Always_Ask_Questions

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  • in reply to: Not every chabadnik is meshichus and we need to see that line #2328963

    Not every chabadnik is meshichus

    BUT

    every meshichus is chabadnik

    in reply to: WHY DO LITVOCKS ALWAYS SAY TACHNUN?? #2328957

    Pale was due to the following: Russia did not allow Jews to their country up to 18th century. Then, they conquered part of Poland and other countries with large Jewish population. So, Jews were allowed to live where they lived but not into “Russia proper”. There were exceptions for professionals, such as doctors, large merchants, rabbis. R Salanter when he had a need to travel into Russia, he learned some ink-related trade so that he could travel legally. His student, R Yetzele Peterburger

    in reply to: WHY DO LITVOCKS ALWAYS SAY TACHNUN?? #2328958

    Neville > I don’t think this post is about the times with Chassidim controversially don’t say tachanun, but rather when Litvaks controversially DO

    How is the fact that someone in Baghdad did not say tachanun affected what happened in Vilna? Chassidim changed minhagim of their communities, not litvakim. The only controversy about litvakim is their extraordinary effect on Ashkenaz in general, given that this was a small country.

    By the way, note that parsha Noach mentions Ashkenaz, but not Sepharad, Lubavich or Uman.

    in reply to: philosophical thought of the day #2328954

    Sanhedrin 6?

    in reply to: “Kollel” and “Full-Time Learners” #2328644

    pure somethingkeit> I wasn’t referring to the Rambam itself i was referring to the attitude

    could you explain what lines in OP are not from Rambam so that we can review?

    in reply to: Should Women Have the Right To Vote? #2328643

    If this is true, then average adult IQ for ujm household is 97.5?

    BUT average IQ is, by definition, 100. So if men are 99 and women are 97, then there are some malochim or mazikin with a higher IQ that make it come to 100 as an average.

    in reply to: Trump “wealth” #2328642

    DJT, both stock and person, is a good illustration of the danger of ayn hara. Better follow gemora advice and build your towers and web services private and away from the cities.

    in reply to: I’m Taking Over The Coffee Room So Yaal’ Better Watch Out! #2328641

    Tikkun Olam did not start in Hamburg.

    I can’t recall – is it Rambam using the word tikkun olam in the introduction to Mishnei Torah or, more likely, kessef Mishna says that in response to criticism.

    in reply to: Whats a minyan factory? #2328640

    R Berel Wein says that if there are 100 Yidden in town, Hashem wants to see one shul with 100 people. Yidden open 10 shuls with 10 people and end up with 11 shuls and 9 people. Well, 100 people makes it OOT …

    in reply to: Is The “Mysterious Benedict Society” Kosher #2328639

    SQRT, I don’t think R Miller quoted Tolkien, he was talking about classical classics, like Dickens.

    Neville actually got my point – the end line of this jokey thought is that, absent strict halachik guidelines, I am surely take into account opinions of important people in my life, starting with my wife. You should also ask your wives to vote.

    There is a story about an Israeli Rov running a small yeshiva; he would travel to US for a month to collect funds. With time and children, his wife started complaining that she can not manage without him. The Rov did not want to close the yeshiva, so he asked a shaila. Posek asked him – what percentage of collection the Rav takes for his family. Nothing, of course – it all goes to the students. Posek suggested to charge what others charge – and the wife was now able to manage somehow … Maybe, apply same approach when you want to enhance your observance in terms of time, effort, and money spent, make sure it is done the way your household feels good about it.

    in reply to: Whats a minyan factory? #2328375

    OOTers have whatsup and text groups that count from 1 to 10 (or from 10 to 1) nightly. Some of these are for dwindling minyanim, others for convenient times, others for vacation periods.

    in reply to: ‘No Hat, No Jacket, No Davening?’: A Shul’s Sign Challenges Unity #2328333

    VOSIZNEIZ> opinion of R’ Chaim Kanievsky ZTL. So you should take off your hat for him

    I retract. This is usually where you are supposed to “eat your hat”. For that, one should have a hat, have it made from a kosher animal that was properly schechted. I fail on the first condition.

    Unfortunately, Sheilas Rav seems to be pretty succinct with “asur”, so we can speculate on the reasoning. Could it reflect the social attitude of the charedi community in Israel standing up for their community? Do we have similar psakim in previous generation (his father, Chazon Ish) when charedim was just starting, and in previous generations. R Chaim Ozer?

    in reply to: please vote who you thinks gunnu win the election #2328332

    Chaim > 538 has Trump at 52% chance of winning

    now, 51.2%. This is getting so close to 50.0% that I am sure that my votes will decide the election. Still thinking, in which states I should do that.

    PS If voting is a mitzvah, do you say sheyhianu only first time during each election?

    in reply to: Kosher games for computer #2328331

    Khan academy, Beast Acadmy and others make math problem into fun contexts, especially for younger ages!

    But real games – checkers/chess/go. In my opinion, it is a must if you want to become a T’Ch. These games require strategic thinking, sevorah, and, most importantly, you verify your intellect against a worthy opponent. You can’t simply claim that you mastered this game by sitting in a shiur if you lost 10 out of 10 games. So, after you master it, you know the level of your thinking and also what types of thinking you are good or bad at – intuition, long analysis, creative, memorization. You can apply results directly to your learning and also to working on improvements. Maybe the best would be to play with your yeshiva/seminary chevrusos. Then, you would know whose opinion to value in learning. FWIW, R Feinstein played chess until he was 9 when he felt that the game was interfering with his learning.

    in reply to: “Kollel” and “Full-Time Learners” #2328330

    Gedol, why are you ruining the party? People were just warming up! As I conjectured in another thread, Rambam would not be allowed into some of the modern yeshivos, so he would have to stick to medical schools and astronomy.

    in reply to: Trump “wealth” #2328329

    CA, ayn hara – went down today. Hope you did not buy on peak. Some speculate that DJT is a measure of T election chances (see another thread), but I think it is too easy to manipulate. Better look at whole industries that will benefit from the election of T or K.

    in reply to: ‘No Hat, No Jacket, No Davening?’: A Shul’s Sign Challenges Unity #2328328

    back to the topic – not just about preferred way to daven, but about excluding people who follow accepted halachik opinions different from your own on how to dress. Should we go back to machlokes between nusach ashkenaz and sfarad? Mishnaic examples list cases when we shush a shaliach tzibur – when he says something unacceptable, not just “different”.

    in reply to: ‘No Hat, No Jacket, No Davening?’: A Shul’s Sign Challenges Unity #2328327

    you probably meant Mishnah Berurah 91:12, 91:5 is about belts. Aruch Hashulchan, I think, rules differently.

    > You don’t have to listen to your wife when she’s telling you to be less observant, nor she you.

    Hear, here: _THIS_ is the root (square or not) of the problem. Thinking that putting an expensive black hollow cylinder on your head makes you more observant. Sherlock can eat his hat (I wore it once). This is a simple difference between what is appropriate to (symbolically) wear in front of a King in our days. If you think a black cylinder signifies that you are valuing the moment, I can easily beat it with an ancient siddur, a $400 davening tie and a golden watch. In reality, the underlying feeling is that being strange and different from “them” makes one more “observant”. This is a very understandable feeling and has a place, but it is not a universal key to unlock all mysteries of the world.

    Aside: R Salanter had such a watch. He once was travelling and did not had tefillin with him. He asked people in some shul to borrow one (two), but nobody wanted to give it to an unknown traveler. Rather that revealing himself, he simply got his golden watch out and asked someone for the time so that he can set his watch correctly.

    in reply to: Leftist Wonderland: Where Logic Takes a Holiday #2328326

    US has a great feature – separate states. Start implementing any of these policies in one state, so you can test 50 policies at the same time. If they work, then surely others will pick it up. Stop risking the country by applying potentially dangerous and surely divisive policies.

    in reply to: Should Women Have the Right To Vote? #2328325

    Gadol> minimum IQ threshold for voting rights which would ensure that women have a structural majority irrespective of any explicit gender restrictions.

    I am also for IQ or other knowledge-based testing – both for candidates and voters.

    Average IQ is same for men and women, but (not fully confirmed, I think) men have more variability – there are more stupid and more very smart men.
    This is a general trend in biology – male species have more variability.

    So, if you use an IQ cut off 70, exclude stupid people, there will be more men excluded, but if you use cut off 120 – keeping only smartest voters, then there will be more men, so, in practice, wives of smartest men will be in control.

    in reply to: Should Women Have the Right To Vote? #2328324

    chassidish-theorist> women didn’t participate in any of these inventions is because they were excluded from doing so

    Most men in history were also excluded. Only relatively rich and free men participated in intellectual life. There were societies where women had access – Roman aristocratic women, for example. In last several centuries, women had access to resources in many European countries. Yes, Mrs. Curie had difficulties getting accepted in male-run university, but she could have opened her own women-only school (I think she actually was involved in teaching in such schools), same way men organized men-run universities.

    in reply to: please vote who you thinks gunnu win the election #2328323

    > due to the fact that republicans are more avid betters than democrats.

    not sure where this is coming from, but I did not study how large and predictive betting markets are. A more proven way would be to look at stock market. There are known industries that will benefit from one of the candidates (T – oil, K – solar, etc). So, looking at their stocks would show you the odds. It does not matter who trades these – there is a lot of money here and a lot of analysis goes into making those bets. I am guessing that election betters simply use stock market analysis to bet. There are some articles that look at that.

    Caveat: stock market failed in Trump/Hillary election. Yes, Hillary had 70% chance, which is not that high, but lazy brokers relied on the idea that she’ll win and they did not even bother to analyze Trump’s effect on economy. What happened (my recollection): in the middle of the election night when adds switched to T, stock market futures went down – because everyone wanted to sell pro-H stocks. It took several hours to do analysis of which stocks are pro-T and then futures went up (for several years). Given that failure is still remembered, surely nobody will make same mistake this time around.

    in reply to: ‘No Hat, No Jacket, No Davening?’: A Shul’s Sign Challenges Unity #2327965

    Neville,
    1) tefillin are in halacha, hats are not.
    2) men wrote seforim about what they want women to wear. I’ll wait for women to write seforim what they want men to wear. For now, I am following Torah shebalpe from my wife and she paskens I should daven without a hat.

    R Aha b’ Yaakov (I think) sent his son to learn for a year and stayed home working the farm. When the son came back, he tested the son and then went back himself, leaving the son to work. Do you think he asked the son whether he followed every word or how many hours he was holding the (non-existent) gemorah? That he could have found out via a shaliach in the first month. No, he was waiting the whole year to see what the son has actually learned.

    So, you guys discuss minutiae – minutes, with text or listening, etc. I suggested ^ a middos test, but probably an open ended question “tell me something you learned” is a better one. Some will learn middos, some something else. If a person learned one tremendous idea from the whole maseches, then you can do a siyum. Even if he did by listening 8-min daf at 2x speed while exercising.

    in reply to: Should Women Have the Right To Vote? #2327955

    This is happening not just with vote but with other things too – men invented physics, electricity, steam engine, cars, wipers, built roads, and now when they are driving, women tell them they are doing it wrong.

    in reply to: Should Women Have the Right To Vote? #2327954

    > Should men have the right to vote.

    The argument could be made that men deserved their vote by fighting for it over centuries, developing philosophies and constitutions … After men earned a right to vote, they decided to share this right with the women – maybe hoping that the latter will reward them in their family life. Men, as usual, never think that they might be wrong, so they did not include a clause allowing them to have a later vote by men only to return to the status quo ante.

    in reply to: please vote who you thinks gunnu win the election #2327953

    Looks like Trump. Betting markets slowly but steadily went from 48% to 63% for T in the last several weeks. It seems that anything that could have been said about him was already said. Ds and their media switched from Nazis to Fascists (term preferred in Marxist circles) showing that they are scrambling for the remaining Commie vote on the far left.

    in reply to: Whats a minyan factory? #2327952

    CS > minyan factory is a mincha minyan held in the factory office

    indeed, if you are reading it the Hebrew way – a subject followed by an adjective.

    in reply to: ‘No Hat, No Jacket, No Davening?’: A Shul’s Sign Challenges Unity #2327269

    Sephardim serm to be inconsistent. They generally dress to match the host community. Thus turbans. Now they switched to black hats to match their new neighbors while those hats represent the opposite approach.

    in reply to: “Kollel” and “Full-Time Learners” #2327259

    This was discussed before, but I think posters here misunderstand the OP – he is not talking about a particular mishna or a Rambam that others disagree with. I think he is talking about overall sense coming from Gemora about desirable lifestyle, it is multiple multiple examples and stories, not just narrow halachik decisions. Yes, over centuries there is a list of decisions allowing asking community for funds for various services – as a way to deal with the situation. Probably, someone justifies even taking non-Jewish welfare funds too, maybe not publicly. But currently so many ignore all those gemoras and don’t even try to minimize the undesired behaviors. Why, then, bother learning gemora at all if you are not interested in their approach to life, just read the aharonim. Not all, of course – only those who support your lifestyle.

    in reply to: Whats a minyan factory? #2327258

    Tzadikim who come to the factory would start with earlier minyan and then gradually go to the next one and next one, finishing several hours later

    in reply to: ‘No Hat, No Jacket, No Davening?’: A Shul’s Sign Challenges Unity #2327256

    > better danven alone with a hat then daven at shul with no hat!!!!!!!!!!!

    with such halachik knowledge, you are not allowed to wear a hat.

    Generally, one should not try to look like a Talmid Chacham if he is not (Bava Basra, even if it is not popular, it is still a gemora). BUT everyone should be davening with the tzibur – so how can they restrict non-T’Ch from davening!? And if they do such a restriction – why judge by a hat? Why not have a
    random gemora questions on the screen and you can come in only if you answer those correctly.

    in reply to: US Thad Missiles and Troops to Israel. Beware of MAGA Isolationism #2326563

    K’s husband is Jewish and is known in his interest in ladies, so there is a chance that she has Jewish step-children somewhere. I am sure they’ll show up later like O’s half-brothers.

    in reply to: Advertisements – Are they Appropriate? #2326560

    > ladies’ tights and socks,

    indeed, you are supposed to make simcha for the female side of your household, that is clothing and jewelry. For now you are getting socks based on your IRS filings (sold to advertisers by HR Block) or EBT payments (sold by Wholefoods). When AI finds out what your undeclared income is, you’ll start getting ads for jewelry like the rest of us.

    in reply to: From head surgeon to janitor. #2326559

    Bava Basra: Moshe’s grandson (incorrectly) claims that he learns from his grandfather that it is better to work avoda zara than asking for tzedoka. He is corrected – it means working a “strange job”. Just modify your story that hospital stopped paying the surgeon and then this tzaddik became an exemplary janitor using all his skills, and the story looks different.

    Of course, the surgeon will have a challenge that he needs to answer to his bosses, that he needs to sterilize his mop himself, that people do not remember his name and do not call him “Dr” … Hopefully, he overcomes these challenges.

    Once a shoichet told R Salanter that he is exhausted being on the hook for kashrus for the whole town and wants to go into business. R Salanter answered – you are afraid of violating halochos of shchita, but what about all halochos of business – honest measures, paying on time, etc – there are way more challenges. So, hopefully medical school taught the surgeon all the skills he needs to be an ehrliche janitor.

    why daven in shul where Yaakov Avinu would not be welcome.

    Ask your wife. If your middos improved over this time, you can do the siyum. If they didn’t, no point celebrating even if you spent 5 hours daily on the daf. Good you asked early, you can do a check now and refocus your learning.

    in reply to: Chabad Media Won #2326143

    phil: there’s a saying “if someone doesn’t believe any stories of Chassidishe Rebbes

    This is Rambam about Agadot. What Rambam thinks about stories of Chassidishe Rebbes is unknown to me.

    in reply to: Trump Good for Jews? Consider these worrying trends #2325039

    I agree with how Chaim approaches analysis. We should disregard election messages – these are crafted to address some very specific narrow voter groups – left-handed muslims in MI or young black males in NC … Look at previous activities, especially those that came out naturally, like muslim ban that T started his term with.

    in reply to: US Thad Missiles and Troops to Israel. Beware of MAGA Isolationism #2325033

    I agree that Trump is an unknown unknown, but Kamala is more known and that includes both supporting Israel in general and deep antipathy to Israeli policies and also lack of executive and military experience making her dependent on her deep state advisors…

    So, it will be easier for Hashem to answer our tefilos via a quick decision by T than create an open miracle overturning opinions of all secretaries and undersecretaries.

    in reply to: Advertisements – Are they Appropriate? #2324992

    I am getting only apartment ads, is something wrong with me?!

    in reply to: Mochel Loch… time to forgive and be forgiven! #2324723

    > anything or anytime

    list please

    Neville > they’ll just start identifying (correctly) as goyish

    Often true but depends on environment. Jews in Western Europe often continued marry mostly within their own, even when assimilated, secular, or even baptized. Same in interwar Poland and USSR (and Israel, of course). I’ve seen with my own eyes a Baal Teshuva from an old-times multi-generational German Reform family.

    in reply to: Question for those who don’t think Charedim should join the IDF #2324721

    > Kook was a gadol before he went off the derech.
    > You can see the handwritten letter online by Rav Elchonon Wasserman ztz”l who called him a “rushe gumir”.

    You got to have pretty serious reasons to consider a gadol to become OTD … Just because another person of the same stature disagreed with him on politics may be too risky, and leaves you no method to analyze disagreements between modern Talmidei Chachamim. At best, you yourself are choosing one Rav v. the other and claim that you are following a gadol; at worst, you are following what you learned from your heder rebbe, an accident of birth rather than a thought-through opinion.

    To appreciate the problem, I suggest reading a sefer “making of the gadol” that may not necessarily address this hot issue, but it contains a lot of factual material about R Kamenetsky and others lives – and see if any of the details go against the stereotypes we have. This will help you appreciate how much we really know before making judgments on people.

    in reply to: Question for those who don’t think Charedim should join the IDF #2324720

    I also wonder how much we hear about gedolim positions on political issues – unless they are outspoken about it.
    Just a recent example – when masking wars were all rage, there was an impression in the press that all haredim disregard protection .. and then in a year an article that R Zilberstein Z’L is giving a first public shiur with a wide separation and a transparent mehitza between him and talmidim. I am pretty sure this information was not in the media before.

    in reply to: Question for those who don’t think Charedim should join the IDF #2324716

    Was R Menachem Kasher / author of Torah Shleima/editor of Rogacvhover – mentioned here? Gerer Rebbe sent him to EY in 1920s.
    I just saw in Wiki (duh) that he proposed to have 5th cup during seder after Medinat Israel was created, but Rabanut was not interested …

    in reply to: accounting profession #2324650

    People mention desire for “frum” environment, but also consider “ehrliche” environment also. I heard about a hesitant law student asking R Soloveitchik whether it is ok to go into a profession where many are involved in lies and other ad behaviors. He responded – “so, you will be a poor lawyer”.

    Indeed, there is a need to have a profession that will support a family and let you be an ehrliche yid. There is no need to be at the top of a particular profession if this requires compromises. There are might be some jobs where even earning a modest living honestly is hard. For example (notionally, not saying that every business is in this predicament) you run a construction or re-modeling business – how do you compete on price with those who hire illegals and ignore codes? Or, running a nursing home or selling standard merchandize on amazon – where margins are small, you again can earn a living by skirting rules and quality controls, every undernourished elderly would feed you … In this sense, accounting seems like a moderate risk – of course, you can get in trouble by joining a company in fraud, but it is not that difficult to earn a living by being honest, and even keeping others honest. At the other side of the spectrum, if you strive to be at the top of your profession – being an engineer or a computer programmer might be better. In this jobs, someone who is good at his job will get paid more just for that, no tricks required.

    I think some people here have a desire to help others – they re-post political statements (from both sides) so that others don’t have to go to treife media. But, as a downside, you condition the group to talk in the same way. Maybe we should have a separate thread – press-releases – and then have a kosher discussion where people do not lie to each other?

    in reply to: A Hashkafa Question I have no one to ask #2324227

    Several comments, not necessarily answers to your questions:

    1) time-related notion is not a definite rule, it is an asmachta. There are more exception than the rules. People make philosophical conclusions from that, but this is not a neduaraita.

    2) halakha has assumptions on women’s social behavior but then treats them with respect when they are in a different position. For example, a lot of halochos around ketuba presume that the woman is dependent on her husband and establishes rules that are fair to both. At the same time, when a woman has property (usual presumption – from the father), then her rights are protected. If she is in business (II did not learn this, but heard from a dayan) – if she has a business dispute, she is not supposed to come to beis din, but beis din comes to her.

    3) I presume same applies to learning. Yes, R Eliezer says teaching daughters Torah is teaching them shtus. Now, it is “not learning gemora”. But this is about a social policy – making all little girls into a beis midrash. A particular individual lady who wants or did learn something deserves respect, as it is (mostly) shown here.

    4) Read the viduy – how much of it is about men-specific mitzvos? Probably, none. We are all guilty of over-valuing public demonstration of “frumkeit” over decent human behavior, chesed, etc. This is not a new thing, see neviim talking about bringing karbonos while mistreating people, but nowadays are also a response to anti-religious movements, as “frumkeit” demonstrated how we are different from the “apikoirisim”. So, while men are competing who will have a more expensive esrog, women have a whole field to themselves to practice (and learn!) about chesed, raising children, ehrlichkeit – and hopefully transmit that to their husbands and children.

Viewing 50 posts - 1,001 through 1,050 (of 8,227 total)