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somejew > If somebody does something that is against any part of the Torah, the kasha is on that person not on the Torah.
Despite all our references, you continue in your circular thinking: everyone who disagrees with Satmar Rebbe is against Torah and thus needs to prove himself. We showed that many Rabonim that you disapprove had some level of approval or personal respect from important rabonim that you presumably respect. Note that those rabonim do not always agree 100% with Satmar shita also… So, it seems that the world of Torah is not neatly divided into two camps, one of which miraculously agrees with you, and the other – kulo kofrim.
I do agree with your desire to have all rabonim express clear opinions about each other so that we have it on record. It is, perhaps, a Jewish ideal – and this is how it was when we had a Sanhedrin, where Talmidei Chachomim were able to argue their positions and come either to an agreement or to, at least, understanding their differences. I also wish we could put pro- and anti-Z and any other topics in the same room in the presence of the students of their yeshivas and have a learned discussion. For some reason, this is not happening for quite some time. Vilna Gaon, for example, left his house when Alter Rebbe tried to have such a discussion… In our times, it may be that each of the Rabonim does not see value in arguing with each other, but rather in pursuing activities he finds productive. Would it help anyone to R Kotler argue with Lubavitcher Rebbe or R Soloveitchik? Maybe it is to the best that one od them grew yeshivas, another looked for Baalei Teshuva, and third one organized day schools for children of colleege-educated … we need all of the above ….
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.
frumfemale > They’re doing it because they see an excuse to disrespect the teacher,
you are probably right. Once, an elderly rov told me, with a smile, that he works as a “goyishe teacher”, that is he is teaching history in a yeshiva and that is how students see him despite his appearance … So, this disrespect is indeed the core problem.
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.
Ben Ish Hai on vayigash ponders, theoretically I think, about a difference between the thieves. A poor person stealing out of hunger should be dealt with chesed. A rich person who steals shows that this is his character. In parallel to Ben soreh vemoreh he might be judged based on his future tendency, namely, he eventually is going to steal so much that he will not be able to pay double fine, so it is better to make him a slave now, and he won’t want to steal because it will belong to his owner anyway. This is in relationship to dialog between Yoseg and Yehuda regarding the cup Benyomin allegedly stole.
I would expand this from “rich” to anyone who is able to earn livelihood but prefers stealing l. Same logic seems to apply.
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.An interesting story from a biography of R Ysroel Meir Lau, Israeli chief rabbi. After WW2, he was an orphan in case of his uncle and was learning in R Shlomo Zalman’s yeshiva. The uncle wanted him to prepare to pass bagrut. R Shlomo Zalman said that while there are no secular studies in the yeshiva, he can study on his own in the evening in the dorm. Some time later, Rav asked Yisroel how are his preparation for bagrut are going. He answered that he became interested in philosophy and history, but does not like physics and other sciences. R Shlomo Zalman was shocked – you are not interested in how Hashem runs the world. When on a bus, I often hear Hebrew Univ students talking about science and I am fascinated by it, how could you not be?!
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.
(Part 1/4) masis … madiach … “yimach shemo” …
Thanks, this is a great start for a Torah-only response! A freileche chanuka and all the best wishes to the mods who had to read the rest of it.
Seriously, rather than focusing on some Rabonim that you find so objectionable, look at the bright side. We provided you here with several names of Rabonim who are less controversial than the targets of your wrath. Could you look at their writings and see how your position corresponds to theirs. You may be better capable of having “Torah only” discussion when you look at texts that you consider Torah.
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.
Yasher Koach, Wolf.
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?
yechiell > biden sent tons and tons of armaments to israel
True, as the Hur report says, he is a nice old gentleman who wishes well (after achieving his own benefits). Look up a recent W0SJ report finally documenting that President was not at full capacilty l’hathila, he often responded to what information was channeled to him thru aides. He is trying to do the right thing here and there, without determination to actually achieve anything. In domestic policy, this leads only to inflation; in foreign relationships, it lead to multiple disasters.
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.
Ubi,
I presume the value of lawsuits would be preventive:
it takes years and lots of money to build a factory. If you know that you’ll be sued even some years later, you presumably will not get money from investors to build it in the first place.I am not saying I am against all regulation, just calling for considering alternatives. I, in my business, not polluting anyone’s waters and I am responding to so many government requests that it takes a significant cost and attention from running the business. So, I do believe that there is overreach.
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.TryingToHelp, if you are trying to help, maybe you can create a website with online assessment so that people could administer this test “remotely over the internet”?
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?
Sanhedrin 5 talks about stealing and then using for kedusha. Next time, include that page with the cheese.
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.
Presidential authority to limit immigration seems to come from Section 1182 that was first authorized for WW1, then extended to national emergencies
from congressional research service, Feb 2024:
current version of Section 1182(f) authorizing the President to suspend the entry of aliens or classes of aliens if such entry would be detrimental to the interests of the United States derives from the initial passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) in 1952.e Supreme Court has understood Section 1182(f) to convey broad authority to the President to limit the entry of aliens into the United States. In the 1993 decision Sale v. Haitian Centers Council, Inc., the Court upheld the validity of an interdiction program established by President George H. W. Bush through Executive Order No. 12,807, which was based on the authority under Section 1182(f). According to the Sale Court, “[i]t is perfectly clear that 8 U.S.C. § 1182(f) grants the President ample power to establish a naval blockade that would simply deny illegal Haitian migrants the ability to disembark on our shores.” In the 2018 decision Trump v. Hawaii, the Supreme Court interpreted Section 1182(f) as granting broad presidential authority to suspend the entry of aliens
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.
ExCTL, currently majority of financial aid comes from federal source. It is great that CT uses FAFSA here. There are other state that explicitly provide student aid for illegals. I have no problem with that, it is up to the voters of the state. A side of effect of central powers given to Feds is also that state powers became weaker and there is less competition, leading to most seats being non-competitive. Bring more power back to states, and the passions invested in electing a president will convert into local elections.
Btw, current presidency advertised their upgrades to FAFSA (and then failed to make the site work). There was one change that affected Jews among others – “family index” changed to “student index”, that is they are not taking into account other children in the family being in college at the same time. This was _not_ heavily advertised. We just bunched up 3 college students at the same time and felt good that we can finally fill out FAFSA but then saw what it does… I wish we had a first amendment that would let newspapers tell us what the government is doing to us…
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 counterfactualfake > Should I commit fraud or eat a piece of USDA American cheese?
We should also distinguish between Cheese and American cheese.
> where someone chose to go with Cholov Yisroel and fraud.
Although we are not allowed to believe this story, it is hilarious. Presuming the victim figured out the trick (say, he heard this happened to someone else) – could he substitute the stam cheese instead: as this was not baal nefesh, there is no good reason wasting perfectly good money. If the lender would suddenly agree to lend the money, he would take the cheese back immediately.
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.
Look up Taanis 20b, story of R Eliezer b Shimon not responding and insulting some ugly ruffian – because he was so happy from his learning. The ugly person (possible Eliyahu ] refuses to forgive, and then gives several interesting statements to people who came to great the Rov:
– if he is your rabi, there should not be more (rabo) like this in Israel
– I’ll forgive him for your sake
– on the condition, he should not become accustomed to talk like thisIt seem that he clearly does not want many teachers like that (even as R Eliezer was begging for forgiveness) but is going to compromise so that whole town will be without a teacher. He also hopes for gradual improvement in middos, not complete.
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.
KGN, “Islamism” as a radical movement is not totality of Muslims. At least in theory.
golden age also had ups and downs, depending on a local ruler.
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).
“And it’s also goodbye Chalav Stam if he gets his way with neutering the FDA.”
Neville > Baruch Hashem.A parallel to DST threat and very revealing attitude: you just don’t care about lives of fellow Yidden who don’t do things my way.
A parallel to the thread on a shul directing clothes: one reason for Yidden to daven together is for a person to think about others during davening. That is, a self-centered merchants may daven for dry weather, forgetting that the farmer needs rain (and, of course, he himself will have nothing to sell next year if the farmer does not get the harvest). So, let’s not let those Yidden into our minyanim, so that we won’t bother about their problems.
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.
at least we seem to agree that sqrt(2) ain’t rational. And he has a non-identical twin -1.414. I also wonder whether sqrt(-2)s are their imaginary quadruplets.
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).
gobrit, I don’t deny potential problems, but smartphones are not that different from all other objects in our life. You can get addicted to candies and to shouting at your children, and your bike can take you to inappropriate neighborhood – maybe not as fast as internet.
Still, it makes sense to start with basics – spend time with children, teach them good life habits and interests, use phones (or better computers) to do good and interesting things. This should be the first line of defense.
> With regard to how it effects children if their teacher has a smartphone, they don’t know if the device is filtered or not so
The idea that children should police how their teachers use the phones is beyond ridiculous. Next, police should not be wearing weapons because children don’t know whether policeman knows how to use the weapons? Start teaching those kids middos. This school clearly failed so far.
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.
Foreign relations – of course, but colleges and day schools is red herring: they depend on federal money because Feds took our money and now give it to colleges and schools. States should be able to provide scholarship for poor students, both schools and colleges. I am not against federal funds for research, primarily because I am nogea b’davar 🙂
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 > Absolutely, whole communites do and should operate on this premise! I am not so haughty that I can say that I do all my mitzvos lishma. Only our greatest tzadikim reached that level. Why stop at clothes? Why not do away with anything that helps us overcome the yetzer hara?
That is a good question. I don’t know where the border is. Quoting a charedi Rav: if you do halakha, you can rely on Sh’A to give you an answer. The danger of doing chumros – there is no S’A to rely on, and ein l’davar sof.
But, as I said before – I am not necessarily telling people to change their behaviors, I am just suggesting to be respectful to those who do not follow your ways. Maybe here is the issue: If you are drinking coffee in beis midrash, you know you are doing a kullah, you are not looking down at those who are not drinking. [Once a rav stopped drinking in beis midrash when the class was finished. The student suggested learning another blatt to finish the drink. The Rav responded “I am drinking to learn, not learning to drink ].
BUT When you accept a chumrah/neder to protect yourself from yetzer hara, yetzer hara turns around and makes you feel that your chumrah makes you holier – and even others less so. I-forgot-who (R Yishmael?) says in Nedarim that he only once ate from a korban of a nazir who was really sincere….
So, when a whole community takes this upon themselves, the result could be looking down at others.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 …”
Here is R Twersky on low self-esteem in 3 different formats:
https://www.torahweb.org/torah/special/2008/dtwe_esteem.html
> CNN-level quoting
I just brought that issue for a reference, I didnt attack someone based on a misquote. Next, you’ll say that I don’t value him enough because 1.414 is less than sqrt(2)amom > power of the president via executive actions seems to grow by president.
right. A big part of it is that FEDERAL powers are growing covering things that used to belong to states. With so much on their plate, congress is not capable of dealing with all issues. Congress is supposed to be creating general laws for the country by coming to a country-wide consensus, not regulations for any minor issue. No surprise, they are failing at this job. Then, naturally, the President gets a chance to do executive orders.
Thus, getting things back to states is the way to deal with Presidential overreach. It is not only makes thing “local”, it also creates competition between states, giving people choices under which laws they want to live.Haimy> Rav Chaim Voloziner in Nefesh Hachaim states that even when those Gedolei olom were involved in business, they were thinking in learning.
This is an interesting sugya. One challenge in modern work here is that it is mostly intellectual. Even during Chaim Volozhiner times, in his surroundings, people still could have worked sitting and putting shoes together. Not now. Even plumbers spend a serious amount of time figuring out where the pipes are going and dealing with clients.
But even modern professionals have some time. Commute is one (thanks for tapes and now zoom recordings). Many meetings are great (here is where learning Mishna by heart helps). Just make sure the meeting is truly meaningless, so there is no geneiva. We also have now lights, cars, internet texts, babysitters, home deliveries that are surely giving us extra time to learn. Chofetz Chaim suggests thanking Hashem for trains (that just reached him) thinking how much more comfortable the travel became. Think, what brocha he would say on zoom and how much money he would have saved by posting on YWN instead of carrying his seforim around!
Haimy > Rav Chaim Voloziner in Nefesh Hachaim states that even when those Gedolei olom were involved in business, they were thinking in learning.
> permit taking money from other’s in order to learn because it’s impossible to become great in Torah otherwise in the later generations.True. And there are other great reasons for current charedi lifestyle beyond earlier poskim. Charedim are, so far, way more successful than other groups in saving Yidden from assimilation and in building communities. What concerns me is that b’dieved became l’hathila. So, Chofetz Chaim himself was able to find time (*) to first work in a store, and then check the quality of printing of every sefer, and travel to sell them. Did he go against MB?! Of course not. So, any learner (and kal vehomer not learner) should ask himself whether he can be closer to Rambam’s ideal – can he not take tzedoka? can he not take non-Jewish charity intended for people who are not able to work? can he work once a week? can he learn a profession that will help all of the above? If these questions were honestly asked, we would see different outcomes.
Most important: in order to justify what they do, a lot of people find it necessary to disparage everything that is not like them. This seems almost necessary logically: it is hard to admit that you are doing something b’dieved and still have a strong self-esteem. So, the end result – community protects itself alright – staying in the midbar when surroundings are bad, according to Rambam quoted by Chazon Ish. But can we normalize midbar and say – this is what Hashem wants us to always do? At the end, Torah is Emes, not just a medicine protecting us from dangers.
(*) This is how Ch Ch saw time (tzait): Radin yeshiva students could not find a sefer quoted in MB, so they went to Ch Ch, thinking that he must have the sefer at home, as he quotes. Ch Ch said that they could take 30 minutes on a train to go to an Yid who has the sefer. To their surprise why he didn’t buy his own copy, Ch Ch said sefer is gelt, and gelt is tzait, and tzait is Toirah. Notice, he did not suggest getting a donation either …
HaKatan > as per all the gedolim, who condemned either their opinions and/or themselves.
this is not true and you should know it from this group. Why are you taking such risks of insulting Talmidei Chachamim (both the ones you do not like, and the ones you misquote)? For what? For a chance of winning the argument against people who can obviously scroll up the thread and see counter-examples? Is it some sort of psychological need to re-assure yourself. If it is the latter, maybe you should write these words on a piece of paper, keep it for yourself, and destroy it later when you feel stronger.
Even if the government will follow all RFK views (which I think it will not), this will be a very productive development. Presumably, the states will keep their own vaccine policies (that is RFK will not forbid vaccines, just not demand). Then, in a couple of years, it will be easy to see differences between the states and it will be not hard to adjust those – either at state level or by the future president. and
Given current vaccination levels, or lack thereof in some subgroups, the differences will not be drastic, but enough to be noticeable. Of course, the challenge will be for population to absorb the lessons. Covid experience shows that 50% of the population do not understand what “50%” means.
Haimy > The gedolei Torah throughout history were Jews who spent their entire lives studying Torah every waking moment.
How can you right something so demonstratably not true? Many amoraim were in business; Rambam was a doctor; Shamai a builder; R Huna had wineries; R Yohanan Hasandaler was a sandaler. It was a privilege given to talmidei chachamim – they were allowed to come to the market and sell before others (Bava Basra). R Salanter wanted to travel beyond the “pale” to visit Yidden there – so instead of doing it illegally like many did, he learned a profession of ink-maker and registered as such. Chofetz Chaim travelled around selling his own books (after making a mark on each sefer after checking that it was printed correctly).
really? It is in poor taste to fight about a levaya
haKatan > You have it backwards
Look, we are discussing an article from a pro-Z Rav, who quotes multiple traditional/charedi poskim. I am not saying all his arguments are convincing, but his gives you material to review. Can you respond to the references he is using? If you think he is not using those names the right away, it would be disrespect to the gedolim you do hold to correct (or at least clarify) the record.