Always_Ask_Questions

Forum Replies Created

Viewing 50 posts - 1,551 through 1,600 (of 8,851 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • in reply to: BAN SEAFRIA. #2336469

    As your link says, “sheets”. Sefaria has classical texts, and then they allow users to create their own sheets. The texts are reliable.
    I don’t think they are policing the sheets, at least not too heavily. I usually go from texts, and usually see sheets consisting of references to the texts.

    If you are a user yourself, you should know this difference. If you are using sefaria for school, put a filter on https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/.

    in reply to: President-Elect Donald J. Trump #2336364

    here are thoughts about T’s influence on wars against Israel from a lefty “newspaper”:
    Iran’s swing from tough talk to a more conciliatory tone in just a few weeks’ time has its roots in developments at home and abroad.
    Five Iranian officials, one of them a Revolutionary Guards member, and two former officials said the decision to recalibrate was prompted by Mr. Trump winning the Nov. 5 election, with concerns about an unpredictable leader who, in his first term, pursued a policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran.
    But it was also driven by Israel’s decimation in Lebanon of Hezbollah — the closest and most important of Iran’s militant allies — and by economic crises at home, where the currency has dropped steadily against the dollar and an energy shortage looms as winter approaches. …

    [current Iranian officials] said Iran suspended plans to strike Israel following Mr. Trump’s election because it did not want to exacerbate tensions with the incoming administration, which was already lining up cabinet nominees who were hostile to Iran and staunch supporters of Israel. Mr. Trump’s stated plans to end the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, however, appealed to Iran, the officials said.

    in reply to: Cleaning lady article #2336246

    Coffee, the practice seems to be widespread way above special circumstances. And in my neighborhood, people who have difficulties get help from Jewish teens.

    in reply to: Has YWN abandoned the CR? #2336245

    Maybe CR can go to post-censorship: posters who pass enough and after basic keyword or chatGPT check get their posts posted automatically, and then reviewed if there are complaints (maybe have a complaint button). After being post-censored, the poster goes back into pre-censorship pool.

    Another option: the post is released to certain readers first and if they do not complain, posted for everyone.

    in reply to: McGee Toyota #2336244

    Eli > please demand every verbal concession in writing, including any promises of delivery, and a time frame in which it will occur.

    Eli, hope you get it going. It seems that you were signing a 5-digit dollar contract, you should obviously put things in writing. As you experience showed, it is pretty easy to force the terms after they are signed.

    in reply to: ‘No Hat, No Jacket, No Davening?’: A Shul’s Sign Challenges Unity #2336243

    Neville > If someone were anti-hat, but also anti-mask, they would get a pass in my book, but I doubt that’s the case. For those who aren’t, they need to take a serious look at themselves and whom they are having respect for in the world: fellow frum Torah-observant yidden, or blue-haired, atheist, commie scientists who believe there are 72 genders and that everyone should be psychotically germaphobic.

    This is crazy. Torah observant yidden wore multi-colored clothes, caps, and turbans centuries before someone decided that black hats are in.

    And this is against the gemorah too – that advises not to impersonate Talmid Chacham and to close windows or flee during an epidemics.

    in reply to: ‘No Hat, No Jacket, No Davening?’: A Shul’s Sign Challenges Unity #2336242

    DaMoshe > common: Do you really not see a difference? There is no chiyuv to have liquor at a kiddush.

    Really? Not in my Sh’A. Now I see that I have something common with common.

    in reply to: You wanted an insane dictator? You got him! #2335596

    defense pick is being accused of being insanely pro-Israel.

    in reply to: ‘No Hat, No Jacket, No Davening?’: A Shul’s Sign Challenges Unity #2335595

    common> this is not about minhagim this is about common

    But what can I do – my humbleness exceeds my courtesy. If I feel I am not at the level of Talmidei Chachamim and me dressing like that would be hutzpah and hillul Hashem, does it mean I am not allowed to daven with Talmidei Chachamim and with people who have no problem dressing like Talmidei Chachamim?

    I was never told by a Talmid Chacham that I should leave davening because my presence or dress offends him. So, this settles the first item. From a kal vahomer, the second group should not object either.

    And indeed why should my humbleness be offensive to someone anyway? I am not asking them to take their shtreimels off. Next, you’ll throw reb Zusya out of your shul.

    in reply to: A lot of DL Bashing Charedim Lately #2335594

    >Rav Elchonon refused to even step into the YU building when invited, when he was in the United States.

    This was apparently a minority opinion at a time. R Schkop, R Kotler, and many others were not avoiding Yeshiva college building. Also, looking into that further – it seems that Rav Elchonon personally read German philosophy (Kant) and Russian newspapers … apparently, he opposed teaching Torah and science in the same building.

    Relevant to this topic, when discussing great Jewish figures, R Spektor [RIETS named after him] is a great one (future Chofetz Chaim came to him for hashgoha), and he supported Chovevei Tzion.

    in reply to: Day of Tefila Today from the Moatzos Gedolei Hatorah #2334723

    > trying to force them out of the Bais Medrash
    > We want to protect everyone, learners AND non-learners

    a stira, or a silly attempt at gnivas daas. But if you are such a tzaddik why not protect everyone in EY and call to disband tzahal?

    I am not sure I understand motivation of people who try to fool someone else in an anonymous debate. You are not getting any benefits in this world ..
    If you think you get some brownie points in olam haboh for lying, something is wrong with your hashkofah. Hashem’s signing cert is “emes”.

    in reply to: A lot of DL Bashing Charedim Lately #2334722

    anonJ> It’s difficult to equate pre-Holocaust positions to what Reb Elchonon Wasserman might might have held had he survived.

    a very good point. In general, it is a very different thing to have an attitude towards an idea, a hopeful development, and a de-facto successful country with actual “people an animals” (Yona)

    R Eliashev (at least) once said (on a minor topic) “I do not have ruach hakodesh”. I don’t know about others, but possible some of them also did not. So, their opinions towards early Zionists may not be the same as now several generations later.

    Look (repeating myself) at Bava Basra description of development of educational system – it is purely pragmatic: different systems are tried over several generations until a successful one is developed. So, T’Ch did not always have ruach hakodesh then also, but it did not stop them from acting. They did not say – see, schools are bad, let’s keep everyone ignorami.

    Apply same approach to Medinah – Rabbonim saw early problems, made political decisions, this was repeated several times, situation now is a result of time passed and their actions. It is a practical question what to do now, and reverting to old opinions in new circumstances is not an answer.

    in reply to: A lot of DL Bashing Charedim Lately #2334716

    Litvish > one who said “Kook Shnook” was not the Chofetz Chaim

    I just wanted to ask whether Chofetz Chaim was known to use such language towards anyone else. I saw his writings about non-religious organizations and his words are sometimes strong but never silly. I don’t know about oral usage, of course.

    in reply to: A lot of DL Bashing Charedim Lately #2334713

    DaMoshe > When the Rav passed away, the minhag was changed.

    If we were talking about some other issue, like the color of the socks or form of the hat – such a statement will be unthinkable. But here – nobody protested the honor of the Rav?!

    in reply to: The Good Biden Has Done #2334455

    coffee, our liberal kanoyim think that they know better what is good for Israel than the elected Israeli PM

    in reply to: ‘No Hat, No Jacket, No Davening?’: A Shul’s Sign Challenges Unity #2334454

    Common, I am all for respecting minhagim, but just because something is very popular does not make it into a legit minhag. If the generation many of us remember would not dress up as T’Ch unless they are sure of their learning and behavior, it is worthy to emulate them despite social pressure.

    Your position seems to call for dressing like Reform when visiting (although visiting is forbidden per se, so my question is purely theoretical).

    in reply to: accounting profession #2333891

    While not being a bokeh in accounting, I agree with Chaim that having an independent profession is valuable, and especially in our time. And so says Gemora requiring teaching umanut. Now, after having a profession, you can always try your hand in business, whether related to your profession or not, but you can always fall down back onto your profession. This will prevent anxiety for your family and yetzer hara to do business in a dishonest way.

    in reply to: Day of Tefila Today from the Moatzos Gedolei Hatorah #2333890

    on the substance of your argument: > trying to force them out of the Bais Medrash and into a secularizing immoral army

    This was discussed already – if younwant to protect learners, you should double down on
    (1) sending those in the community who are not in yeshiva to the Army
    (2) introducing a transparent verification system about who is actually learning
    (3) working with other religious Jews on strengthening religious units in the Army

    you can easily learn this from mussar that tells you to verify that your positions are not caused by your interests. One example, Alter from Slobodka decided not to visit certain dignitary visiting town. To make sure, he is doing it for the right reasons and not out of convenience, he walked to the hotel, stopped there, reviewed his decision, and walked back home. If Alter was not sure about his own motivations, others could try that also.

    in reply to: Day of Tefila Today from the Moatzos Gedolei Hatorah #2333889

    I know of your no true scotsman gedolim. I am not arguing about their positions, HV. I am just pointing out what the day of tefilah is about, as the post & article were not clear. I thought I am doing a service for the organizers. I don’t think you would want people disagreeing with you joining in this tehilim event. After all, Hashem may decide to listen to their voice rather than yours and this will mess up the whole event.

    in reply to: ‘No Hat, No Jacket, No Davening?’: A Shul’s Sign Challenges Unity #2333888

    To support DaMoshe more generally, I heard in the name of R Zelig Epstein – he was asked how Mir Yeshiva was able to leave Vilno despite daas Torah – R Ozer’s psak to the contrary. His response – that was not an issue as it was before daas Torah (implicit as you write – for Litvakim ).

    in reply to: ‘No Hat, No Jacket, No Davening?’: A Shul’s Sign Challenges Unity #2333887

    DaMoshe, > old mashgiach, Reb Nosson Wachtfogel, wouldn’t dare wear a black hat

    Online pictures show R Wachtfogel in a hat, so he at least owned one for occasions … As to ordinary life, I am trying to recall, I had once an opportunity to go for a walk with him and his grandson. His grandson def was in a hat, but I can’t recall what R Wachtfogel was wearing, as I was listening rather than watching …

    in reply to: A lot of DL Bashing Charedim Lately #2333886

    PS As we are told to go to shoftim of our times and not to previous times, similarly, “modern” is relative to the science of the time, not of future times.

    in reply to: A lot of DL Bashing Charedim Lately #2333885

    akuperma > No one was “modern” before “modern” times, almost by definition

    This is a superficial view. I think many were modern and many were not. Rabban Gamliel owned some astronomical instruments and had 1000 students trained in modern studies while other 1000 in Torah studies. Rambam was knowledgeable in philosophy and astronomy of his time (maybe coincidental with a brief stay in Fes where the Fes medrasa is considerd by some a first modern university). Others did not like that and banned Rambam. In our days, there are “chareidi” Rabbis who may not have great science education but are happy to discuss implications of modern science and social sciences, ask probing questions, and consider what it means for halakha and Jewish life. As modern science is “closed”, i.e. expert in one area is not an expert in another, such Rabbis are not different from physicists who do not know computer science.

    in reply to: Understanding בינה #2333884

    you can start with this equation:
    Bina = Chabad – Chochma – Daas.

    in reply to: Trump Cheated The Election’s! #2333512

    I can’t recall any members of Biden administration with any significant positions. I think there are 2 that rhyme ending with en, but they look the same, hard to tell which one is jewish. Obama had maybe a couple. Most Republicans had lots of colorful figures, including Trump the first. Trump II looks to be interesting

    in reply to: Israel Seminary – Pros, Cons Etc. #2333511

    Many girls should not be marrying that early, they can use this time to acquire a profession or do some chesed… but some say that seminary is the most important item on the shidduch resume: some think that lack of it means lack of observance, others simply use type of the seminary to understand the derech and wouldn’t look further without this indicator.

    in reply to: ‘No Hat, No Jacket, No Davening?’: A Shul’s Sign Challenges Unity #2333510

    You had to reveal this?@ now some people when they hear someone having a smicha from r Moshe would ask – what year?

    in reply to: Disciplining Your Kids #2333509

    She doesn’t need to logout and keep us worrying about her and her family. I’d rather hear what her rebbe and council have to say. Maybe she can help others with this information.

    in reply to: Understanding בינה #2333508

    Someone just became a bokeh in Maharal, r Hirsh, r Soloveitchik and r Kook. Nes gadol.

    in reply to: Day of Tefila Today from the Moatzos Gedolei Hatorah #2333346

    as you perfectly know, there are Talmidei Chachamim with different opinions on the subject. So, you either happened to be born in a shul with a certain opinion or you chose to follow a certain gadol.

    I have no problem with different shitos, and I was just highlighting that the kol koreh was not described clearly in the article, when saying ” have issued a call for Klal Yisroel in the Diaspora to unite with our brethren in Eretz Yisroel” . Some people may think that this is in support of whole brethren in EY, while in fact it is in support of brethren who refuse to go to Tzahal. So, I just wanted to make sure readers understand the context and join or not accordingly.

    I don’t think you would like people to join a kol koreh without understand what it stands for, do you?

    in reply to: Tutoring in Yeshivot in EY – A LOSE/LOSE DEAL #2332709

    Teaching Torah without pay seems to be the best way of teaching. As you already show great level of bitachon, being in kollel and such – why do you find this a problem. And I do not understand why you got offended by the student who offered you shekalim. You could have simply showed him to the pushka or suggest to give it someone who needs it, giving him one more lesson in Torah-appropriate behavior.

    in reply to: Disciplining Your Kids #2332708

    eshis, you seem to be coming with the same question annually. It strongly suggest that your methods, following your mother’s methods, may be bordering on abuse. Please find the nicest Rabbi in your community and consult him. I do not understand why you didn’t seek advice earlier.

    in reply to: Adopt a dog. It’s a chesed. #2332707

    Obviously, Jews, like everyone else, lived in close proximity with animals, from dogs to cows to donkeys to goats and chickens … As long as you follow relevant halochos, you can have an animal. So, the only question is whether the current use as a pet justifies the effort as much as owning a donkey to carry things justified it in previous centuries.

    in reply to: Am I A Hypocrite? Or Just Plain Selfish? #2332706

    > come from an “Orthodox Shul”

    Pre WW2, some American Jews considered European Torahs to be inferior quality. Why was that? Because Europeans would sell good Torahs locally and send worse ones to the Americans … Not sure what the status is now, but I would not be surprised that quality (including of checking) would be lower for customers who are not as good in understanding the quality.

    in reply to: ‘No Hat, No Jacket, No Davening?’: A Shul’s Sign Challenges Unity #2332705

    fakenews, thanks for the explanation. Still hard to understand why people would want to exclude other Yidden from a minyan.

    Maybe, if there are financial implications – say, visitors use too much heat, break furniture, and overuse parking lot.

    If they feel it is a “factory”, they can run the davening itself as they see proper – slower davening, extra piyutim.

    in reply to: Trump’s presidency #2332704

    first, lockdown policies were mostly run by states – as they should be.
    2nd – your views on lockdowns and similar measures are purely emotional, as overall deaths in USA, where lockdowns were not severe, were higher than in high-income countries with stricter policies.
    3rd – public positions of T and others were in some part political – to account for all the emotional responses we all had.

    The main role for the feds turned out to be vaccine development and delivery, with T succeeded spectacularly, and then B having mixed record delivering and updating vaccines to new variants. T could not run on this success, of course, because a sizeable portion of his voters are against vaccines …

    in reply to: Belz Blue #2332311

    They are in honor of the Tzahal Beltzer navy seal unit.

    in reply to: Day of Tefila Today from the Moatzos Gedolei Hatorah #2332310

    Please read carefully and join according to your view – this kol is a mixed message, both asking Hashem to protect Yidden in EY and also asking him to exempt the community from taking part in that defense.

    in reply to: Am I A Hypocrite? Or Just Plain Selfish? #2332309

    > main thing is that you shouldn’t talk during leining.

    Obviously, Wolf is trying to fulfil this by buying his sefer Torah and leining it. Do you think he will be talking between the pesukim?

    PS Even AAQ does not talk when called to the Torah, the time I am walking past others to the Torah is usually enough to exchange all the jokes I have for the day.

    in reply to: Trump’s presidency #2331726

    ok, sounds like all here fulfilled the mitzva of helping goyim to establish justice by voting (and said shehyanu for the first vote), now no need to get yourself into a pretzel trying to guess what T will do. He does not know it, CNN does not know it, and thus Xi and Putin do not know it.
    You can daven tefila that Hashem gives wisdom to the rules with extra intensity.

    in reply to: Should bochrim be going to goisheh sport games? #2331378

    yes, unless the bochur is taller. If he is not looking at all, he will end up bumping into the player, showing both disrespect to umos haoilam and endangering his own health. Of course, walking outside during learning hours was his first problem.

    in reply to: WHY DO LITVOCKS ALWAYS SAY TACHNUN?? #2331377

    Neville, you seem to be separating two trends:
    1) chassidim directly changing ashkenazi mesora based on sefardi, etc
    ok, so we all agree on these
    2) differences between central/southern european minhagim with Litvishe.
    maybe. why these became the issue? it is either increased contact (Austro-Hungarian empire?) or, maybe more likely, chassidic influence in previously litvishe areas bringing those minhagim in.

    in reply to: WHY DO LITVOCKS ALWAYS SAY TACHNUN?? #2331375

    to illuminate the discussion above:
    Rabbi Avi Shafran wrote an article in Jewish Observer about Mendelssohn where he says, exactly as above,

    > fact that many [frum] people have a visceral, automatic reaction to the name Mendelssohn – for whatever reason.

    In 2010 interview, he describes negative reaction from multiple members of Moetses, such as
    > In the Novominsker’s response, he wrote that the thing that the article may have accidentally obfuscated was that Mendelssohn’s philosophy is a synthesis, and a synthesis is bad. We can’t have a synthesis, it’s evil, it’s a total perversion of Torah… .. of Torah and secular studies. He then notes that Rav Hirsch’s philosophy is not a synthesis, and that’s why Rav Hirsch is different

    R Shafran then explains, in a view similar to mine, that he is not holding Mendelssohn as a halachik authority, but as a Jew who help certain opinions:

    > I think that Mendelssohn definitely embraced secular culture more, but he wasn’t a rabbi. In other words, I wasn’t extolling him as a Torah authority. I don’t think the Novominsker Rebbe was really addressing what I was addressing. I wasn’t putting Mendelssohn up as someone to emulate. I made very clear, he wasn’t a rabbi at all, he was a philosopher. He was, you know, his life was in the salons, not in the Beis Midrash. He made no claim otherwise! I was simply saying that as a Jew, we have a totally warped picture of who he was. He wasn’t a freethinking rejector of halacha, who ate treife meat privately. In Boro Park, if you ask them to act out Mendelssohn’s life in private, you know, they’d say: You take a piece of pork, be mechalel shabbos. He was meticulously observant! But [in my view,] he had some hashkafic fine points that didn’t click.

    in reply to: Imagine if ALL of Klal Yisroel acted this way #2331371

    pure > Hopefully it would be the same reversed, as we are Jews, driven by the Torah Hakdosha, not just empty politics…

    You can look at CR posts in 2020 and 2012 and maybe even 1976 and see what was said then.

    in reply to: Adopt a dog. It’s a chesed. #2331372

    besalel, good questions on your list are:
    > What if your dog scares others? Its a problem in Halocho.
    of course, you should not have a dog that scares
    > What about castrating the dog? Not really allowed
    There are 50% of dogs
    > What about tzaar baalei chayim?
    hopefully, you train your kids to be nice to the dogs. Hopefully, they’ll transfer this skill to humans
    > feed your dog before you eat. For the busy frum yid, its not so pashut.
    well, feeding kids for a busy yid is also not pashut.

    in reply to: President-Elect Donald J. Trump #2330925

    it is a legit question. There is a halakha that a man should not marry during chol hamoed, as not to mix two simchos, but is allowed to re-marry a wife he had previously divorced.

    Tosfos explain: only “isha hadasha” is a real simcha …

    So, a President re-elect will not have same celebration as the new one …

    Also, note that Pres Putin was able to interpret “not more than two presidency” into “no more than two consecutive terms”.
    So, why would not T-appointed supreme court interpret constitution the same way and let T run again?

    in reply to: Imagine if ALL of Klal Yisroel acted this way #2330924

    > can you imagine some Jewish person thinking an election outcome is something they should consider important?

    Can you imagine gemoras discussing how someone became a king or an emperor?

    in reply to: Adopt a dog. It’s a chesed. #2330923

    I’d rather be in this thread than in the one about presidential candidates.

    in reply to: Trump’s presidency #2330922

    my wish list is short:
    1) do not do anything crazy
    2) reduce the power of the presidency
    Not that I do not have any wishes, I am just confident Pres T will pursue them.

    I think many people here would agree with (1). But let me expound on (2):
    All the heat coming from Presidential elections is due to the fact that Presidents became responsible for everything – both things that used to belong to the states as federal government became more powerful; and also for policies that used to be done into laws by Congress that is lately stuck at neutral.

    This is unhealthy. As I heard from one Rav: it is not healthy to be “a Jew in heart”. You want to distribute your mitzvos to all part of the body – hand tefilin, mouth kosher, etc. Keeping all “in heart” may lead to a heart attack, H’V. Same for Presidency – if we let states collect taxes, do roads, medical insurance and student loans, then the presidential elections will be about wars, tariffs, and supreme courts – and most people do not even care about these things. States and towns will compete with each other on other issues and people who don’t like their local government can just move to another one.

    in reply to: Imagine if ALL of Klal Yisroel acted this way #2330530

    Beautiful.

Viewing 50 posts - 1,551 through 1,600 (of 8,851 total)