Always_Ask_Questions

Flying Al Italia (O’H) always ensured that you will daven with kavanah the whole way (and some extra time). A good chance, others were davening with you, so you can think you are in a minyan. I once enquired of Polish catholic stewardesses whether there is a place for davening and they said that the plane will definitely benefit from tefilos and cleared an area for me, and gave me extra raw carrots after that.

Someone needs to get this campaign to the wilde demonstrators

Romans were in England, so an Englishman can be addressed with “Et tu” on a chance he is a descendant of a Roman. Ditto, were non-Roman Jews.

if someone is serious about gun violence prevention, they should propose a legislation that has something for all sides. Better background checks balanced by some perks to responsible guy owners, so that the other side does not feel that they are losing ground even on issues that they could accept on the merits. Unfortunately, like most debates, this one becomes a game of partisan advantage, so there is blood on all their hands.

Does out-of-town kollel come with an obligation to teach the locals? So, it is also a p/t job situation. I always hear that fulltime learning is koidesh and can not be mixed up with anything else.

Doing his best> no one in the last 20 years that grew up in lakewood ever looked back and thought “I wish my elementary school/mesivta had more English.”

You may be right, but lack of awareness of a problem is in no way an indication that there is no problem.

Looking from outside, I can tell you that this is a thought of parents whose kids move to Lakewood or similar locations. One such “kid” I know whose working parents encouraged him to learn (possibly beyond his talents) later responded to their concerns that he is not gainfully employed – “you encouraged me to go in this direction” …

other than NYPD, all other actions will be in beis din. Will be interesting to see.

May not fully solve the problem but – leave the car in the shade, put curtains of the car esp in the sunny side, have the window a little opened so that it does not overheat inside (maybe not in NYC). You can also follow an old minhag of wearing tefilin the whole day.

Dr. Pepper, thanks for details. It is very similar to the system Cuba/USSR/China have – where central government gets to decide all issues in society. Note that most of “deciders” are not Talmudic scholars but have bachelor degrees in nothing. US used to have a similar system in defense until it was partially broken during Reagan times, with more robust competition introduced among a small number of suppliers.

As you describe it, the ACA-type systems favor large companies – not just by these required payments but, in general, by making compliance complicated and costly. Between accountants, lawyers, consultants and management time, small businesses can’t really deal with all the good intentions… Resulting consolidation, in return, justifies government intervention as the market is destroyed.

Avira > Quite ironically, the most sanitary courses are online, where you don’t have an institution and the presence of authority figures shaping your mind and getting inside your head.

Indeed, not sure why “ironically”. Still, some maturity and parental support is required. Show interest in the kid’s studies and peruse some of the material. For a thinking student, it is usually enough to point what is silly there and with encouragement, he’ll be showing what he discovered to avoid himself.

Desperate> you list a few good online colleges that offer b.s. in computer science?

I did not research CS per se. ASU in general is mid-level solid program with huge population and reasonable programs. Work for Starbucks or Uber and it is even free (read fine print). Look for ones that offer same programs (and diploma) for both offline and online programs, those are less likely to be scams. Some public colleges are a good deal, even when paying out of state tuition (online should be close to half cost of offline). U of Florida, U of Oregon, U of Indiana sounded good in some specialties I looked at.

Many of them take some number of transfers and CLEPs. There are cheap reasonable places that are good to do basic classes and transfer (for example, U of Maryland, global school, or something like that).

some companies allow first class if the exec goes directly to a meeting. So, those cheating VPs make sure they have a meeting on the day of arrival …

I never had yetzer hara to follow on that. I just sit in my armchair at home with a cup of wine and contemplate that people are paying huge money for several hours to sit like that.

Married women _are_ required to work even if they have enough servants. There are a lot of jobs that are problematic, and some – like Hollywood – might be more problematic for women while still not recommended for men. At the same time, a lot of jobs that are not challenging spirituality much, I think – from WFH software engineer to a neurosurgeon.

Historically, “jobs” often required either muscle strength or travel in dangerous environment, so those were not for women. At the same time, women with property (usually, inherited or gifted by the father) were able to do business – if they chose so, or let their husband to manage it.

Also, some say, that sometimes there is more danger in “heimishe businesses”. An observant person is on guard from non-kosher world, but in the environment where everyone is “kosher”, people can become more relaxed over time.

I agree with Rocky. This might be a judgement call depending on the people the Rav is dealing with – where they hold, does he have a long-term relationship with them, will they be unhappy not getting brocha, does he have a chance to affect this person and the whole community, will they just go to a different Rav and bother him … So, you can’t necessarily question different Rabonim coming to different conclusions, but you can try to understand their shitot if they ever commented about it.

In most countries, now and especially in earlier times, religions had to be officially recognized.

AAQ “OUR TIMES SEEMS TO BE THE FIRST IN HISTORY WHERE [SOME] JEWS ARE CLAIMING THAT THEIR MESORAH IS TO BE WILLFULLY IGNORANT.”

Avram> This is motzi shem ra.

To the opposite, I am defending the honors of mine (and maybe others’) ancestors who were not ignorant and insist that even now this is not true despite some here making a virtue out of ignorance.

Take a longer view – 250 years ago, population of Europe was way larger than USA. Then, for some reason, they/we all started moving here. So, something is done right in the American system in general. When comparing expenditures, you may want to

(1) review outcomes by different social/ethnic groups – USA is full of newcomers and groups of problematic population. Try comparing a person with origins in say UK or France n both countries

(2) make sure you compare all expenditures in European countries – cost of government policies gets diffused in many areas. Look for example at where medical research is being done.

> Careers for women often ruin their ruchnius.

and same for men, of course. We need to separate between two issues related to “career”:

1) desire to advance at a job at the expense of anything else. Not healthy in many cases, (unless you are a Rav, a doctor, a soldier, a firefighter, or anyone else who benefits people …)

2) ability to work in an easier environment, using professional skills.

People often confuse the two. Yes, having professional skills creates a danger of becoming a workaholic, but so does a job of selling phones on amazon. Professional job, when taken in right dosage, satisfies gemora’s and, I think, also Rambam’s, suggestion to have a clean easy job that does not require exhaustion or fear of hunger or using charity.

> In the pre-Holocaust era in Europe secular studies was by far the exception by Chareidim,

at earlier times, most nations did not have a lot of studies – and majority of population did not need them, given that most of them were farming and later working at factories. Jews were generally more educated than surrounding population. Our times seems to be the first in history where [some] Jews are claiming that their mesorah is to be willfully ignorant. Not everyone received this mesorah, and I hope this could be respected.

akuperma, thanks for a good description. I would take an issue equating anyone charedi with clergy in other countries. Clergy is a concept of established religious activities approved by the government. It does not mean anyone who declares himself occupied by religious studies can qualify.

Avira, I think I was recalling ספר תולדות ישו, and wiki says it is indeed 10th century at least, maybe 6th to 9th, and possibly a combination of earlier sources. Author unknown, or mahybe a combination of multiple sources,

Marxist, my claim stems from the fact that his later criticism of capitalism is a carbon copy of his criticism of Jewish business influence on the world. Your further quotes from someone who actually was in charge of killing people shows that you see this a purely theoretical debate of ideas. Maybe your family came to US on Mayflower and nobody was ever touched by the Marxist murderers in Europe.

Avira, I presumed that the most jarring moment is transition from chol to shabbos. Maybe the person does not know how to detach himself or afraid to focus on himself (especially, these days when people can use tech to always be “busy”).

But if someone has panic attack later on shabbos, I would examine what is in the cholent and whether it is heated sufficiently.

Ben T, you won’t convince people with obscure references. You have higher chance if people see how you behave and learn according to your Rebbe’s teaching. Then, all Yiddishe mamas in the street will be pointing to their children – do you want to be an Erliche Yid and a Talmid Chacham like that chosid? Then, everyone will eventually become a follower of your Rebbe and you can vote for a Moschiach of your choice. Hatzlaha. Start with helping the old lady cross the street and open a sefer.

Is there a metric that tracks how many board members re solid professionals v. politicians and social warriors? is it predictive of anything?