Always_Ask_Questions

YS, some drone sightings were real and arrests were made. “If you are paranoid, it does not mean that there isn’t anyone after you” – applies to the country also, not only individuals.

YS > catching a teacher doing something the Yeshivish velt considers wrong

so why not catch a teacher driving a car? A CAR! It might have a radio. It might take you to some places of disrepute and even some modernishe shuls.

I do agree that the problem is not with hte kids but the adults who conditioned them to value nonsense above respect to T’Ch or even just human beings.

BTW, if those teachers are Torah teachers, these children should be taught a halocha of asking the teacher in a respectful way – why were you doing X if the Torah says Y? (and in most cases, after the fact, so that there will be no hint of disrespect).

CE (Vulgar Era) is attributed to the astronomer Kepler. I think he used the term when he was showing that it is “wrong” in a sense of being several years of the event his religion was trying to commemorate. So, in that sense, when we use these numbers, we are reminding the velt that they can’t even get their dates right.

Bensolomon, I am sure what you are saying applies to many people and should be used. At the same time, you should focus first on creating the right environment – kids can use phones to stay in contact with friends and family, follow Jewish and world events, learn grammar and math, check out shidduchim. A lot of this is better done on computers rather than phones, of course.

This is normal use of technology. It is not different from cars – that can also take you to bad neighborhood; go thru red light; etc. Or from books. A lot comes from examples. I was happy to see that (some of) my kids started driving and ask me questions – was I supposed to let this car go in front of me? They possibly do it because I was pointing out to them when I let someone in a difficult position into the road or lane.

Of course, if there are abuses, measures need to be taken.

for those who are interested in effectiveness of non-profits, you can look up raw data at IRS form 990 and there also charity navigators that evaluate charities across multiple financial parameters (some may be not that important)

I think TU is 13-5564128 National Society for Hebrew Day Schools. Maybe it is only part of TU, I don’t know,
I see latest info on IRS siste – $54.2 mln income, of which $44.6 mln is spent on grants ($27M domestic, $17M foreign), $4.3 mln on salaries (of which 8 officers account for $800K), $4 on other expenses.

charity navigator:
FY 2022 revenue $71M Program Expense: Ratio – 96% (pretty good)
no audit (expected from charities with $2M+)
website does not link 990 form

a relevant anti-regulation example is that we allow people to take water along the river as they come from upstream down, rather than measuring everyone’s water intake to ensure “equitable” distribution. Lfnei darchei shalom. somewhere in bava metzia.

ard > I dont know of a single rov (not modox) who said to vote for biden.

Ard, any rav who says to vote for anybody better be an employed professional and not run a non-profit. Otherwise, he might lose his non-profit status.

The dismissal of “modox” rabbonim is a way bigger outrage against Torah than voting for Biden, lo aleinu.

two recent articles NYT about Israeli war on hisbolla and WaPo about Biden, give these positive and negative points:

– Biden thinks that his infrastructure and other policies are good for the country in long-term, he pursued them even if they are not politically beneficial (this is stated, not proven how beneficial they are)
– Biden is trying to be helpful in current transition, spending extra time w/ Trump and planning to attend inauguration
– caveat, this WaPo article is based on B’s public statements and interviews with his helpers, “Wh House did not make Pres available for the interview”
at the same time
– he still thinks he could have won if he ran
– he thinks that his Justice Dept was wrong for not prosecuting Trump faster, and for prosecuting Hunter too much
on Israel (NYT)
– after Oct 7, and Hizbolla attack on Oct 8, Israel was considering an immediate attack on Hizbolla . “After talking to Biden on Oct 11”, this plan was shelved. I wonder how more successful Israel would have been if they immediately prevailed against Hizbolla, leaving Hamas fully isolated
– before killing Nasralla, the decision was made not to inform Us in advance, as it was judged that US will not support it lehathila, but will go along bdieved.

KGN > I don’t think that DL hates us for non-conscription because

I don’t think other observant Jews “hate” “you”, whatever you call “you”. This over-the-top “hate” accusations often happen in Israel when politicians take away some privileges from the Charedi community. Someone else not wanting to pay for your expenses is not “hate”. Simply, people think they can spend their tzedokah money on something else. They are entitled to that.

This may be a silly argument when you are suggesting full gov regulation v. full lack of it. Start with the current situation and start deleting the ones that look not reasonable. There are plenty of those. Of course, there is always a fight and with a normal approach, a Republican president will cut some, and then a Democratic one will add 10x of that …

Reagan’s idea was to starve the beast by reducing taxes and thus decreasing ability to spend more on government. This achieved something but the government adapted. Look at the student loan multi-step trick. First, Obama changed the loans from a private to a government program, even counting theoretical savings to find Obamacare. Then, Biden is trying to give the money away, mostly to their own supporters. This will not be possible without the previous step of “saving money” that voters already forgot about. See, how difficult is to restrict government from inventing new ways to manipulate us.

Trump’s idea now seems to be to go faster and cut bigger pieces in order to overcome resistance. Surely, he’ll cut something necessary at some point. Hopefully, it will not be too drastic for human lives. Otherwise, there always be a place to re-do what is necessary.

Chaim > After SNAP, HUD, Medicad, HEAP, CHS they come out ahead. The issue is for middle class earners who work and try to earn enough yet its impossible to afford tution even on a 200K salary

First, I agree that this is the problem. This is what Gingrich tried to resolve in the 90s – multigenerational families and whole communities find it easier to receive than to move up incrementally and be temporarily worse off … Maybe your suggestion on tuition will be a similar push. I do not know how tuition committees work – do they take into account all source of income and expenses?

Personally, my suggestion for working people is NOT to provide financial info to the schools, simply negotiate at a fair level that reflects your costs. I usually find it 40-70% of top tuition. What is your experience?

ujm > About 50% of the Daati Leumi join the IDF as religious Jews but by time they exit and are discharged they are irreligious.

where is this statistics from?

I do agree that there is a reason to be concerned about charedi students not being prepared to confront life outside of their community. So, potential solutions should create a special environment for them – and charedi leadership should be helping creating such an environment. And also educate their children accordingly so that they don’t melt from the exposure to life.

somejew > mods continue to not publish my Torah-only response

Was it the one where you read and analyzed Rav Soloveitchik’s essay and discussed what you agree with and what you do not?
I did not see it.

Chaim> In other words why doesn’t it create a fund to solve the tuition crisis. … They’d also have to apply the value of govt programs.

What you describe as “tuition crisis” is the fact that there are too many members of the community who do not earn enough and even rely on “govt programs” for poor people even when they are capable of working. Then, you expect someone else to raise $100M. Why not focus on teaching commuinty members to earn enough and organize schools that help that?

ubi > Lets start with one Specifically environmental regulations . I have a factory that produces hazardous waste fumes

this is all discussed in Nezikin. In US, you will be simply sued, poss class action. and lose your factory. I am not saying it is ideal way to deal with environmental regulation, but this should work.

somejewiknow, did you look at R Soloveitchik’s works? He is not as ideological as R Kook and is not always agreeing with religious zionists (and kal vehomer with non-religious zionists), so maybe you will be able to relate to his Torah views of modern Israel, whether you agree with him or not. Let us know what you think.

yechiell > Polio has made a comeback because that nutcase RFK and others have brought it up, as a topic of conversation…was president for 4 years, and allowed this kind of talk to fester

I looked up google trends – and polio is as much a topic of conversation as it was most of the time from 2004, with one peak in July-Aug 2022.
Interest in polio vaccine is similar, with the exception of same topic, plus during covid pls last several days. So, ^ statements are counterfactual

To clarify,
I am not saying that there are no people who need medication. I observed a number of children who were told by their Jewish schools to not bring kids to schools unless they are given medication; and a rav who sent his kids to same schools (his kids did not have problems) told me that ALL kids behaved in a couple of classes that were taught by great teachers. This leads to a conjecture that there is a lot that parents, teachers, and people themselves can do. This is not to brush off medical professionals, but if something can be treated non-medically, there is a good reason to approach it with Jewish point of view, whether using knowledgeable T’Ch or their seforim. The advantage of seforim is that you get access to best advise available globally, after that you can use the local people to help you. I addressed this poster specifically as he showed a good level of understanding himself.

Also, note R Moshe’s psak allowing psychiatrist drugs but to be more careful of psychological help from non-Jewish POV.

smerel, things were even more complicated than you describe:
Jews in Poland in 1920s had more fights between each other – religious v. bundists v zionists v communists, than problems from Polaks – who, newly freed from Russian empire, were busy fighting each other. You might even understand some of the “interference” such as requiring sanitary conditions in Mikvaos … Chofetz Chaim was pleading with Polish government to weaken this regulation explaining that Jewish communities were so poor that this will not lead to better mikvas, but to abandonment of mikvas; and at the same time, he was telling Jews to prepare to spend to upgrade ….

At the same time, going to EY meant to exist at poverty level. Part of that was that sochnut centralized donations in 1920s and started controlling what the finds are spent on, namely rural settlement v. cities (Tel Aviv). Their goal was ideological – acquiring land for the future medinah and it is somewhat difficult to argue with the success; but the side result of that was less manufacturing in Tel Aviv, and manufacturing was creating productive jobs, that could have enabled more people to come (esp from Germany and other rich places) v. kibbutzim that were gaining land but losing money.

if you use expression “an ehrliche Yid” more often, you would stop asking these silly questions.

But the question may be a practical one: take a person whose parnosa is difficult and borderline questionable: he has to sell baskets to women like some Tanna; or your wife works whole day and your kids are in the care of people you don;t know; or you need to rely on non-Jewish welfare … you may reduce your halachik problems by drinking cheaper milk (comparing prices at the same level of nutrition and health).

The minhag has probably sources in astrology, so if you think that our DST affects the stars, your gaavah is above the migdal Bavel and should be a bigger issue for you than davening b’zmano.

Trump made Europeans to contribute to NATO by threatening them to withdraw – and just in time for Russian aggression…

Similarly, if Trump reduces federal powers, the states, and the charities, will need to come up with solutions. Yes, like Europeans, States are addicted to just sending money to Feds and getting regulations back. Thus, we might be electing complete hacks for state government as nobody really cares. So, we will see ridiculous state responses in the first year. Hopefully, things will start moving after that. If T over-reaches, then Congress or the next President can always rebalance back. So, don’t worry Democracy did not Die in Darkness, despite a conspiracy of Biden’s team to cover up that the President had mental difficulties (as thoroughly documented in today’s WSJ article quoted on YWN front page, go read it).

My suggestion would be to see what you can do without medications. You seem to be quite self-aware and this is a very good start that most people can’t master. Here are some ideas:

1) review what you get involved in. There are many, many people who are very good at following up with schedule but do not ever think about why they are doing it and whether something else should be done. You are not one of them. Try to see more creative activities that are more suited for you. They could be within your line of business, just a little off the standard approach. Find a practical way to proceed. Maybe dedicate one day a week to such activities.

2) find a partner, whether at work or at home, with you doing tasks you like and the partner complimenting, following up with tasks you drop behind … if yo are good at your part, this will work

3) three is a simple planning method that I found useful – divide a page in 4 quadrants: top – urgent, bottom – not; left – important, right – not. Put all your tasks in each quadrant. Then always start your day with top-left: important/urgent; then move to important/non-urgent (this could be strategic planning). If you have time left go to urgent/non-important or delegate; try to avoid bottom-right. “I find it useful” does not mean I perfectly follow this, but at least you know what to focus on and where to apply procrastination

4) read more on non-medical approaches to ADD; Jewish psychologists like R Twersky in general about how to deal with psychological issues.

A modern working Talmid Chacham – Boruch Epstein, Torah Temimah (and “my uncle the Netziv”, son of Aruch Hashulchan, learnt in Volozhin) – he was working in a bank in Pinsk in Poland.

Avram > But we shouldn’t throw out what helps most just because there’s an exception or two.

To go back to the topic, I am not arguing that it is assur to dress like a rav (although I could). I am arguing a much milder statement – that it is OK, and respectful, to be NOT dressed as a rav, it is not an aveirah or a sign of weakness, it has it’s own rationale. If you feel that looking like Chazon Ish will help you pass by McDonalds, shoin.

> You’re arguing that it’s worse when the black hat wearer does it because he looks more erliche, but that seems to be a latent prejudice against the MO.

I presume that such a person looks more religious in the eyes of outsiders, and they make corresponding conclusions.

> per this seeming definition of kiddush Hashem as doing what makes the gentiles happy.

At that time and place, majority followed the orders. That is why, I presume, the Rav found it necessary to give him a tochacha. I also heard R Heinemann saying that people should not make minyanim with several people standing in separate yards – even if it was passing the letter of the law at the moment: “a passerby might not see the difference and, as a result, a Jew in a hospital somewhere will not be given a ventilator …”