Always_Ask_Questions

interestingly, US does not seem to have a lot of seriously religious Presidents despite having more religious population than other Western countries. I mean not just those who profess something, or visit houses of worship, but those whose thinking is seriously motivated by religious sentiment?

Bush II, Carter .. others before my time … do we need to go before Progressives to find fasting and Thanksgiving declarations?! And, according to research opinions, those 2 were not the most successful ones.

interesting .. lets look at pshat of your drash:
mt Tabor is 588 metres (194 for Americans 🙂
then Har Sinai should be 36m high…

Now, if you take 1/64th of Everest gives you 553 m, still does not match Jabal Musa that might be Mt Sinai (2285m)… BUT J Musa prominence (height from the bottom, not from the sea) is 334 meters… Of course, Mishna was not talking to Chinese, so maybe they meant the highest (in prominence) mountain in the general Middle East/Europe/North-East Africa area – Either Damavand or Kilimanjaro or Elbrus or Dashen or Mt Blanc: 1/16th of all of them is between 250 to 370 meters –
exactly Jabal Musa!

of course, it could be that Jabal Musa is not Har Sinai …

> Chazal tell us, that wealth and poverty do not come from the craft. If you need a page number to work up your appetite for your streimel

let me help you: Kiddushin ~30 – teach you kid a craft so that he will not become a gazlan.

> There really is no better option for States like NY and NJ to give health insurance to all those that do not have any insurance. It is basically subsidizing their healthcare system.

I had a question – why gazlan, and not genivah? Thanks for the illustration. Gemora knew better – gazlanut, you openly explain that it is “good for others” to give you money …

I have no idea how families in Lakewood are worse off than families anywhere else in the world, except by choice. Insurances, vacations, school are all part of human condition … please point me to the Gemorah that suggests going asking a Poretz to help out. Oh, found you one – “make your Sbabbat hol, but do not ask for (Jewish!) charity”. Maybe the Tanna did not know how difficult Lakewood life is, he lived much more comfortable, he had a rich father-in-law!

AAQ >> “the only group I am not fond of are those who insist that their group is always right”
syag> Well that’s an odd thing to say considering you have been the forerunner in that department.

excellent hit! I do not have a group, though. You may feel that I belong to some group that you do not like, because I question your position. I question their position also.

I listened on the radio with kids Obama-Romney debate and discussed it afterwards, and they had no idea whom I am going to be voting for. Vote me as the moderator of the next Biden-Trump debate.

vaccine might give you better immunity. Might also decrease with time. Some recommended one instead of two doses. Measure your antibody level and ask your doctor.

meirG > imagine calling a big lawyer
rebE> What is wrong with hakoras hatov

rebE – attitude described here.
Meir, his law degree is his, and Torah is Hashem’s and you are l’hathila not supposed to charge for it. I know there are ways, but I am thinking of your attitude where you assume as a most desirable thing to pay your hevrusa, and (jokingly?) dismissing the amount that it will “only” pay to send only one kid for only one month.

I know I sound like a spoiler of cheesecakes, but I am simply trying to align our actions with our values, as sometimes we get used to doing something that may not be the best without AAQ.

I like Meir’s suggestion to slip it anonymously. DISAPPOINTING and DANGEROUS for you – to suggest through the wife. So, if we agree that there is a little lack of kavod to pay to Talmid Haham, kavod of his wife is the same as of him. So, let’s protect his feelings, but his wife’s – not? As we know, women’s prayers are answered immediately… but slipping it in is a good idea – paying more than usual when attending simchos, or paying and not attending, adding when schools collect for specific teachers (is it a thing in your area?).

n0 > In short, he was set up to get a lot of credit for very little work. And then he absolutely blew it.

you are right but may be not.
RIGHT: I agree that Trump could have created an image that people would have liked. Biden is doing exactly that: first declared a low goal of vaccinating 1 mln per day – at the time it was already almost achieved, then waited for the top rate of 3 mln per day, reported publicly on the maximum rate. The rate slid down by half, but this does not affect the image with friendly press. We are still doing great, baruch Hashem, – same rate as UK overall, only behind Israel. Israelis were vaccinating 1-2% of population (in doses) for 2 months, while US for 3 days. My point is that Biden got all PR from this.

NOT RIGHT: But look at Israel, Bibi vaccinated the country first in the world, from a very difficult position – a small country that did not have Pfizer as a local company, and in a difficult political relationship with Europe. Not just negotiating w/ Phizer, but also delivery: it took Israel 2 months to get to 80% of population (in doses), and US and UK – 5 months.

How many votes did Bibi get out of this stellar performance? nothing, as people find other excuses and explanations. So, were Trump perfect, he would be accused of something else. At the same time, we need to appreciate that he focused on important things, like vaccines.

March 3, 2020 Trump meets Curevac CEO, an American. In a week, Germans fire the CEO for seemingly agreeing to move company to US. Papers make fun of Trump’s rudeness. Result – Curevac gets almost no funding and is doing Phase 3 right now ….

n0, another theory about the past, both re:men and women. Jewish community survived not necessarily because every person was a tzadik gamur. Some were drinking Torah, others were drinking something else. Lots of people were often not on a level. But, in many centuries, these people remained Jewish. In Eretz Israel, they might have even served idols.

So, what used to happen with these people? they stayed within Jewish community and, hopefully, things would get better after a couple of generations. In the times when we are in close contact with other civilizations (now, Germany, Spain, Chanuka), everyone off the derech will assimilate and leave Jewish community forever. This explains current conservatism out of fear of losing members to assimilation.

n0, seems like mods or internets cancelled my long response, or maybe I went over limit of allowed posts … I am all for (3), agree on 4,6,8. Some others sound like weak justifications for behaviors below high standard that Talmidei Chachamim are supposed to hold by:
2 – everything can be, but if you get a reasonable degree, you would usually be better off.
5 – I do not think it is our standard to take funds for poor people when you are capable of work and choose not to. Pub Ed is not discrimination against Jews, it is a public policy that we might not agree with and do not always use. Does not give us a license to grab something else. OK to advocate for public payments to private schools or use online public schools.
7 – if something is “out of question” either don’t use it or try to find funds to use it by working or asking for donation.
9 – Why is that? They can not find a job paying well enough? again, statistically not true and you know it.
If you have sources from the Gemorah to support those points, I’ll eat my shtreimel.

Research on flu a- and pre-symptomatic transmission seems to say that it is not a large part of transmission (10% of cases are asymptomatic, and they shed less and less days). See references inside ref (1). Of course, if we were to decrease symptomatic cases by SD, then remaining flu threat will be largely asymptomatic…

Time from infection to symptoms is 1 to 4 days for flu and 2 to 14 days for COVID, so pre-symptomatic periods differs also.

R0 before public health measures for flue is between 1 and 2, for COVID 2 to 3 or even more

(1) Patrozou, E., & Mermel, L. A. (2009). Does influenza transmission occur from asymptomatic infection or prior to symptom onset?. Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974), 124(2), 193–196.

link removed (surprise)

meirG, koneh leha haver, indeed!
please help a poor Talmid Haham to send a way just one kid for half a summer has a ring to it …

mier can be right and your friend will really appreciate a financial gift. It may though change a relationship to a more financial one … I find I have better relationship with Talmidei Chachamim who had time for my questions when I was dirt poor with no financial payoff in mind.

Ctlawyer, I understand her emotional reaction and social environment. I am just trying to look at it from first principles:
– being asked to teach is a great honor. Shabbos ~ 60 – when Hillel corrected bnei Betira, he started teaching them (and then made a mistake of being too haughty).

– Were they rude, yes? imagine, you get a call at 3 am from Nobel committee (as it often happens, I hear). Rude, yes, but I bet you’ll accept the prize. Was the guy asking Hillel about Ethiopians’ feet rude and a racist? yes, but Hillel answered.

– it actually makes sense to presume that she is capable to teach. Honor of talmid chacham applies to his spouse: when his wife comes in, you need to get up. R Nachman sent geese into the courtroom so that everyone jumps and it will not be visible that he gets up for the lady, so that others will feel he will judge in her favor

– you can’t charge for Torah, but you can for missing time. So, at minimum, she could have agreed and suggested a price, confirmed by her receipts (without firm profit and maybe a nice 10% discount).

– a little pushing it: she could have just given a class and sent a bill. This is based on halakha that when you hire someone and do not ask for a price, you should pay reasonable rate that the person will charge.

– And take them to beis din if they don’t. I would be shocked if a shul would not value Torah at a measly $200.

n0 > to go with her wife’s

this is inappropriate language for a family site, or just inadequate English 🙂

Syag, I am very pro-mix, the only group I am not fond of are those who insist that their group is always right. And First A in AAQ stands for always, regardless whether I favor that opinion or not. I probably sound harsher hear as I am mostly discuss hard topics that bother me and I am interested in your opinions.
To clarify:
There is no insult to call people who learn volunteerly unemployed. Decrease in business is one of the qualities for learning Torah. The question is can they take OPM to do that. Many sources look down at it. Feel free to bring opposite ones

When I speak about unworthy Torah teachers, it’s because I value the profession and don’t talk about those who are honest and capable. If I meet an inept lawyer or a professor, I just don’t work with them, but Torah teacher is more important and problem needs to be addressed

While we are on stories, once, when a grad student and had a conference on a Friday, I called a local Rav and asked for a place to stay for Shabbos. He asked me nicely whether I am X, Y, or Z group of Jews. I replied “Jewish”. He stopped the questioning and invited me immediately.

Common, really? so he was not even good at that? reminds me of a sevorah of a 100 years ago I heard of: some American Jews were suspicious of quality of the Torahs coming from Europe. Of course, Europeans would send worse sifrei to America – where else would they be able to sell those!?
so, it is a consumer fault, not only a producer …

re: Bobover. I did not come to disagree! I just did not own a shtreimel – and could not afford it at a time! According to his nephew R Twersky, Bobover had a party line that cut his conversation off should his neighbors start theirs. It happened frequently, despite reminders. He would suddenly interrupt an intense conversation in the middle of the sentence, sigh, and say quietly, let’s go and remind them again.

RebE: ask your father and he will tell you, go to the zaida, my father and he will answer you.

teaching grandkids Torah gives a person olam haba .. why? the father can teach simply by example and by words. The kid will understand. The grandfather is too far away from grandkids in his experiences (do your grandkids always get your stories about Communist Hungary?). So, grandfather can’t just show and tell. So, he has to elevate the topic and explain the concept in general terms so that he and the grandkid have a common language. So, if the grandfather is able to learn like that, he gets olam haba.

what your Rebbe seem to have joked about is that in most cases there is no such direct transmission – kid asks father, who goes asks zeidi, and then explains to the grandkid. Sholom bayis, everyone does what they supposed to do, but no guarantee of higher learning and olam haba. Go speak to the grandkids directly. Well, RebE, you are talking to many of that generation here ..

Amil,
we were discussing overall policy in the country. I think it is a Jewish thing to strengthen families – whether for Jews or non-Jews. I do not doubt that many women would benefit from childcare support. My point was that Democratic policies consider increasing female workforce as a specific great thing, dismissing the value of mother staying with kids. For example, there are (I understand, never used them) some tax deductions for (legal) childcare expenses, but I can’t find any for parents doing it themselves. Maybe I am missing some – please let me know.

I always felt a little sad when you fill out online taxes, get some credits for kids, and then you start seeing credits decreasing and then going away with all the income filled in. Like, why did I just lovingly filled out all the names and DOBs?! There is no reward for that in olam hazeh?!

When the credits suddenly survived after Trump tax reform (even at the expense of SALT), I called kids and showed them that Fed Gov now appreciates their value! I guess I should also appreciate Obama’s letting them stay dependent on us ad shesh veesrim ..

and everyone else’s searches too, so ywnjudy has a point
you may think of how you search

for example,
“meron” patient injured hospital
or
“meron” patient condition hospital

try “meron” “blood” victim to read uplifting stories about people donating blood …

use double quotes to mark words or sentences that “must be” in the response

n0mesorah – I don’t know whether we can read their psychos correctly. Again, take into account that Biden is more polished. He is a politician. That is all he ever did. He does not need to run after cameras and tweet, they respectfully come to him. Trump had to fight for the spotlight even when he was a president. Yes, he had personal tragedies. He needs to be respected for that. And yes, he is willing to say what is needed to get elected or achieve his other political goals.

One sign of who the person truly is – is what the person does when he has a free choice, that is he is not benefitting from what he says or does. That is why it was sad, but instructive, to hear Biden and others disparaging Trump’s vaccine efforts. He would not lose much by acknowledging what was done, but he did not. Well, maybe I underestimate what the left-wingers would say, I don’t know.

Another siman – look at the children = they follow parents and often lack skills to pretend like parents do. Biden’s 50% good, 50% bad. Happens. Trump seems to have at least one very bright, 2 reasonable good and active, and two seemingly pareve. The latter can not be by chance. The guy has to have some values. Or maybe some of his wives.

Another siman – what we do not know. I am amazed that all investigations did not damage Trump (so far). To be in NY real estate business and then have FBI, NYT and other 3-letter agencies after me for years – and nothing criminal so far, just minor infractions? Should be presumed a tzadik gamur until proven otherwise in the court of law. What would a similar effort show on Biden, given that he was not involved in (legal) business, who knows.

RebE> machloket between Magen Avrom v. Sma’s wife

Women in my family have no problem understanding the difference between nerot shabbos and yom tov. Maybe this is a good example where halakha makes sense according to education of the generation.

Hard question, worthy of Rabbi Yermiyahu’s chicken legs: if the husband is a direct male descendant of Magen Avrom and the wife is a direct female descendant of Sma’s wife – how does their daughter light? [wife obviously does according to her female masorah]

I am proposing the answer: she lights by her father when she is in his house out of respect (mother needs to also respect father), but follows her mother after she marries. Teiku if she divorces and comes back to her house.

does YWN have a economist on staff to verify postings 😕

>> During Trump’s 4 years there was inflation,

inflation was 2.1%, 1.9%, 2.3%, 1.2% with being 2% or slightly below is considered good.

>> real wages were stagnant

reached pre-carter levels for the first time, equal to SIX term of Clinton and Reagan taken together, with Obama thrown in for free, all in ONE term:
median earnings went
Trump: from 110 to 120 (with 1980 being 100). +10
for comparison:
Obama – from 107 to 108 +1
Bush II: from 104 to 107 +3
Clinton: 98 to 104 +6
Bush 1: 102 to 98 -4 (decline all the time, not just depression)
Reagan 98 to 101 +3 (flat, then up, then down)
the plot modestly stops mid-Carter, showing 104 to 98: -6
[using FRED Employed full time: Median usual weekly real earnings:LES1252881600Q]

n0: Regarding the current pandemic, the chaver will be better off just by not mingling with all the unmasked amei ha’aretz.

yes, I think so too. It is just feels very uncomfortable in our times to consider a swath of Torah-observant Jewry to be in a such category. We are all feel close together being beseeched by outside forces and internal challenge from Reform, socialists, etc so that the classical idea of am haaertz sounds foreign. I think Gemora has dual feelings towards Am.H – we can rely on them doing certain things, we remedy demai, not fully reject it, the person who ate at R Yannai …

CTLawyer, I am not trying to criticize the learned lady, just trying to analyze the situation:
shul is giving her an honor to teach. Why refuse? More importantly, why laugh? I agree with Syag.

Teaching Torah should not be for people who are otherwise not employed. She should have taken on the challenge and bill them accordingly. Take them to beis din if they dont pay. Oops, this is probably not correct. If I learned it correctly, the beis din would have to come to the lady’s house instead of requiring her to show up.

This would have been a teachable moment for everyone!

RebE > Biden is more religious than Trunp.

He does often sound sincerely religious. But you have to remember that Biden spent his life in politics, focusing on messaging and scheming. He can recite slogans smoothly and knows which segments of population he addresses. Trump is focused on action. Was there anything religious in his strengthening of Yerushalaim, or was it purely political calculation?

We have midrashim about various rulers – Alexander, Cyrus, and worse ones, relating to Hashem in some way, especially when their actions affect Jews and Eretz Israel.

When thinking about that, you probably need to think about people when they are at their best, not their worst. When Trump is for his own ego, or when Biden pretends that he couldn’t find vaccines under the table in the oval office, there is nothing religious there.