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Luna > funding from federal grants … only amount to about 2%
you surely heard (or read) this on NPR, so this is reliable!
Note that 32% of their funding comes from fees from their “member stations”. Member stations are funded in part by government funds and CPB. CPB in turn is FULLY funded by federal government. Each of these organizations are also charities, that is donations is partially subsidized by government.
So before adding all of this up, I feel justified to declare this fact check as “mostly untrue”.
> Causing major additional expenses to families who are very tight in their budget
On one hand, we have halakha of not competing with another Jew when he is doing business with a non-Jew. This typically applies when a non-Jewish aristocrat hires a Jewish tradesman. I am wondering whether this still holds when the power differential is reversed, In this case, we presumably talk about Jewish employers (who possibly chose not to work themselves) hiring (possibly illegal, not speaking English) workers (possibly not paying employment taxes) lacking a lot of legal protections. While we may not be obligated to care about these workers as we would for Jews, it is not clear that one _has_ to participate in this race to the bottom in order to spare expenses to others.
edited
Loshen, it sounds like encountered this singularly in one of the busiest airports of the world, and also at the height of Omicron.
I googled right now, you can get PCR at Heathrow for 60 GBP next day and 80 same day; 4 hour! for 120. Maybe you should arrange the next day test?
HaKatan, there are many ways to skin this cat, here is a statistical one:
12% of American Jews go to (any kind of) synagogue weekly
25% of Israeli Jews do (32% of those who call themselves “traditional”)
27% of Americans go to religious services weekly.21% of American Jews say religion is very important
30% of Israeli Jews do, 32% of traditionals do.you could argue, of course, that given a more religious, and more Jewish, environment in Israel the difference should be larger.
US also had it’s share of Jewish socialists in 1930s and even later who were fighting religion. They simply assimilated and now fight climate change instead of other Jews.
All kiruv work is great, but the number of non-O Jews percentage wise affected by it is very small, and, I think, getting smaller.
On the same page, there is also a cryptic notion of negative issues from (1) people who should be learning – not learning, (2) people who should not be learning – learning, (3) bad leaders ….
this seems to go somewhat against “universal learning” ideal, although can be explained away, of course.
The issue of “working most of the week” is not so pashut.
Daf Yomi talks about the person who would learn one day a year (traveling/working the rest of the year) and this might be equivalent to full time learning if done properly.
I was not thinking about overworked wives getting a law degree in addition to everything else. I was thinking about kollelmen themselves getting into law, then having 6 months annually to learn and help at home. With 2-3 wives, this can be even full time learning (we can suspend R Gershom’s decree due to urgency of the hour, as we do with other halochos).
jackk, in the spirit of respectful discussion, could you try to summarize the court filing in a non-partisan manner, without omitting something that is not good for your side?
I did not read the filing, but I read previous documents, and I recall a bunch of serious stuff, like a university using their DARPA-provided IP data to come up with “suspicious” IPs, while one of the researchers explicitly telling all that this is not suspicious; Sussman requesting this “research”, and then taking as a “concerned citizen” to authorities, with also implications that others are aware of what was going on. this is fomr memory and early docs, so maybe you can help us get more details on this.
coffee, avira, I also did not like it when seeing other people doing it for years.
But really works for outside – self-lightning, allows for gloves without need to turn tiny pages; if it gets damaged by drops of rain, it is a broken phone, rather than a torn siddur, maybe should move the text according to where I look or even better, where the chazan is mumbling. For shabbos, probably can be automated to a certain speed like a shabbos elevator… some joke that some people wake up by shir shel yom to ask what day is it diay, but phone siddur shows the right shir. I am not really advocating phone, just found it surprising that I changed my opinion 180 when I am using it rather than others đ talking about bias!By the way, what’s up with tables and supersizing everything?
Seems like _sitting_ on a chair is more traditional and safe (and Kings used to sit even in Beis Hamikdash, nobody put them on a shaky table!).
midwesterner, thanks for the correction!
Yoma 22-23: first episode is when one kills another in anger (and father of the victim is trying to keep the knife tahor..). This did not lead to the prohibition as this was clearly an issue of anger after competition. Second episode that I referred to when one pushed the other was clearly during the competition and lead to banning the practice. So, it seems that Beit Din did not mind people getting competitive, just not getting physical. Btw, mussar recommends to parents who can’t hold themselves from murder (shouting at children) should use positive rewards and competitions between children. Try saying “quietly” to your spouse that the other kid two years ago did that homework easily.
Mahybe you guys should start a “Jews for Covid” fund. What a shanda.
Both questions should be asked:
Trump was elected because rural Americans were tired of liberals; nobody liked Hillary; and Putin could not imagine Trump winning, he just wanted to hurt Hillary before she becomes President.Biden was elected because suburban nice people did not like Trump’s tweets; Biden sounded nice and non-threatening (except when bullying a fat guy in Iowa); and pandemic allowed quick-thinking Dems to increase numbers of their voters by mail vote while Trump was distracted by Covid, impeachment, illegal surveillance.
Gadol, wow … first time ever I am envious. Send this info to the kahal, this is an easy way to have kollel fully paid!
I used to be annoyed by people scrolling through their prayers. But now I also found phone siddur useful for outside minyanim… looking for shabbos edition, though.
My favorite mahzorim are two pre-WW1 from different sides of the family, one Vilna, one Wien … good feeling that you follow your predecessors in davening. Wien one is much thinner – less piyutim and much better, thinner, paper.
Gadol,
I was annoyed by this guy’s insistence on inconveniencing others for relatively optional activities, that could have been re-arranged or done faster. You can see it in the opposite way that he is such a tzaddik that he would not compromise on his mental preparation for shabbos. I was raised to put obligation to others first. When I worked for companies and was expected to be in office, I only requested absolute minimum I needed and repeatedly apologized for that, rather than referring to the discrimination laws. One of my friends years ago went to further extreme in middos to make sure he is not abusing the employer: he did not inform his employer about his needs (and went without kippah) and would simply request time off when required. He was prepared to resign if refused. He was an excellent and reliable performer, so was never refused. At my company, the rules are that anyone can take off any days they want, disregarding secular calendar rules.Syag, sorry for not being clear. I wanted to highlight that one family whom I know for a long long time – who first did not read the directions (or possibly disregarded them), and then refused to follow them when I asked them (extremely nicely). All they needed was to hop into the car and get the kid home. They had someone sitting with the rest of the kids.
Re: when you say “our doctors”, maybe you can say what your doctors say specifically.
My questions about psak is generally towards people’s public behaviors, not medical decisions. Usually directed at people who bring mysterious quotes from websites, not you. I am pretty sure those are not from their doctors.
ujm> exact wording of the New York Times headline
you would not consider “you have as much integrity as NYT headline writers” a compliment, would you?
but it worked to attach attention đ> chasan lost his balance.
RebE, maybe add safety grips attached to the table? Maybe this procedure is a moshal for the upcoming married life – treated as a King, but turbulence ahead? So, chasanim need to learn how to keep their balance.
Gadol, “did not enter” until recently, while Europe was able to figure it out. This is food for thought for you about difference between gov lead by a businessman or by a politician. Biden made an announcement about test availability in the middle of omicron surge and they started arriving shortly after the crisis seems to pass. the insurance approach (again, only from Jan 2022) is cumbersome and is not a very good incentive. The goal is to have low-informational population to use these tests when they need them. It got to be simple, not with a promise of filling out forms later.
rw > fact that CDC deleted from their own website the info of how long vaccines are tested (10-15 years)
I looked at the original article with these words. They list all steps in vaccine development, and the value of Warp Speed was able to compress all of them. The site says that the final phase 3 trial takes about 60K people, and Pfizer had 44K – close enough. As this is the final step proving efficacy and and safety, there is no reason to worry about quality of previous steps. Just tells you how fast research can happen when government gets out of the way.
Syag > long term damage,
I trust you know more of what is happening with kids in schools. There is a “recover” trial run by NIH to look at long covid, including in kids. I don’t know how to weigh these risks against each other.
Syag > vaccine did not do anything to prevent transmission
factual correction: vaccine does reduce transmission, although less than severe disease – especially for variants. 7x reduction for the famous Phase 3 trials was for transmission. Event in question was pre-Delta. I don’t plan to discuss details of organizer motivation, as well as others. I just brought a minor detail that struck me as totally oblivious – you are told of the rules, it would take 15 minutes to comply, and you refuse. Pre-covid, this would be boorish behavior that would just end up with extra shnitsel consumed. Start appreciating all the gemorahs discussing a thought put into every act done correctly – drinking reviis with 2, not 1, not 3, gulps. If you learn to be careful with every action, then you can easily adjust to ever-changing reality.
RebE > One must weigh the risk
Match the weight of the chatan to the maximal allowed for the table?
Gadol, tru, if I recall correctly, the methods employed by T’Ch might have involved risk to them (other than in carrying kallah) rather than to the chatan.
RW > Itâs one thing to wear a mask which may help, itâs another thing to wear a useless symbolic cloth.
what is your conclusion? Are you wearing a better mask?
> imagine it stopping a microscope virus
Virus does not travel by itself, it attaches to small particles. Masks have not only mechanical filters, but also electrostatic that attracts those particles. A bigger problem is gaps even with proper masking, kal vhomer with half-worn.
But behavior and environment are probably more important. If you don’t stay long in poorly ventilated rooms with other people, you’ll reduce your risk and probably severity in case of getting it. If you lock yourself in a closed room and windows with a large group singing nigunim, N95 might not help.
Avram, baalas simcha was very nervous overall, and justifiably knowing where she is. She arranged this at a safest, largest, multi-room place with other precautions and this was at the lowest pre-delta level. We came to support and help her as much/little as we could. Don’t regret coming, but can’t un-see people who were showing kavod to a friend by endangering her. I don’t know, of course, who knew how much. On a positive side, one antivaxxer did comply in order to attend. So, “simcha mandates” might work.
ujm, I agree on this hiluk.
For those who both work and learn during the week – what would be the order? Still, kabolos shabbos nap may be only appropriate for those who can’t ease up before shabbos – medical residents and workaholics.I once heard from a youngster that he interviewed with a company (law or finance, I think) that had a hutzpah to deny his request to leave for shabbos by noon (during summer), so that he could take a shower, cook, and otherwise refresh himself before shabbos … Admirable or not?
UJM, thanks for the reference. They compute ER visit and hospitalization reductions of 2 and 3 doses separately for Delta and Omicron periods comparing with unvaccinated. This is done for all mRNA vaccines after correcting for patient and virus prevalence parameters, so looks pretty solid.
Bottom line: 4x reduction in hospitalization at about 5 months and, presumably, higher for deaths (in all data, reduction increases with severity – from infection to ER to hospitalization to deaths).
Here is my summary from their Table 2 on hospitalization:
months <2 2-3 4 >=4 >= 5
Delta 2 doses 17x 11x 10x 5.5
Omicron 2 doses 3.5 3 2.5 2
Delta 3 doses 25x 14x 4x
Omicron 3 doses 11x 8x 4.5xOne question I have on such research is not taking “natural immunity” into account when counting “unvaccinated”. As they would be already more likely to be infected than those with vaccines, this might underestimate the estimate of the vaccine. I do not see this mentioned in the article.
Loshen, most people here seem to be Colonials, and we are way behind Europe in free testing. My understanding is that in many places, like Cyprus and others, these tests are all over the place, free or very cheap. At the tax-payers cost, of course. In the case of the airport, would they let you bring your own test that you can pre-order or do they force you to take and pay to a specific company? If the latter, this is not right, and, at minimum, they should have an open bid for the job. That said, it may be that the bid will end up with a high price – possibly, they need to rent a place, train people, send urgently to the lab to ensure quick turn-around, maybe using more robust or multiple tests.
Should airport tests be free? Maybe not. Most flyers are either vacationing or doing business, so they should pay for it, not taxpayers.
A Rav told me that he advises hasanim to break the glass with the heel to avoid a trauma.
We have numerous cases in Gemorah when a practice was called off due to freak cases that happened.
For example, a cohen breaking a leg when running to get avodah. Apparently, they did not wait for the second case.Maybe there were close calls before with cohanim pushing each other? For many dangerous events, close calls are a good predictor. For example, number of sudden stops when driving is a good predictor of someone who might end in an accident. So, think of close calls and correct your middos accordingly.
re: comparison of US v. others. You have a good point, although European countries by now have their own poor immigrant populations. US does have other advantages though – more personal transportation, larger houses, more disperse communities. Some of US advantages may work against public safety, though – air conditioning, and, most of all, distrust of government. I did not look a lot on research of comparing countries, but one that I saw claims that level of trust and unity, both government and society in general, is predictive of safety. Maybe it is simply a proxy for lack of minorities. Anyway, as any middah, this distrust of authority is generally helpful, but needs to be controlled. As we say about tefillin: the head one is divided, the arm is not: when it is time to act, there is a need for unity.
re: mandates. here is my thinking:
Private businesses should be able to have mandates legally. Should they do that? Businesses with a lot of low-level personnel, like hotels, should first do small-scale incentives: pay for vaccination, make non-vaxxed pay for weekly tests, transfer them to positions were they don’t interact with public. For businesses requiring skilled personnel, I personally would not trust judgment of those who do not vaccinate or mask and will use this as a good excuse to fire them.Public/medical: should be able to mandate where it is materially affects public safety: nurses, teachers. firefighters may sleep at the fire station unvaxed if they prefer. Again, weekly or twice weekly testing might be enough. Maybe let these teachers teach online and for sure disclose their status to parents, whatever HIPPA says.
In all cases, if it can be shown at some point, or at some location, that being unvaxed does not affect safety anymore (low transmission level, high immunity, mild variant), no mandate required. I would not be hiring them though and so I presume many others for the lack of judgment.
Avram, I’ll try to answer your questions after clarify what I think is more of a priority: us doing the right thing.
Most people somehow focus on “edgy” questions that pit people one against the other working against shalom, leading to break-up of societal norms. Recall how during BLM, Russians embedded into social media to advocate BOTH for and against BLM, just making sure there will be two demonstrations fighting each other. Same with other topics. For example,
– did you check how long are windows open in your kids’ school? if they don’t want to lose heat – did you offer to pay for extra heat?
– what is CO2 level after a couple of hours of kids there (proxy measurement for ventilation)
– if you have/know someone in nursing home, did you check all safety precautions there – open windows, nurses wearing masks correctly?again, open another lab. Or someone else will.
Syag,
here are a couple of citations.1) risk of death was approximately 60% lower among Omicron cases compared to Delta
75% reduction in the risk of hospital admission among those 60 to 69 years old
SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and variants under investigation in England, UK Health Security Agency, Feb 11, 20222) Hospitalization rate by Delta 2x higher than Alpha
Hospital admission and emergency care attendance risk for SARS-CoV-2 delta (B.1.617.2) compared with alpha (B.1.1.7) variants of concern: a cohort study. Lancet, VOLUME 22, ISSUE 1, P35-42, JANUARY 01, 2022
this and other articles are saying that post-hospitalization outcomes for Delta and Alpha are similar.From these, my statement needs to be corrected:
omicron hospitalization is 80% of Alpha, death rates 50% of alpha. this is for unvaccinated apples-to-apples comparison. I also suspect that these numbers may be skewed due to Omicron cases possibly having previous infections. I did not see whether this was controlled for in the paper.I mean that honest work requires time and effort contrary to the op view. Specifically, from my limited experience, you need to deal with renters destroying their sewage systems, keeping pipes frozen, parking illegally, not paying rent, and worse. Plus managing plumbers and electricians making sure they come on time and drill the right apartment. If you are smart, you can eventually get reliable workers, dependable tenants, and then do what the op suggests
It maybe excessive or it simply be subsidized in some places in an effort to make people do it more often. Hard to judge the cost with emergency operations. We don’t know how much a company spent setting up a new facility in a hurry, or even to develop a test.
If you think the price is excessive, consider it a business opportunity, and start your own cheaper.
Emes, Trump was elected as an opposition to the elite opinion. Different people meant different things, of course. Current administration is either continuing same policies without acknowledging: vaccines, china boycott; or doing something unfortunate and then acknowledging continuity; Afghanistan; or trying to publicly reversing those policies: oil, Russia leading to more disasters, or trying to spend as much as they can fighting future disasters ignoring current ones. Are you one of 30% of people who enjoy it?
Ctlawyer If YWN wants to do its own reporting fine, but of it subscribes to newswire services, it is not free to change things as you wish.
A good point. Could they have one font/color for emes, and another for sheker? Yes, we are all working on separating them, but this is mental work that we could avoid. We are all desensitized to sheker unfortunately, and bring it to our own discourse. Sheker sheker tirchok.
Rw, you are trying to build a logical argument that I am trying to understand. Unfortunately, you start with “vaccines don’t work” which is not supported by facts, demonstrated by hundreds of papers from multiple countries. I understand when you say “natural immunity” is better, for example. This is a point to which one can respond. But what is your point of saying things out of thin air, I am not sure.
Ujm, we have a disease hitting the whole world. There were pandemics in the past that destroyed empires, depopulated continents… In this case, some good scientists came up with ways to save millions of people. If you go volunteer at a hospital, help online person to recuperate, surely you will be a tzaddik. Kal vehomer, someone saving millions. Now, you are grumbling that Hashem sent a variant from which that vaccine protects, but less, and you will have to get off the couch and get another pinch. They don’t owe you anything. Go make your own vaccine, or get a CCP vaccine, or sit at your villa, enjoy the view, or develop middah of gratitude. Your choice.
jackk > can the republicans who have been fighting a war against mask and vaccine mandates stop blaming the democrats when the mandates get lifted?
I think everyone will continue exploiting covid for political reasons whether we like it or not. Start by repeatedly praising Trump administration for vaccine development and hope that he will respond in kind.
Note that we are doing worse under the D- administration. I have 9 developed countries on my list including US. As of Feb 2021, US was 3rd worst on deaths (UK, Italy were worse), 15% higher than the median. Starting from then to now, US is 2nd worst (after Poland) – 60% higher than the median for that time period! US and Poland – only ones with more deaths in 2nd year than first.
Vaccine doses – again, 2nd worst, only Poland worse.
Excess mortality – 2020 Spring – lower than others; winter 2020 – about same; Sep 2021 – Delta – higher than all others, including Poland.
So, bottom lines, if you can influence any democrats – try to affect what your leadership is not doing instead of fighting political battles. Saying right slogans does not help much.
jackk, I think you need to separate between those who oppose mandates on philosophical principles and those who simply rant against any public health measure from their mothers’ basements.
For the first group – as of now, I think, 85% of the US workforce is vaccinated. So are retirees. So are many college students. So, who is left? unemployed? gray economy? illegal immigrants?
Ohevet > Why call those who do want boosters- derogatory names. That isnt the Torah way.
While I agree with your sentiment, I am not sure these posters care much about Torah way. They would jump on any posting about Fauci, but when I’ve asked them repeatedly what their sources are, what posek approves such behavior – I don’t think I ever saw an answer. I am not sure what brought them to a Jewish site.
RW, I am not sure why this is a laughing matter, whatever your convictions are. Are you laughing at Hashem who sent the disease? Surely, 4 boosters are better than 3 diseases.
jackk, Chagigah is also talking about 3 simanim of a shoteh:
walking at night by himself (putting himself in danger for no reason and, maybe figuratively, staying in the dark from facts)
sleeping in the cemetery (not accepting norms of behavior?)
tearing clothes apart (refusing bodily protection and again behavioral norms)Also people with foul odor are exempt – not because of themselves but because they are annoying others.
still, I don’t think we will have vaccination clinics at Beis Hamikdash. Just once during yomim norayim – mi b’magefa …
HaKatan,
I think your comparison of status of Jews in EY and US suffers from observational bias: in Israel, you see non-observant Jews as a group, and they are interacting with the observant on daily basis and react to a friction of shabbat/kashrus in their daily life. In US, you see them only in the news and most are quietly disappearing without coming to bother you. It does not mean that they are in a better shape. I think it is opposite – non-religious Israelis are always one step away from stumbling into a shul, or into an observant colleague and learning something, without a danger of immediate intermarriage.R Schach cared about those Israelis and thought that Hashem cared: he writes that Arab anti-Semitism was min hashomayim, Without it, early Zionists would have gone to U of Cairo and Beyrut and intermarried.
HaKatan, you are using a hyperbole when comparing our current situation to galus evsektsia, or you do not know wekk what R Wasserman and others faced. Chofetz Chaim was later lamenting that he ran away from Soviet Russia – he realized that all Rabbis who left for Poland and Lita saved themselves but abandoned the rest of the Jews: remnants of whom came recently as “soviet Jews” that includes Lieberman. Whatever the damage the latter is causing to the observant community in Israel – he moved to Israel; he cares about it; his son is observant. He is more successful, Jewish-wise, to 90% of other Jews who disappeared in Russia physically and spiritually. And he may even help Yidden in ISrael to learn how to earn parnosah and become independent of Zionist government. Gam zu l’tova.
Given that YWN probably has a contract to receive those news and it is healthy for the tzibbur to get news about the world and appreciate Yad Hashem everywhere, maybe they should simple edit those “news” to delete “opinions” from them.