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Yserbius,
my understanding – Pfizer was paying Biontech themselves. It is very typical for a large company to pay for R&D themselves and, thus, keep IP to themselves. [of course, there is also criticism of Trump for giving Phizer those rights]. This is really a manifestation of market power against a lazy customer (US government), as those R&D funds come out of profits from US customers, often regulated.In ~ 1982, Reagan’s Sec of Navy started doing separate bids for R&D, and then use R&D results as a starting point for production bids for a small number (2-3) of available producers. Industry was not happy to lose “R&D rights”, and it worked. Clinton’s team closed some to generate saving “from duplication”. It is hit and miss from there on between two extremes – either allowing industry own everything, or taking all IP away and making industry into a disinterested manufacturer.
CTLawyer: here in CT if you quit a job, you don’t collect. If you are called back (such as when in person school restarted) and refuse you no longer can collect.
I believe it is the same here. There may be something in union contracts. It also seems that employers, especially small ones, are reluctant reporting employees to the government. Not sure.
There is better understanding now where the need for economic support is, so hopefully the moral hazard will be lower.Going forward, we should look at employment levels. If they start going down again as they did under Obama, then all partial statistics, like unemployment rate, will not reflect actual effect on population.
>> Can someone explain to me what was the point
Can’t fully explain, but it seems that there will be several votes next week on the raised issues. I am not even sure what is the next level of outrage and why I am replying.
Warp speed supported several parallel efforts and also production, which seems like a very complicated process involving multiple companies both in US and Europe, some of which developing totally new production lines in a matter of months.
I also suggest people here take a short break and review some European press, most of which is as anti-Trump as any. I came up with 12/18 (well 18.12) article in Der Spiegel that depicts how pitiful European process is comparing with UK and US.
US pre-ordered mRNAs in July, EU in November; US/UK ordered a lot from each of the companies, EU mostly from the most favorite ones that have problems (AstroZenics, Sanofi,CureVac). As a result, EU expects to vaccine 2/3 of population in September, 4 months behind US.
So, we are really at a comparatively good spot here. I presume there would always be a delta between EU and US, but it is amazing that this happened consistently in multiple government purchasing decisions, most of them in Warp speed territory, some in FDA (approvals).
ujm >> Pekuach Nefesh is doche virtually everything.
I understand Rambam and Chinuch discuss that public Hillul Hashem in general is not doche, in addition to 3 sins. We can presume that NYTimes has at least 10 Jewish readers. I’ll let those more learned to present detailed shitot, but it is clearly not a simple issue.
Reb E: It can be done without a chilul Hashem,
Indeed, NY Post raises this halakhic issue by giving us a picture of the office and a person with a hat and without a mask walking in front. Again, I am not believing those stories or pictures until proven, just discussing hypotheticals.
Could we all agree at least on this meager moral principle:
>>> someone who is not bothering to protect himself, should not cut the line for the vaccine <<<participant, I am not qualified to discuss this. I found R Twersky a good source that connects psychology with Torah attitudes. I suggest google for Twersky self esteem, and also buy or order any of his books. As he says “I wrote same books 50 times”, not 50 books, so order any 🙂
here are a couple of quotes:
Your feelings of self-respect are independent of others. You do not allow others to control you, but you do not feel the need to control others. You look at life and it’s difficulties as challenges and opportunities for personal growth. You are commanded by G-d to strive, not necessarily to succeed. A person should recognize that that he has intrinsic value and worth and is a competent and capable individual.Cheshbon Hanefesh, which is self-criticism, can be beneficial for you when you think of ways to improve. The Torah gives intrinsic meaning to all life regardless what he can or has achieved. The Torah commands each person to try, and try again, but not to believe that success is totally contingent on his particular behavior and effort. When this belief is in place, a person will not experience anger or depression even if he fails. Nowhere is a Jew commanded to succeed, but rather to act according to the commandments of the Torah. The person acts and G-d decides which path history will take.
Our sages mentioned the subject of self-esteem and ways to correct this flaw in character, in many of the Holy Books. The one solution helpful to everybody is, support and encouragement. King Solomon said, ” When you have worry in your heart, speak to somebody”. Rabbi Elemelech from L’znsk says in the “zetel katan”, a person should find a friend who he can trust and speak about his faults and get support from him. A proven method to achieving a positive self-image is to acknowledge and share your anxious feelings with others.
Self-esteem support groups, provides support and encouragement. A group will help you recognize your potential, skills, talents and abilities and help you realize that you’re not the only one with this problem.
The purpose of working the 12 steps of self-esteem is much the same as that of working the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous; namely, to free ourselves of a pathologic dependency and to get support.
pekak >>>pikuach nefesh is doche a possible chilul Hashem
what is the source for that?
>> check out the videos of senior Roshi Yeshiva of Yeshiva University
papers I saw are not clear who got it. It seems to be an accepted practice that community/business leaders vaccinate to encourage others. Not saying whether this is right or wrong. Are we talking about several leaders, or general public?
I do question government strict preference for medical workers v. elderly that are not in nursing home and not fully isolated. Vaccinating elderly is directly saving lives.
The troubling part is the _allegation_ that vaccines were received directly from feds around the state control.
Overall, I hope all focus will be on vaccinating. It seems to be happening slowly, with doses reserved for the 2nd shot, balancing groups … Currently 9.5 mln doses shipped in US and 2 mln used (20%).
NYC – 175K delivered, 55K used.Israel is vaccinating 0.6% of population per day, US and UK – 0.1%. It is early days, of course, but this is something to watch.
RE >> 1200 would have been a good compromise.
this does make sense. But, unless you did more real estate and peace deals with Arabs than Trump, I would wait for an outcome. I am not saying it ain’t goin’ to be a disaster, I just withhold opinion.
what do you think about Congress wisdom of net leaving themselves enough time to override a veto?
did they get tired of scheming after all previous outrageous acts? I think if you start a year by ripping President’s speech on live TV, you should watch your back till the of the year.PS ripping the speech – seems like a curse that worked… the year indeed went in a totally different direction
Reb Eliezer, thanks, these are good ones, but not so much peshat..
my daughter’s suggestion – the brothers are not ready to accept Yosef as their Rebbe based on mutual history [and we see it later, when brothers insinuate Yaakov’s words to Yosef]
the only relevant explanations I was able to find – Lubavitcher saying that we should learn from Yosef in practical matters, but Yehudah is pure Torah. There are others who just laud Yehudah in a similar vein, without contrasting with Yosef. This is a little hard to accept as we learned before from Yaakov that one can be both a Torah person and deal with the world… Do we see anywhere that Yehudah paskens better than Yosef? So, it seems indeed that Yosef Torah is good, just students are not ready for it.
>> why should young adults and children take the vaccine
1st, we need to make a decisions when we need to make them. Right now, outside of medical workers, nobody is vaccinating young adults. In several months, we will have more information about vaccines and effect on transmission.
2nd, there is statistical evidence of young people transmission, with towns having universities having 50% more deaths among elderly. One sad reason is that young medical students work in nursing homes and hospitals. When thinking about these things, note that people are not very good at estimating low-risk events. Is crossing the street far from zebra, or checking an email while driving on an empty highway, significantly more risky than otherwise? I feel that no. But statistics tell us that this leads to lots of extra deaths.
3rd I would extrapolate from college students to high-schoolers who do not differ significantly in size, maturity, and social behavior – and they are present everywhere. If colleges are responsible for 50%, then high-schoolers for at least as much.
4th as far as moral dillemas go – will we be vaccinating children, while 3rd world will have almost no vaccines? what can help is that 3rd world will have hard time using mRNA vaccine, and will rely on more traditional ones
efshar azoi>> When was the last time your teen came home and told you a yesod they learned from these 2 subjects?
yes, this is the main point and it bothered me for years, despite all prodding.
School was obviously affecting girls in many positive ways, but at best they could do at home was criticize my wife’s “kulos”. After they stopped going to school, we now have long-winded discussions about Parsha with heated arguments. They are using what they learnt at school as a base, of course, to be fair.
>> sifsei chachamim HIMSELF
hard to follow-up on that – except with the Ikar …
But the girls may be able to learn a LOT from siftei chachamim, in no particular order: he
wrote Masechet Derech Eretz – not about tzniyut, but about European roads and coins
was an entrepreneur (brought printing to the East)
married a young lady in his old age
classified 2,200 Hebrew books
was arrested but released for his printing, based on a University of Prague Jesuit report
tried to improve German grammar that Jews used (sic!)
AND, most relevant to the topic:
suggested that German-Jewish Jews use Amsterdam Portuguese curriculum instead of whatever we were doing(and this is just from a Wiki)
Why is Yaakov sending Yehuda as a new Rosh Yeshiva? A lot of focus of answering this question is about Yehuda’s role or his difference from Yosef.
But a simple question – Yosef is already there. Why can’t he be a Rosh Yeshiva? He was Yaakov’s best student, he just proved that he remembers his Eglah learning. Maybe he sent the Eglah to demand his Rosh Yeshiva position, even. So, after irritating brothers by favoring Yosef, Yaakov is now sending a new Rosh Yeshiva risking offending Yosef.
pshat preferred.
efshar >> they are not approachable.
meir >> depending on what circle of yidden you live in your needs varyHow do we make schools address these different needs? I do not like current system where schools are ideological. Besides breaking up Am Israel, it is also impractical in all places outside NY. With some effort, it could be possible to set up extra science/English classes or add flexibility so that classes can be taken somewhere else. But my experience is, unfortunately, same as efshar’s – and that meir confirms by his “don’t worry, trust us” answer.
Charlie, Pekak, thanks for the answers!
more questions:
– do we do 2 days of nitl nacht in golus?– how to do nitl nacht for those who do not have mitzva of Torah learning (women, children, mutes), or do not (apikoiri and ignorami)
Charlie, without addressing this thing on the merits (I’ll wait until the story ends, so I don’t have to eat my virtual hat), I want to note two more firsts, this time by you, not by President Trump, even withi9n a quote (1) positive things that President done, (2) greating for a non-Jewish holiday. I commend you for sacrificing so much to fulfill the mitzva of quoting “b’shem omro”
shavua tov
personal testimony:
I once witnessed Rav Shapiro Z’L from Miami teaching a class at a summer location (admittedly, not a difficult class). Students were looking at him, while his wife was sitting at the far end of the table, reading a book that (to me) looked like a novel. At some point, Rav made a pause looking for a right word. His wife lowered the book and mouthed the word and Rav continued. Nobody noticed, of course. How did I notice? I was walking towards the table at that moment.efshar: most bais yaakov girls make is to memorize the meforshim for tests…so why not make them memorize meforshim that bring out yesodos of yahadus
I agree with “memorizing” re: inspiration. I don’t know whether many current schools are capable of changing their approach. After all, the teachers were already taught the same way for a couple generation already. Did you try approaching your school? What was the response?
RE, a good point.
If the reason is danger, then having books and computers at home should exempt one from observing N.N. Or is it minhag avoteinu that overrides a Torah mitzva?If the reason is mystical, why don’t we follow Jewish calendar instead of following Julius Ceasar, Pope Gregory,
Which groups do NN and which do not and when? Maybe we can reconstruct tradition from geo/social distribution?
>> bird in the hand
I agree. Still, Congress allowed President to make this threat by passing the law less than 10 days before the end of Congress. They had months but some preferred that election damage to President is more important. Now, he is ruining their Nittel Nacht.
Also, I would wait to judge one way or another before a story ends. Trump’s negotiating behavior is hard to predict. We just had 2 weeks of “why didn’t he buy more vaccines fro Pfizer”. Now, he did, using production capacity as a leverage. Maybe this will be signed, changed or re-submitted in 2 weeks.
Beruriah knew and quoted Mishna. Also, contributed to the Gemorah.
Also, current Jewish education for both boys and girls is in large part a defense against inappropriate environment rather than learning l’shma. So, girls who might follow their lev, might need emotional education; those who will be exposed to foreign ideas, might need more intellectual learning.
A Chassidishe Rebbe, whose name escapes me, kept his daughters in his house in 1920s Poland, not to expose them to bad ideas on the street (presumably, a Chasiddishe street). I think a very relevant idea.
Why specifically an Eglah Arufah?
Possibly Yaakov felt that he was at fault for what happened with Yosef. Yosef is saying – as long as you did your due diligence (walked me 4 amos, physically and metaphorically by preparing me for life), there is no fault.explanation of Eglah Arufah itself – why the closest city and specifically elders? if he unexpectedly died on the road, he might have been infected in the last city he stayed in. Elders are saying that they maintained proper public hygiene., social distancing and masking. If they would even taught that person a lot of Torah while coughing at him, they would still be guilty.
This year, I am fasting on nittel day, even erev shabbos.
I do not like what I hear about vaccination priorities in US. There is increasing emphasis on essential workers v. those who are in greater danger. There are even “racial equity” appeals..
As much as even medical workers are an appealing and deserving group, I think they are statistically less in danger (partly because they use protection properly) than old people, especially those in communal settings. It sounds that UK and Israel are doing it somewhat better – medical workers + age groups.Halachik sources (R Feinstein, R Auerbach) seem to allow preferences for those who have higher chance to survide, and if not – first come, first serve and a lottery.
There is also an issue ledarchei shalom. If you start giving priority by vague rules, you will ensure fighting and people going around the rules. If rules are easily verifiable, like age, then it should be easier.
@ujm:
correlation – yes, causation – not sure. Lots of other things changed also. Make a controlled experiment – put similar kids with 2 different styles of teaching and see outcome.Anecdotal observation from multiple people – kids behave way better with some teachers, and not others. Is your experience different?
ujm: crossed the street illegally when the pedestrian light was red
I agree that there is a limit somewhere, I am just not sure where. How about Sharia justice of cutting hands off. Some of our sources suggest that Noahide laws are harsher than Jewish ones, with easier death penalty. Anyone has sources for more detailed guidance? I only recall that there are 2 approaches: Noahides should follow Jewish halakhot for them, or that they should just establish general justice. I am also trying to make a point that falls in between these two approaches: we may want to encourage what we think is more just, but should not deny that we live in a just society, even if it is not perfect.
ujm: In the Torah jailing is exceedingly rar
On the other hand, I understand that the mitzva for non-Jews to establish justice is a general requirement, not limited to specific punishments we have. This would make it OK (and a mitzva of assisting non-Jews in their mitzva) for Jews to be lawyers in any just system, like in USA.
Would it make sense for us to advocate for punishments closer to the Torah laws? Also, need to be more careful. In the classic case of Romans accusation of difference in Jewish law between a Jew and non-Jew paying half or full for animal damages: a Jew is obligated to watch his animal, so we presume that the damage is inadvertent. So, you need to look at society: if you can still millions of dollars and risk only monetary punishment (that you can probably pay from venture capital!), maybe this will not be a deterrent.
On the other hand, we are supposed to be light to goyim, so maybe explaining our approach – what is the purpose of punishment? do we need to always have imprisonment? etc – might help people look the issue differently.
Relevant to the topic – there was minimal public discussion of Trump’s prison reform. At the debate, Biden said that he wanted to do it (saying this before someone jumps in saying that there was no real reform) also but could not “because – Republicans”.
GH: The train has left the station.
This was wrong. I think trains are still not allowed on Shabbat, even as they do not use coal any more.
crackers: Tip: always imagine someone is watching you before you slap.
good idea. Keep the window open or show yourself (house or class) on Facebook life. Maybe, just for relatives or school principals.
and of course, know Who is watching. Our generation understands this better than ever before.
Justwondering – what was Rosh Yeshiva’s halakhic position on that?
I believe a heter to smoke expired long time ago when it became evident that sm
oking hurts your health. I believe Rav Moshe in the 1960s allowed fools/innocents to rely on Hashem’s protection. By now, there are not many excuses for ignorance and many teshuvot against it.In theory, one can say that spanking could be done under certain conditions, including the parent not acting on their anger but for sole benefit of the child (this is halakha for any tochecha)
In practice, people who are capable of self-control to fulfill those conditions, probably can find other ways of influencing a child in 99% of the cases.
Thus, with this Bayesian prior, if you see someone spanking, there is 99% chance that this is wrong and should be stopped.
This is even more true with the Rebbes than parents or trained teachers. Not just my opinion. I once asked a Rav about children behavior at school. He said that, according to his observation, it is evident where the problem is, if a child (or more often, many children) behaves in one class, and do not – in another.
So, you can apply the same test here: if you think child X deserve a patch, is there an agreement on that between all parents and teachers? Given them all a call. It will help anyway (one of the methods of dealing with anger is to delay the process).
I understand that incandescent lights have an issue of fire, while other ones – only of electricity.
I heard from Rav Steinsaltz Z’L that Judaism is working slowly through issues, we are not always in a hurry (in response to a question “what is the meaning of Shoah”). It took some time for the Gemorah to conclude what the reason for destruction of Beit Hamikdash was, so we will understand Shoah also – after some time. Similarly, we will get a better answer on electricity “when scientists tell us more about it”. This was a couple of decades back, before LEDs.
>> Presidential pardons and the Electoral College should not exist in any democracy,
this country is not a democracy, it is a Republic. Unless your family were navigators on Mayflower, they should have known where they are coming – and passed this information to you.
Seriously, I am interested to find out where this breakdown happen? Did you talk with your parents or teachers about this ever?
Parler ” allowing anti-Semitism”
I understand that they are simply not censoring the posts. Obviously, they’ll get all kind of dirt.
This is not different from “internet” or “books”. The medium allows texts and images. It is up to the user, or next level application, to select what he wants to use it for.If you would not have email filters, half of your email box will be filled with pornography and viruses.
You need then a kosher filter over Parler, same way you (your internet provider) has a spam filter.@Reb E: If tbe malchus does not cause peace,
This is not how I understood this Mishnah. Mishnah is not saying that Mlachut has a positive value. It just states that any legitimate power is better than anarchy. It calls for acceptance of the power.
Your interpretation calls for a revolution against any power you are not happy with. Rabbi Shimon seems to be on your side (Romans built roads and bathhouses for their own benefit). Are there specific commentaries on this Mishnah?
I think we here in US still pass this low bar. You can even argue that communist China is less murderous now as a mature power than it was when it was fighting internal enemies.
Having two separate public forums will make it better in some sense, but worse in others. Primarily, everyone will listen only to their own side.
Underlying many current problems is vertical integration – facebook posts belong to facebook, your YWN posts to YWN. Amazon hosts sellers, then analyzes and, allegedly, copies their products. This is same monopoly problem that, existed, for example in late 19th century USA.
Web protocols offered a solution, but social networks build their separate markets over that. Maybe government need to enforce that messages belong to posters; kept in a standard format; and then any network can organize them for the user any way you (consumer) want.
technical proposal to unbias ourselves in evaluating Trump’s presidency (applies to others too).
1) did you, or others, have an opinion about him before he ran for President? Some might refer to tabloid info. Mine was based on Apprentice. A family member was studying business, and I suggested watching Apprentice. I also watched several episodes. The business/human side of that looked entirely reasonable.
2) look at opinion writings at the beginning of his term and compare with what happened later. I can recall some, but my memory is biased. So, just go through opinion papers for a month of, say Dec 2016 and list predictions. We can then discuss here. Most memorable is prediction of economic disaster, next Muslim anger. But, please, could someone do a list.
@ubi: is found among Trump supporters.
Absolutely. and, @Syag, it is equally frustrating. I ammore annoyed by Jewish Trump supporters whose motivation to not wear mask seems to be, in large, influenced by politics. Overall, it is a huge bitul zman for people here to just repeat what they here in the news, without applying their Torah values.
I respect very much “first amendment” idea in American public space – where you can throw any argument you want, short of “fire in crowded theaters”, and see who prevails. Jewish debate should rather be based on respecting the truth: quoting by name (presumably, correctly); one who lied in one aspect,is not believed in others; Beit Hillel quoting Beit Shammai before stating their own position. We could do besser.
meir G
I hate asking a personal question, but we are discussing education here. And you are an educator yourself. I presume you also went to an excellent yeshiva. So, it is relevant.I see you are writing in full sentences and great spelling. At the same time, you are using CAPS only in the middle and not at the beginning of the sentences. Punctuation is randomized. I realize this is informal writing, and you can point back to my spelling. Still, for people who are used to writing well, like Reb Eleizer above, for example, correct writing is a habit, and does not require an effort.
So, what do you think is the source of your writing style? Do your children write the same way?
Charlie,
you sound very differently when you are discussing Trump from when you are discussing science.
the more you are reaching to find why every Trump’s achievement is not an achievement, the more you are convincing us of the opposite!A number of centrist people who do not like him in general, admit a number of achievements.
How can you deny all positive changes in Israel – capital, embassy, Golan, Arab agreements, decreased threat from Syria and ISIS .. maybe ask Israelis; or try to remember yourself some years ago: would you praise Pres Clinton or Obama if he were to do some of the above
meir g:WORST of which is HOMESCHOOLING
Meir, my version of Shema says “veshinantem l’vanecha” and nothing about patching. Yours seem to be the opposite
Of course, as Reb E mentions, if you have anger issues and can not overcome them with mussar, then you need to try positive methods only – sweets, payments, competition .. If that does not work, then you might be patur from “veshinantem l’vanecha”, and you will have, lo aleinu, send your kid to substitute parents.
I presume the power of the pardon – power over life – that President and Governors have are a source of the bracha when seeing them.
Participant, get any of the books by R Avraham Twersky, he writes a a lot about low self-esteem
@TheRock thats the only way to make a shidduch ….the main point is Derech Eretz comes first.
As someone said: the problem is with Beis Yaakovs, they are not producing enough rich girls …
As usual in social problems, where do you start in this circle – in education, probably? teach both boys and girls derech eretz, in both (related) meanings – midos and work.
I had a nice conversation with a teacher at some point: she was telling me to focus on selecting a right seminary [with some condescending to my potential lack of Torah values – “if it is a money issue, I can help you find a right place”, as if I was on a stipend and she paid full tuition, instead of other way around]; and I asked her to maybe introduce a topic on mitzvah of kibud av ve’em, not being happy how girls propose chumrot for their mother instead of helping her … We mutually looked at each other – as if the other side is talking about something inappropriate
So, we made a controlled experiment: it took about 3 months of separating the kid from the school, for middos to improve.
ubiquitin @risk to both money and safety is negligible
could you give an estimate and a source?
The Rock “He is the best boy in BMG”. Is there a 2nd best? a 3rd best?
I do agree that midos might be more important, but just with that reference:
Is there a class rank? Test scores?With learning being a central life goal for bochurim and a reference for shidduchim,
are we able to measure anything about that activity?