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Apparently, it is not the first time, Jews are bending curriculum to make sure we are different from the opposition. We used to have 10 commandments as a central part of service, and now it is an optional personal reading. We started insisting that we focus on mitzvos v. emunah in opposition to christians … and now Nach because it was/is misused by Maskilim/Israeli public schools. It may be fine for general education, but learned people should understand better. Otherwise, as we hear here, suddenly so many books that Hashem ordered for us become “non-essential” in some minds. If Hashem meant to give us Bavli, he would have done it.
Avira, I think there are 2 things to consider on Sephardi limud:
1) (generalizing, of course) they indeed tend to go into pilpul like Ashkenazim. Many commentaries include stories. This does not make their limud lower. To the opposite, I often find them addressing the core issues rather than dealing with some complicated borderline relevant issue. This may be akin to difference between Yerushalmi and Bavli, as we discussed before: Yerushalmi is more focused (and looked down at wild Babylonians), while Babylonians developed a complicated – and useful – methodology.
2) Sephardim did not have haskala. So, when they arrived in 20th century to modern world, they encountered same isues Ashkenazim did 200 years before. Syrians in NY did not do worse than French and Germans in Europe. On the other hand, pretty soon they jumped up on Ashkenazim bandwagon of developed solutions (schools, conservative halakha, shtreimels) and went through the painful process much faster. (same as, l’havdil, Afrikans get wireless internet skipping putting phone cables Europeans did fro 100 years before).
Exercise, like learning or working, does not need to be a chore and it is fine to enjoy it.
I learned a tradition from a Polish Yid who went thru concentration camp and taught me just several shiurim when we met while traveling: Yiddishkeit can be best “proven” from Jewish history. One needs to know it then (and surrounding history too).
Yitz, Sam,
good points. Maybe he means that the person needs at least appreciate the magnitude of the task – and consider how hard it is for yourself – before taking upon the task of helping others?Avira, a good question whether such a club should be guided by experienced professionals. now, tell me how do places that do not have clubs deal with these issues? Do we have professionals to deal with various issues that arise?
Probably Bavel with Jewish community existing for ~2500 years, uncluding Naviim, Amoraim, Gaonim
Avira > mixed dancing, is something that’s also far worse than women washing clothes
We are talking about actual washing clothes in a river rather than using a washing machine, right? I am not sure you either saw or know how to do that.
J4B > Should we not suggest solutions to problems because we will always have our own problems?
a great question. I recall halochos of tochacha say something similar – one should not reproach others when they have problems in the same area. That is, OK to do that in areas you are a tzaddik. R Salanter, seems to be taking a more “holistic” approach. Besht uses a similar approach saying that one can not use permissible ways to “change his words” if he really lied at least once in his life (this is quoted on the last page of the thin book “Lying for truth” after listing all permissible ways – quoting it on the first page would have made it even thinner).
J4B, Taking gadol’s question (more) seriously – if I personally fail the way R’YS did, I’ll be fine with that.
Even more seriously: why would one disclose his failure? It got to be l’maase. That is, it should make us feel better when we fail – even he R’YS did – and continue further. Without that, we could simply turn to warmer religious activities than mussar.
a good idea to get a dashcam. Then, you’ll be able to review your behavior. Also, there are apps that record phone accelerometer. Count of times you had to break at high-g is a good predictor of your chance of getting into an accident. So, if your count increases over time or is higher than your peers, you need to change how – or where, or when, or whether – you should drive.
where are you all in a hurry? Do seconds of learning something matter to you? Are you NORAD?!
Just have YWN and NYT delivered to you in print on Sunday and learn the rest of the week
phil > so are you trying to say that for various reasons it’s ok
I am not paskening in this forum in the presence of so many gedolim. What I am saying, that I can imagine K’s Rav telling K that he can attend a certain event under certain conditions. This does not mean that the Rav will be calling the whole shul to attend all events regardless…
As an example, I was once invited by a Reform “Rabbi” and a female clergy to assist them in a “mitzva” of affixing a “mezuza” to a “Jewish” family of “immigrants”. I am running out of quotes … l’tzad zhut, maybe they were marronos, but the clergy was not bilingual enough to figure it out anyway. I was ready to politely reject the offer, but then decided to bother a local (chasidishe) Rav and ask him. To my shock, he suggested that I go. And to my further shock, I actually went… I won’t bother you with details of his reasoning, this was particular to the case, but this is an illustration of how strange psak might be.
what do we know .. . one sefer reports two trains in Sep 1939 traveling towards each other, from Nazi-occupied to Soviet-occupied area and other way around, with Jews in both trains shouting to the others to turn around and not go to the place of danger ..
Or use a phone siddur that does reminders. At least on a day you feel you need a reminder.
Put yourself a multi-year reminder in google calendar
The final message from the President before the election seems to be – “it is someone else’s fault”. Looks like giving such a speech before an election, reminding voters that (1) prices are high (2) he will always blame others will be as successful as predicting longevity of Afghani government.
gadol > what hope is their for all the slightly lesser
your humility demonstrates that progress is possible, even for a gadol. This is encouraging for all of us.
Learn from others: some fancy corporations, like Google, built fancy game and dining rooms, claiming that their employees love to stay at work and use those. Now that they let employees work from home, the managers are not able to convince employees to come back to the fancy game rooms. Turns out, employees would rather stay at home and play in their own game rooms.
The lesson might be: content of your yeshiva should be the reason to stay there.
If you put winnings to tzedokah – will they still be taxed?
If I have a non-profit school and collect $1 bln in tuition – do I owe taxes?
So, what if I donate a ticket to the non-profit before the drawing or a non-profit buys a ticket?Also, if a business buys a ticket, could winnings be used against losses? or taxed as business income?
asking for a friend.
to search in google:
bar mitzva site:https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/coffeeroomWhen I was in yeshiva, I wanted to fix the whole world.
then, I became a blogger, and I wanted to fix CR
then, I became a Rav and I wanted to fix the city
then, I wanted to fix my family
then, I decided to focus on myself first – and I failed at that. (R Salanter)We all may be underestimating breadth of halachik opinions. I just got a newletter with a shaila about gnevat daas trying to encourage customers to give more tips by pretending others did so! They asked 4 (four) poskim and all gave different answers – asur, mutar, improper, can do it if not so obvious. The one who said “asur” then agreed with the one who suggested making it no so obvious. Possibly same here. Presuming Kuvult has a serious Rav, he might have good reasons to permit. Maybe he takes into account Kuvult’s tzidkus that all of them are like white geese (as w/ R Yohanan) or his failing eyesight, or that his wife may make his life impossible and he will not be able to learn for a week. We don’t know and it is aint our business. Ask your Rav and possibly he’ll tell you to never do it based on how he saw your glances towards the mehitza during davening.
ymribiat, a great point. Maybe there should be a joint Toeva Anonymous club, a system endorsed by R Twersky Z’L, with both financial and sexual abusers eligible to attend. They can ponder together how these issues came together.
I understand the issue is important, but why two threads!?
Avram, I agree that we value age, even without wisdom. Gemora in kidushin seems to leave it ambiguous do we primarily honor wisdom or stam old age, as every old person acquires experience that is worthy honoring… Definitely, many people write that the current president showed empathy by relating to either his tragic family or people he met, including Holocaust survivors..
Still, when we elect a person who was not bright when he was young and in middle age, he gets set in his ways and prone to flattery and start acting with hubris, leading to disasters.
Ujm, I am reluctant to read research on this topic, but could you check whether they traced these numbers through time and countries? Making a behavior normalized might increase number of people who follow it. The more teachers put they as their pronouns, the more kids are following them.
Whoever compares Chevron with suffering under Nazis and Soviets has no credibility. I read, in an unreliable source, that after the war the Beltzer Rebbe didn’t move to Yerushalaim because he felt he is not deserving due to advising yidden to stay in Europe.
I got warnings several times when I fully admitted that I was wrong, saying something like – I drove here for years and knew where you are hiding, but still pressed the gas too strong! (the road goes down there right after a turn).
In another case, long time ago, while driving in a different state, a policeman pushed behind me in the left lane in an unmarked car at night and when I accelerated to let him go, he ticketed me. I wrote a nice letter to the judge with a map of the location and all details – and the case was dismissed. I am thinking: if a policeman did something questionable to you, he most likely did this to others also, and a judge would know.
In the parking case – mail in pictures.
interesting topic connecting Gemora in Ketubot with the next one – Nedarim :_
what is the date on the oath shtar? If it was on in Bavel, then we had semi-state and then a state – with the permission of Persians. After that, Jews defended their state from Greeks and others during BM2. Similarly, Jews went to EY with permission of Brits and then approval of UN – literally, all goyim, something that most other states do not have. This seems like we are following the conditions of the shevua. the fact that some other goyim, who were not in charge in EY at a time, disagreed does not seem to matter. Of course, we should keep them in mind and not aggravate unnecessary (such as picking on Muslims on Har Habayit) …
Also, note that things are not better in galus/aka shtetl. Jews promised not to rebel against the governments and then participated in all kind of revolutions in Europe… And these were not some mythical “reform” Jews for whom we are not responsible. At some point, Slobodka had to send new students to Telshe yeshiva because all the current students joined socialists.
common, a good question. Possibly R Kotler’s talents will be wasted on being a mayor, and possibly he will not be succcessful at that! R Soloveichik talks that Jewish community evolves around teachers, not politicians. So, you just to need to expect less of politicians, and try to elect those who are helpful both for out klal and humanity in general.
“Torah world” always knew about dangers in the world, including child abuse. For example, Gemora at the end of Ketubot says that when a husband is deceased, the child should be raised by the mother rather than husband’s brothers. Why? Because brothers will inherit from their brother in case the child dies and gemora refers to a case where this happened. Not necessarily killed, just neglected – at the times when child mortality was high.
look at the jokes Amoraim did when started a class. Also, try joking about yourself not others.
Did you consider a possibility that if everyone drives responsibly, we will see less terrible news of people dying and maimed in car accidents? I do not know enough to say this is so, just asking you to consider.
For example, you may think that you personally able to drive responsibly at 100 mph and did so for 60 years already, but the city in general benefits from it. Automatic cameras seems like a better solution that cops hiding in the bushes – more objective and predictable, and less expensive.
People generally continue growing in their mental abilities until they reach the peak and then start going down. Age of the peak varies greatly. Many achieve at 20, but others are growing into their 90s.
So, for a politician any age past 50 may be a time of decline and by 80, they are a danger to the world, while a talmid chacham is still on the way to the peak and may refuse a position (yet). Just has this in the end of Ketubot – a Tanna refusing to become Rosh Yeshiva in favor of an (even) older colleague and taking it after the death of the older one.
Avira, not sure why are you asking me about what R Moshe knew, I am not an expert on him. But as long as you asked, r Moshe in the teshuva you quote writes that even reshayim do not have this taava but react to it being prohibited (by Torah!?). I am not sure how to understand it, as this aveira was historically popular among nations who did not prohibit it. Maybe he means among Jews (there is indeed halakha that a man can not sleep near a male non-Jew, but can near a male Jew) or in our generation/ culture. Maybe he is simply looking here for words that will affect, but not offend, the LW.
This has nothing to do with squirrels. Magid shiur speaks at the speed most appropriate for his own thinking and an average student in the class. Some may need faster, some slower. It may depend on the topic.
It is also not about speed of listening, but how you react based on speed. I asked a Rav who know how I learn (but not the one who leads the shiur, for obvious reasons :), and he surmised that if one wants to simply absorb information without getting distracted into other issues, it may be better to listen at faster speed.
If there is a mitzva in the Torah to not do X, then there are at least some people who are interested in doing X. Otherwise, there is no need for the mitzva. So, whatever feeling some people might or might not have, has no relevance to the need to adhere to halakha.
any shiur can be made into a 30 minute shiur by running the recording at faster speed.
some say that we would not be able to understand Gemora without Rashi. So, everyone, except “gaonim” that RebE mentions, rely on Rashi
Ellis island records are online, including ship manifests. So, you can check them out. There are also later recordings of people who went through that. Most scary was medical test that could have sent you back heim. After that, the officers would ask your job – brick layer, accountant, gabbai and suggest where you should go to meet haverim. This is by the way what Jews did also. We used to have professional shuls – just for shoemakers – so that they could help each other professionally. One lady was mostly shocked (in a good way) that US had free high schools, something her family was desperately saviing money for back in Eastern Europe.
I am not so sure that Queens have advantage over Kings. There were way more Kings in history and so there are more memorable Kings famous for their misadventures. In Jewish history, there was were good Queens during Chashmonaim times, but then there was Jezebel…
We have many psukim, inclduing in daily and Shabbos davening that connect talmidei chachamim with good community feelings – darkei noam, merabim shalom, etc. That is, a true talmid chacham is the one whose speech results in such. That is, those whose speech results in insults and discord are engaged in bitul TDorah even if they think that they are “speaking in Torah”.
> give it to me.
everyone gets his own mazal. If you get his money, you also get his (possible) mafiozi brothers… who probably have other relatives who can come back to talk to you. That might have been a good reason to refuse the money.
one example quoted in Chabad Fredrike Rebbe memoirs: when Russia took over Vilna district at the time of Khmelnitsky, Polish landowners abandoned their property and ran to Poland. Some Jews rented the land from the Russian government. Litvishe Rabonim issued a takanah that Jews should send a portion of the profit to the Polish owners, or put money aside if returning money immediately is impossible. This worked long-term.
Most opinions here are emotional outcries. Voting is our interaction with non-Jewish world and is often a complicated matter. It is not just short-term gain or preference but long-term effect on our community and relationship I suggest with non-Jews. Given that this one is close and complicated,
I suggest you contact a talmid chacham who is a bokeh in these issues.> What stopped the “winners of history”
this is indeed what separates TaNach from the “historical” records that we find from the ancient kings who usually left records of only their victories. Nowadays, you can easily go back to sources of 100+ years old. Not just books and papers, but military records, marriage certificates, census records filled out and signed 100+ years ago are available. So many of “babe maisos” can be literally checked out by looking at grandma’s handwriting…
RW > CDC had on their own website info about vaccine trial lengths in which they stated takes around 15 years before being released and approved. During COVID- the page was still available but upon clicking the link it said “site under maintenance”. Soon after the page was completely removed and led to error not found.
this is a great example of an attempt to rewrite history. See below. I think you would need to look up halochos on lashon hara to see how you need to compensate CDC for your post.
I googled for CDC vaccine trial lengths and my first click went to CDC page that had a link to a page on historyofvaccines org (that is an outside page) that has first paragraph: Vaccine development is a long, complex process, often lasting 10-15 years, and involves a combination of public and private involvement.
Before that, there is a note added in May 2022:
Many anti-vaccine people and organizations are not presenting the information in this article in full context. The article below mostly covers vaccines before the current COVID-19 pandemic. Please see the section on the COVID-19 pandemic and Operation Warp Speed for information on the COVID-19 vaccines.I am expanding on R Soloveichik’s quip that we discussed before: he learned philosophy while other talmidei chachamim (sic!) were saying lashon hara about him.
Take a broader view here: learning chol is an aveira by some and in some circumstances and a worthy thing to do by others, depending on circumstances. There are a lot of bitul zman options that are negative without having a possible positive side. So, start by eliminating them.
I read in an old book: if the Czar would know the value of Torah, he would put a soldier with a rifle near every learning Jew.
This was the end of the page and, while turning the page, I finished the paragraph in my mind “and the soldier will defend the Jew from anyone who is attacking him”.
The next page actually said: and every time the Jew will get distracted, the soldier will prick him with the bayonet…. I overestimated external and underestimated internal threats …
> Reb Moshe’s psakim are irrelevant to the non-Yiddish speaking
Great example for the nearby thread on bitul zman. What is the point of deliberately skewing my post? To repeat, I am pondering here that there is less interaction between non-observant and observant Jews, it is more superficial, and the quality of Torah one would see when encountering a religious Jew may not be sufficient to impress.
We also need to consider the internet effect. One might say that nobody is a tinok any more as he can easily access all kind of halakha and kaballah online … Is this sufficient? Or do we need to make sure the person has meaningful interaction with someone who can impress him? for example, would you consider someone who googles a topic and ends up reading CR discussions – is he still tinok or his expose to our inane discussions should have made him do teshuva?