined the army of Ha-SHem at Sinai (as volunteers, not conscripts). We have our commanding officer. We have our orders. And if Netanyahu, Lapid and Bennett think they can compromise our mission, they will be mistaken. Olam HaZeh is a war of attirition, and we’ve outlasted the Roman, and the Greeks, and the Crusaders, and the Nazis – and we’ll outlast Likud and Yesh Atid.

Re; Lawyers lying

Let us imagine that you were accused of a crime, or being sued. If you were very clever, and knew all the legal rules, you could actively defend yourself. You might know that a oral contract under certain conditions is not binding. You might know that someone relaying gossip heard from someone else is not admissable evidence. You might know a hostile witness who is being threated or bribed can have their testimony disregarded. You might know that you aren’t guilty because the crime requires an intent do something illegal, and your faults were accidental.

However the average person doesn’t know the rules, and they will get steamrolled. They will be sued over things that aren’t the proper basis to be sued over. They will be accused of crimes they are innocent of. They will lose due to witnesses whose testimony is unreliable and is biased.

In a traditional Beis Din, the judge will take notice that the law is being ignored and justice is being perverted. In most circumstances, an American judge will only do something if the party speaks up. The American judge is more of a referee between the two sides. Since most Americans don’t know much about the legal system, they won’t know to speak up, and will forfeit their rights. That’s what the lawyer is for. It’s quite honorable.

A lawyer who lies to the court will risk losing his license.

popa_bar_abba: If you don’t get an offer from a major firm (or a job with a government agency), you start at the bottom. Typically you end up working in some lawyer’s office for a pittance (or less) and over time you build up a practice on your own. Traditionally, new lawyers struggled for a while. If you are good, you can make it. Many do. There are plenty of books from the bar association on how to start a solo practice without starving.

If you want to own a major retail change, you don’t plan to start out as the majority shareholder of Walmart’s. You start small, and build the business. Law is the same.

The problem is with fools who think that a JD and $250K in debt entitles you to a parnassah.

Getting a job is not just a function of grades and class rank. For frum Jews, there are many obstacle (even if you can disguise that you are frum) since we are from a radically different culture. If you have a BTL, meaning your secular education is weak, it is even harder. If your goal is to be a lawyer, that suggests very strongly having an idea on how and where you want to practice (its much better to go to law school near where you want to practice, unless you have your heart set on “big law”, which is rarely realistic) and plan accordingly (and try to avoid running up big debts).

P.S. Georgetown is easily in the top 20, meaning if you get good grades, and have the right academic and social background (something no frum Jew has), employment should be easy especially in the Washington area.

I believe most babies start trying to figure our reading after a few months when their eye start to focus properly, though it can be a few years before they tell us about. Of course, if the parents try to stop them, such as by having the kid watch television a lot, they can probably postpone reading for a while (with enough TV, video and internet – the kid might stay illiterate for years or decades).

1. It is possible. The legal requirement is a bachelor’s degree, and any yeshiva that has arranged to give one meets the standard.

2. Sometimes a school will want to see certain courses on a transcript, but that can always be arranged. Certain subjects and skills, such as writing skills and some knowledge of American history and social sciences, are looked for by admissions committees in some cases but “pre-law” is never required. Some of these skills are critical for success in law school and practising law (particularly writing skills).

3. The LSAT becomes critical for admission.

4. Law schools will be highly skeptical, meaning the LSAT is all that more important. One is more likely to go to a non-elite law school such as Brooklyn or University of Baltimore, rather than one of the elite ones.

5. Law school can be quite expensive, and there is only a chance you’ll end up with a good parnassah. Many law students end up with huge debts that can’t be discharged in bankruptcy, and incomes too low to comfortably pay off the debts.

We should relax and enjoy the discussion. This is the first time in 500 years that a brand new food is introduced. It hasn’t happened since foods such as tomatoes, chocolate, potatos and corn (as Americans call it) were introduced soon after the European conquest of the Americas. Unless they find edible foods on some other planet (highly unlikely for a variety of reasons), this is the last time we’ll be able to see the process by which we decide on the halachic status of a new type of food. It’s fascinating.

rebdoniel: Star-K in holding it to be permissable (i.e. analagous to potatos) said that it doesn’t rise, but then I checked online for recipes for bread making and it explained how one gets quinoa to rise (similar to bread flower).

I suspect it will take a generation or two for this all to get settled down. There seems a reluctance to allow for anything that can be used to offer kosher-le-pesach challah, pizza and pita.

I wonder how long it took for everyone to decide that potatoes were kosher le-pesach when they were introduced 500 years ago.

yossi z.– There weren’t any “knights” in Purim since heavy mounted cavalry were impossible into the stirups were be invented at the time in India, but didn’t become in Europe and Middle East until centuries later. At the time of Purim, a horseback rider could be a messenger or a scout, but fighitng on horseback was not practical.

Medieval European knights were soldiers, motivating by the same things that usually motivate soldiers – a desire for an honorable career, service to either their country or their overlord (depending on whether it was in the feudal era), etc. There were no more religious or bloodthirsty than any other soldiers in other times and places. Of course, we should note that traditionally (meaning, before 1948) almost all hagaddahs depicted the evil son as a soldiers. Certainly if you wouldn’t object to a purim costume depicting any other soldiers, why object to a medieval knight. Certainly some of us feel that soldiers are inherently problematic, but that isn’t a universal feeling among frum Jews.

The typical insignia of a knight would almost never be a cross. It would be the coat of arms of his overlord or country (sometimes the same things, often not). While there were exceptions, a picture of a mevieval soldier (either an infantryman or a mounted knight) with a large cross as insignia would suggest a crusaders. Crusaders were a bit less mercentary than most, and much more anti-Jewish than most. The cross is what should be be highly objectionable.

Worrying about olam hazeh is an indicator of little faith and misplaced priorities. It’s only a fancy corridor, after all.