Always_Ask_Questions

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Viewing 50 posts - 1,751 through 1,800 (of 8,110 total)
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  • in reply to: to tip or not to tip that is the question #2251706

    > try doing that these days and you risk having the tip aka the bowl of soup thrown at your face.

    Suddenly you are against the Gemora, sad …

    in reply to: Joe, I need your help here #2251705

    > Bread salt and water. If you have that, you have parnasah. The Rambam writes that a typical Baal Habayis works 3 hours a day and learns 8 hours a day.

    I absolutely agree here. We can live now reasonable comparing with previous generations and learn whole day with one change of clothes and no indoor plumbing.

    A more realistic solution would be to follow Rambam is to work 3 hours a day professionally and learn the rest of the time including teaching your own kids.

    in reply to: Joe, I need your help here #2251704

    DaMoshe, thx for the numbers. More precise would be to look at percentage in college by generation, not total population that includes previous generations. I think I posted these numbers here before. The fact that median US family now has two salaries makes it even harder for a traditional family where wife spends some time caring for the family. So, a man should earn twice over median income for the family to be median. Apply R Moshe’s approach and estimate the numbers.

    in reply to: Joe, I need your help here #2251430

    > There are many jobs today that a person can make a nice livelihood without the need for going to college

    this is less true now than in previous times. most college grads earn more than non-grads. Percentage of people going to college increased over time. Thus, you will be relatively in lower group without college. R Moshe wrote that one could live respectfully without college – at the time when only 5% of population went. So, it was easy to be in top 10% without college. Now, 50% go to college, so you’ll be below average.

    I am not saying it is wrong to live humbly, as long you are ok with that, your wife and children are ok with that, and you are not a taker – welfare, subsidized medicine, tzedoka, reduced tuition, etc

    in reply to: to tip or not to tip that is the question #2251426

    Am I right that in gemora or earlier times, one was supposed to leave some food on a plate as a tip to the waiter? Forgot the source.

    in reply to: Is Claudine Gay’s Resignation Good News? #2251429

    The situation seems similar to Jewish eastern european left-wing politicians in 1920s who pressed league of nations to improve minority rights in their small countries. it was in league’s charter. They were partnering w Germany and Soviet Russia who also were registered as minorities in their countries. I dont think they complained about treatment of Jews in USSR, but they tried when Jews were mistreated by Nazis. League replied that German Jews are not on their official list of minorities… same disappointment now …

    in reply to: Is Claudine Gay’s Resignation Good News? #2251427

    She just published an aggressive oped, where she laments racist and right wing attacks – on her and her cherished ideology. In theory, a person can hold bad views or be incompetent. Doesnt have to be both at the same time, but she is. Says that she fell into a trap – but you got to be both to fall there. Three of them, three times in a row each. And she is boke on race – most of her papers are in a journal of … race and something else. This is like Summers not being able to answer whether he condemns inflation.

    in reply to: Is it assur to wish a goy a “Happy New Year”? #2251180

    Do pro-putin posters here wish NY on Jan 13 to their julian contacts? as this is not tied to a current secular calendar , maybe a bigger avak of AZ

    in reply to: Is Claudine Gay’s Resignation Good News? #2251179

    jack, most prominent scientist would not be able to plagiarize half of their papers – she did because she did not publish much. Compare her with say Larry Summers. Read her papers

    in reply to: About Yahya Sinwar #2250817

    yid, I bet there are online betting sites that track this chance. I bet he is checking that site often. Wondering how the odds changed today after another hamas guy was eliminated

    SQRT, thank you for the meal last shabbos , it was wonderful, but of course you subsidized your own wife instead of using professional chef, food was not to my taste and the portions were small.

    in reply to: Is it assur to wish a goy a “Happy New Year”? #2250805

    > Regardless of how goyim today view the new year,

    seems that this is a difference of opinion on facts, not halocha. My reading is that most of Europe took on Jan 1 in 16th century and later to unify calendars – and taxes – with no religious significance. Maybe even opposite, as some places before used their holidays to start a year. I read French Edict of Roussillon of 1564 and it is not about religion. That some churches celebrate a bris day or other is not important unless you are talking to someone who is on the way to church to celebrate. Then wishing him happy holiday is a problem, but a new year is still not.

    in reply to: Is it assur to wish a goy a “Happy New Year”? #2250840

    doom, cat, switch to counting years this way happened somewhere in 8-9th centuries unrelated to when the new year is. So, when say Eastern Roman Empire used Jan 1 counting from anti-xian emperor Diocletian – was it a problem then?

    in reply to: Is it assur to wish a goy a “Happy New Year”? #2250579

    Menachem, your ref is interesting but most of the material appears to be not Alter Rebbe, but a self-described shochet, posek, and more. Story of Berdichiver and L Rebbe wishing Yidden new year is interesting, do you know more of their motivation?

    in reply to: Speakers by rally #2250563

    I am not a slow thinker in this case, just a slow reader. Reading a book of R Soloveichiks letters… not finished yet.

    in reply to: Is it assur to wish a goy a “Happy New Year”? #2250562

    coffee, T Ch pay taxes that are user fees for services they use. They also are known for following dina dmalhuta
    pekak, if goyim abandon az, it has no significance. Jan 1 is not a religious holiday anymore as far as I know

    > USA military aid to Israel is NOT a free gift

    these are not good arguments. Help, even conditional, is important and requires appropriate gratitude. You sound like a welfare recipient who says that the country is better off by giving him money because he is not breaking into stores or is a great lamdan.

    in reply to: Speakers by rally #2250533

    Saw R Soloveichik rejecting joining C- rabbis in some organization in 1950s, bringing a hiluk – we as Eida, community of witnesses, can not cooperate or compromise with those who are not eidim of that tradition. On the other hand, all Jews are connecte thru our common history. In concentration camps, ashes of tzadikim were mixed up with ashes of atheists … Am has shoresh im – together. So, in all political issues we should stand together with other Jews and there should be no disunity in front of non-Jews as this will endanger some Jew somewhere.

    in reply to: side effect of the war #2250510

    > increase in meshulahim … lack of tourist

    maybe many donors found worthy projects related to supporting wounded soldiers , so meshulahim go more to places where they do not say misheberach for chayalim

    in reply to: Academia #2250511

    It is that you know current events in detail, while old events from brief descriptions in bad history books. Maybe go to a library and open papers from hundred or fifty years ago and you might see opinions even worse than current.

    in reply to: Is it assur to wish a goy a “Happy New Year”? #2250505

    if you pay taxes according to goyishe calendar, you can say ”Happy New Year” You can be thankful for the country to keep a calendar in general that allows orderly business activity and elections. Especially for keeping a week in their calendar and even making shabbos a non-working day.

    in reply to: Academia #2249975

    coffee, my father oh had an engineering degree. Transferred well between continents.

    in reply to: Chofetz Chaim says bless those you don’t love, pray they see moshioch #2249974

    Menachem, exactly

    in reply to: Chofetz Chaim says bless those you don’t love, pray they see moshioch #2249746

    Bava Kama discusses the right height for skilah to make it most comfortable – given the circumstances. so, ahava applies to everyone

    in reply to: what’s the yichus of yichus? #2249744

    > I never made any kiss

    that is not the question, the question is – do you sometimes have second thoughts before pressing a submit button – would your zeidy post that?

    in reply to: Academia #2249718

    > unlikely that the country will remain a good place for Jews,

    there was a poignant letter to NYT recently
    ..My father fled [Germany] in 1939.. My father had passed the German law bar and was taking postgraduate courses to enter the German diplomatic corps. When he fled to the U.S. his German law degree was useless. So he started sweeping floors in a factory .. Eventually he was able to go back to college at night in the U.S., .. He got his bachelor’s degree in economics.
    When I asked him why he didn’t pursue a law degree here as he had in Germany, he said, “If I ever had to flee this country I didn’t want to have another useless law degree.”
    I said, “Dad, you’d never have to flee the U.S.!”
    And he replied, “That’s what I thought in Germany.”

    in reply to: Academia #2249717

    > some “modern” Orthodox do change their personal names and modify their appearance so they won’t look “too” Jewish

    this used to be a norm for most Jewish professionals until lately. Not just out of fear of anti-semites but simply not to impose on professional relationship, especially for public-facing professions, such as politicians, doctors, lawyers. So maybe we should see latest setbacks in the larger context

    in reply to: Anyone else long for when restaurants were simpler #2249715

    > when we had to walk to school uphill, both ways?

    you had to actually get out of the house to log into a class, grandpa?

    in reply to: Beware of Scams!! #2249713

    > owner has long peyos and long beard.

    if someone uses a picture in a black hat, does not mean that it is his photo, of course. He might have another picture in a kefiya for a different scam..

    in reply to: Chris Christie – why can’t Jews rally around him? #2249719

    > Why do Jews vote progressive Democrat?

    If you are not a liberal when you are young, you do not have a heart. So all Jews have a big heart.

    in reply to: what’s the yichus of yichus? #2249690

    common: Two things never impressed me,

    you and rav Yehuda … I think we discussed how he made fun of someone being introduced based on yichus : if he deserves it, no need to mention it, and if he does not, it is worse for him

    I know someone with a great yichus, gradually reducing over generations, and I have a feeling that he would be happier having a different name

    in reply to: If You Were a Goy #2249691

    Menachem> Is this really appropriate from someone who is the purpose of creation and the entire universe is being created for him to behave this way right now?

    Exactly, so you are not going to take advantage of the nonJew in any way, even when it is possible al pi din – say, he makes a mistake.

    in reply to: If You Were a Goy #2249470

    > they were created FOR the perpose

    I wonder how all of these theories affect our behavior. Starting with sefer bereshis, we see avos interacting respectfully with all kind of people. Hopefully, you are following those examples.

    in reply to: Why the Hostage Posters Are So Terrible #2249232

    > If a fellow’s grandfather lit your house on fire, and then his grandson had a change of heart

    in addition to this correction, only a multi-generational Yerushalmi can complain like that. Other anti-Zs came to EY under Z protection.

    in reply to: what’s the yichus of yichus? #2249230

    How it works out in modern social environment. If you see that too many people with yichus turning out to be the most worthy heirs of their fathers, it may be an indication of weakened tradition of merit rather than zechus of yichus,. After all, a teacher in a modern institution may have hundreds of students… if he is a good teacher, it is likely that at least one of that hundred will be better than a son.

    in reply to: what’s the yichus of yichus? #2249196

    R Dessler – it gets you a higher initial position on a sulam Yaakov, but it is up to you whether you’ll go up or down from there.

    in reply to: Academia #2249187

    You will need to show some hard numbers to convince me that things are worse now than before. Commies run humanity departments for many years, and math and engineering departments are not involved in that . One thing that did change is that more people are now going to college, so some who used to get their news and views from pubs, now get them from commie professors.

    in reply to: Why the Hostage Posters Are So Terrible #2249184

    Menachem
    > I would DEFINITELY add extra tefillos for you – regardless of your ideology.

    A good question that people need to confront. I am thinking of those who are adding tehilim but avoid any mention of soldiers. Say, you are jumping into a fire to save someone’s child and the parent says – thank Hashem for saving my child, would you appreciate his deep religiosity, and will Hashem ?

    in reply to: Chris Christie – why can’t Jews rally around him? #2249025

    should be “on her heels”. I think she is running for VP and will be a good one

    in reply to: Joseph vs squeak Nittul Nacht Chess #2249024

    Menachem, thanks, so Lubavitcher shita is to do as locals do … what do shluchim do in Russia or Muslim countries or in EY?

    in reply to: Joseph vs squeak Nittul Nacht Chess #2248969

    It seems that the previous cr psak was to follow orthodox minhag of nittel by Julian calendar as the nittel minhag started there. But I think lately Ukraine decided to decamp from their murderous brothers and join their western cousins under gregorian calendar. So, it may not make sensany more for us to follow old minhag. Not many Yidden lived under Russia proper, and now rov of the pale is under gregorian celebrations. Unless you are lubavich or belorussian litvish.

    in reply to: Joseph vs squeak Nittul Nacht Chess #2248902

    I found an interesting idea in R Soloveichik letter about our relationships with nonjews: if we were more open about Jewish ideas during Hellenism times, then the world would have accepted these ideas from us rather than seen them as Chiddushim of a new religion.

    in reply to: If You Were a Goy #2248634

    You don’t need to convince a nonjew that you are learning kabolah and he doesn’t. Just be a mench. Avraham was respected by neighbors not because of his special relationship with Hashem, but because he did chesed and derech eretz
    If you only talk to them when you need to save a chicken 🐔, you are doing it not like avot did.

    in reply to: If You Were a Goy #2247898

    I once jokingly asked a Chinese restaurateur whether he finds it hard to deal with such clientele. He said – no, it is great, customers do not get into fights and pay their bills …

    But, seriously, hope everyone here behaves so that their non-Jewish neighbors invite their friends to see what real chesed is.

    in reply to: New refrigerator #2247857

    Having a fridge is showing lack of bitachon. Why are you stacking food. Surely, Hashem will provide for you tomorrow. Next, you will start stashing money into a pension fund instead of paying full tuition today. bitachon.

    in reply to: I guess ChaBaD is Zionist now? #2247854

    I understand why people want to get to the higher level quickly, but you may be underestimating prerequisites … people talk about age, knowing halocho, but look at Kiddushin 71: The forty-two-letter name of God may be transmitted only to one who is discreet, and humble, and stands at at least half his life, and does not get angry, and does not get drunk, and does not insist upon his right

    Are you even at minimum level in these middos? Are you saying that your rebbeim figured out shortcuts to skip these? If yes, why are you so interested in taking these shortcuts instead of working on yourself? This is like running a marathon and getting a ride for a part of it.

    in reply to: About Yahya Sinwar #2246991

    Arabic is also right to left, so no inversion.

    in reply to: Reasons for the Dreidel #2246448

    not my idea: we eat oily burned food to show that we are not going to stay in shape to run in Olympic games

    my idea: we are rejecting greek idea of determinism by playing random games. So, dreidel looks like a perfect symmetric polygon that greeks loved so much, but we ten take it for a gut yiddishe spin – in circles – with irrational lengths and, most importantly, into an predictable trajectory destroying the idea of determinism. In the simplest and most visible way.

    It is like Albert – “G-d does not play games” Einstein visits Nils Bohr for Chanuka and Nils, instead of spewing quantum formulas, simply spins the dreidel and asks Albert to predict the letter. Tiuvta Einstein Tiuvta.

    A modern version is low predictability of weather despite all sensors and computers we got.

    in reply to: Joe, I need your help here #2246456

    n0mesorah, thanks for going to the page! I understand Rabbi Meir responding to preceding contradiction – first a long discussion about challenges in many professions and then Rabbi saying that we, as a society, need all jobs, so you are or are not lucky to be born in a family with clean business.

    So, Rabbi Meir says not to worry too much about choosing most earning profession (wall street), just do an easy and clean one and work well (software engineer), and Hashem will provide according to your zechuyot in that job.

    in reply to: About Yahya Sinwar #2246450

    > “Sin” is the word for China

    and WAR is short for Wa-gne-r – disbanded russian militants who probably helped out also

    > SINWAR = Sin + War

    and if you remove capital letters from above, you get iran in atbash.

Viewing 50 posts - 1,751 through 1,800 (of 8,110 total)