Always_Ask_Questions

> The American trained and supplied Afghanistan military couldn’t win in their fight against the taliban, so the taliban took over

There is exactly one person who claims this – Joe Biden. All commentators agree that the exit was done badly. How could you expect Afghanis to fight when they know they are losing, when there are no parts to repair airplanes, etc. Biden went against military advice and it is on him. It is on military leaders that none of them resigned. And they are still there. One of the immediate reactions was that Afghanistan will embolden Russia and China, and this has already been proven to be true, unfortunately.

> getting a MBA does not make you an apikores.

indeed, MBA would be a good education for a Talmid Chacham

Many of Talmidei Chachamim in Gemorah were in business. On this daf, there are two that partnered, each one contributing a bull to the working pair. Others have workers collecting figs, buying real estate, etc. It seems that T’Ch has an extra challenge – as others are looking up to him, he can not use some kulos that others do so that people will not get confused what halakha is, so they need to accept some extra losses, for example, on chol hamoed.

GH, I understand. Still, it may depend on a teen and on parents. If the experience is so transformational and inspiring (and I think for many it is), then why delay it. Maybe send a responsible older teen with younger ones to learn in the same place.

Again, I understand that this is an obviously right choice for those who will become chinuch/ community professionals, my question is for those who will go into professions. How many years are required to form a responsible Jewish person, who will continue to be shomer Torah and mitzvos and continue learning and participating in the community? We are often creating a hard step off – the kid learns, learns, and then suddenly he is responsible for family, work, college, all at the same time. I’d rather see kids gradually becoming responsible – go to work or college under parental supervision to make sure they continue mitzvos and learning in that environment, and do not acquire bad ideas, and then know how they’ll support family before getting married. Rambam writes along similar lines – get a job, house, get married.

YS, a more important question is why do people lean so much on this “gap year” to bring enthusiasm in children. Why not send them to EY during middle or high school years? On one hand, they are less capable of being away from family, on the other hand, they are not yet at the age of getting in trouble ;). What surprises me is the uniformity of acceptable behavior.

Avira > There’s also a mitzvah to know lashon kodesh, so it’s productive even if it would have been considered M”L if in a different language

Did someone forge this, or Avira is actually endorsing reading Tzioni books on Shabbos? read in ashkenazis pronunciation of course.

I think the mod challenged me on the idea that cultural issues need to be addressed with a psak from
today’s poskim, it is not sufficient to quote Sh’A. I am pretty sure this is an accepted position, maybe I used some flippant wording that triggered the mod (did I say “modern”? I include R Feinstein in that) . Hope this clarifies.

Avira > increased anonymity of mask mandates is related to the dramatic rise of crime and political unrest

any serious societal upheaval leads to unrests. Romans built a global civilization and suffered global pandemics.

pre-covid, there were people who would go to school and work when sick. Maybe it will be less acceptable now, especially if there is no loss involved, you can simply WFH.

But “if you are sick, stay home” is not working enough for covid, given high infections before symptoms. But you are right, this should update my forecast. No symptoms is due to novelty of the virus and immune system lag until it starts fighting. After several exposures/infections, the running nose, etc symptoms will occur earlier and then the rules will be to stay home with symptoms and no need for masks after that.

Avira, I understand moshav leitzim is people actually talking something inappropriate. I presume sport watchers also do, but don’t have to. So, I see it is close to gambling in terms of wasting time non-productively. You are right that if you throw in drinking beer and talkin stupid stuff, then it becomes moshav leitzim. But if not, would a person be allowed to have some relaxation time, leading to more productive life otherwise both in working and in learning? I don’t see why not. Probably same goes for novels.

Do you really expect lines like that to go through?

EJM, I think the disparity was bigger 100 years ago. From some lady’s story in Poland: father and brothers went to Rebbe’s tisch for yom tov, and mother and us were sitting at home, not knowing what to do…

As to the younger Rav, I would never vote to fire an old one and hire a new one without a cause just because “we need to attract younger people” or something like that. I also haven’t been to tristate for more than a quick visit for the last decade.

look at halokhos of gamblers as eidim. One of the issues is non-productive behavior – that should surely cover watching sports (and betting will bring the rest). BUT, the issue is less severe for someone involved in productive employment somewhere else. So, it might be that some moderate waste of time is OK for a person who learns or works for a living.

CS, it is a good illustration how many things are done as a routine and nobody dares to try until something happens. In the Jewish context, consider Bayis Yaakov schools that Chofetz Chaim supported to begin with, but did not start until one brave lady did.

jackk > Biden is not responsible for people not listening to the advice of the CDC

I am not sure. At the end of Trump’s term, vaccine reluctance was about the same by party. During Biden’s time, Republicans became more reluctant. Maybe it was supposed to be given that R-s have this large segment who do not trust any government no matter what, but surely Biden’s general ineptness and lack of credibility did not help. Remember how he claimed initially that Trump left him no vaccine stockpiled. He could have said – thanks to Trump for developing vaccines, now we will rump up production. He then dismissed the whole Op Warp team without cause, preferring to rely on his official team, and now, one year later, Dr Walensky talks about a need to re-organize the process. It is clear that Trump’s approach of developing multiple new approaches worked better.

CS, I think you are right. Employers were reluctant to let employees work from home. Now, it is an accepted model. Not all, but many will stay. This may be akin to great plague in middle ages where reduced labor force created a new environment where labor became more expensive and more respected.

ujm > business owners v uber drivers

this is a great example. I think Uber drivers are always on an edge to get the new ride and not “lose time”. An Uber Talmid Chacham can sit and learn and then pick up a more profitable ride. As a business co-owner, I agree that it takes time. Still, I am working “24 hours but not in a row”. Ability to be there for the family without going and asking the boss every time is priceless. Those who started WFH lately are probably have similar feelings now.

Pew 2021: 47% of currently married non-O Jews are intermarried, with 60% of those who married after 2010 and 18% of those before 1980. So, for those who are 40 y.o. numbers are like Avira says or higher.
other findings:
First intermarriage is quickly followed by 2nd: among those who have one Jewish parent, 80% have non-Jewish spouse.
40% Of R- have some “in common” to O-. 76% of C-s. No branch 24%/
50% O- feels some in common with R-, 63% to C-. So, it is about mutual.
Interestingly, in each group there are 7-9% of those who do not feel in common with their own group.

Among 65+ 44% are R, 25% C, 22% none, 3% O
Among 18-29, 29% are R, 8% are C, 41% are none, 17% are O

When isro said Baruch Hashem, it was an embarrassment for the Jews.. so even then nonjews were faster at acknowledging Him. Jews tend to complain first.

Ejmr, you are following Rehoboam preferring young advisors to older ones with disaster to follow. If you aren’t sure what I mean, ask your wife to locate this gemora for you

At the very least, the guy could have said: b’h there were only four people at the minyan!

RebE +10

similar quote: a person who tells his son to learn Torah will raise a man who will be telling his son to learn Torah.

Syag > how much enjoyment you get out of painting the learning community as a bunch

Syag, not much. I am saying what I am saying in a hope to make things better. I actually think it is very reasonable to send kids to a local cheap school. For sure better than to send to expensive mid quality school far away to study who knows what as many modern people do. I am sorry that I am not very good at cheering people up: when I start analyzing the problem, I immediately start thinking what can be improved. Offline, I might keep it to myself, but I see no reason not to express opinion here where we have a chance to discuss it. I am not the only one (not to compare, but to illustrate). R Steinsaltz once showed a video of some guy from CT approaching Lubavitcher Rebbe to tell him that their community just built a mikva. Rebbe replies I give you a brocha to build a mikva. The guy thinks that Rebbe is not hearing well and repeats louder that they _already_ built the mikva! The Rebbe repeats, the guy gets louder, etc, until the Rebbe clarifies – I give you a brocha to build the next mikva.

jackk > They prevented the will of a majority of Americans. That is not democracy.

jackk, I don’t know how old you are or where you were born, but you need to level with the fact that you live in a republic, not a democracy. Pure democracy was considered a failure for most of human history, and I don’t think it was a Jewish thing also. 20th century “people’s democracies” just proved the point, that on an island with 9 poor people and one rich one, the nine will take everything from the rich and execute him even if they are losing the minyan.

Orange,
the main advance is having rapid tests that CDC/FDA was not approving for a long time because they are not as good as PCR. The role of the tests is statistical – it shows with high probability that someone is infectious right then, rather then telling 3 days later that someone has a minute amount of virus with 100% probability.

It probably matters a lot for people who are in risky environment but not so much that nobody cares and everyone is getting sick … then, removing those who are sick will stop transmission even if it does not guarantee safety of one individual. There are lots of “interesting” techniques – batch testing, where spit of multiple people is tested in one shot; wastewater monitoring that quickly picks up the virus in population even if they don’t bother to go to doctors. I am not sure all of this is used correctly and timely, but it is getting better. Many colleges test a lot and post numbers publicly. One college near me has 100 times more cases this week comparing with October.

> And Yeshiva boys speaking inappropriately at the table or in the beis medrash or at any other time should also be corrected by their rebbes/menahels.

Rebbeim may not be there. I heard it from an esteemed Rav that when Magid Shiur will tell them that they are skipping the next blatt, the boys will be spending that might learning through it … Things are different now with Artscroll.

+1

You also get a good feeling that you have at least one person reading your post – and carefully. In some cases, you are sure that it is exactly one person (unless there is a moderator review).