Always_Ask_Questions

This is going on longer than COVID and Russias war combined or it will… Congress wrapped 🎁 up a couple of impeachments faster than you can say Mississippi – is their case even less shaky this time? I suggest that they drag it out till 24 so that they can make it into the 3rd impeachment by the first 🥇 day of trump’s second 🥈 term. This will be a record that will be impossible tobeat, so he will stay in Guinness until zman moschiach. Bmeherah… Also, Trump will be mad, so if his goat 🐐 eats congress’s grass again, he will be chayav 100,% even if he were to misgayer

Interestingly, earth 🌎 is furthest away from the sun 😎 in early January, by just 5 mln km than in July. So, their calendar 📆 had indeed solar shoresh. Ironically, they are the furthest distance away from their avoda zara, while Jews are closest to Hashem at Rosh Hashanah!

> , most of the non-frum Jews in fact engage in avodah zarah

maybe you have an image of a politician or a reform rabbi in your mind, but worshiping images _is_ avoda zara. You are ignoring myriads of traditional Jews that may not be shomer-shabbat, but do feel that they belong to the kahal. They are especially prevalent among Sephardim who did not go thru haskala, but there are many others also. Insulting them as a klal is not good

I once listened to a presentation by a very smart Jewish politician in front of a Jewish audience. I asked him whether he was proud if you were to compare his votes with Jewish values. His answer was brutally honest: I didn’t say I represent Jewish values, I represent values of Jews…

> Republicans caused that we need two salaries to make a living

How did they do that? By fighting slavery so that the ladies have no help any more? If you reduce taxes from man’s salary, then the woman might be able to stay at home

Esteemed YY re-purposed an old joke about a prince and princess and made it PC by having a woman pulling the gun. When did a woman need a 2nd amendment to keep peace in the family?! My F-I-L gave me a good eitza for sholom bayis: “always have a last word in every argument – ‘yes, mam’ “. Advice seems to help – he obviously knew his daughter better than I did at the time …

We decrease simcha in Av, not abandon it completely.. this is remarkable.. as to humour, the appropriate use of it is calling attention to a serious idea through an usual view. In our days, when there’s so much of bad information is floating around, it is especially helpful

This is a serious question. Amoraim seem to be ok with jokes, but Tanach is not so much. Despite some examples of irony here and there, most of it comes from people, not from Hashem. Maybe given the pathos of communications between Hashem and people, humour is just not appropriate for that moment? Imagine, a navi who is preparing for the occasion and learning a bunch of Heavenly jokes instead?! Maybe Yona’s kikayon counts as a practical joke, we are just not used to read it like that.

interject > do you truly care about the poor, mistreated breslov women or are you really just anti breslov

I said nothing against Breslov, I am questioning behavior of those who go to Uman, especially those who were breaching Belorus-Ukraine border last 2 years. So, I am saying having them at home may not be such a gift from Hashem at home for these poor women. Incidentally, you ain’t have to be a Breslov to go to Uman. Actually, the first Rav who went there at the end of Soviet times was not even a Breslov (he was a Chasidishe Rebbe from Chicago).

Ubiq, I am not a legal scholar. I understand that there are sources that recount history as you say and it sounds reasonable, but Heller claims opposite. I am not planning to go in details over Scalia’s arguments and see where you disagree, but maybe you want to. Heller brings the summary on page 1 with page references. Underscores are mine:

Held:

1. The Second Amendment protects an __individual__ right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home. Pp. 2–53.

(a) The Amendment’s prefatory clause announces a purpose, but does not limit or expand the scope of the second part, the operative clause. The operative clause’s text and history demonstrate that it connotes an _individual_ right to keep and bear arms. Pp. 2–22.

(b) The prefatory clause comports with the Court’s interpretation of the operative clause. The “militia” comprised all males physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense. The Antifederalists feared that the Federal Government would disarm the people in order to disable this citizens’ militia, enabling a politicized standing army or a select militia to rule. The response was to __deny Congress power to abridge the ancient right___ of individuals to keep and bear arms, so that the ideal of a citizens’ militia would be preserved. Pp. 22–28.

(c) The Court’s interpretation is confirmed by ___analogous arms-bearing rights in state constitutions____ that preceded and immediately followed the Second Amendment . Pp. 28–30.

(d) The Second Amendment ’s drafting history, while of dubious interpretive worth, reveals three state Second Amendment ___proposals____ that unequivocally referred to an individual right to bear arms. Pp. 30–32.

(e) Interpretation of the Second Amendment by scholars, courts and legislators, from _immediately__ after its ratification through the late 19th century also supports the Court’s conclusion. Pp. 32–47.

(f) None of the Court’s precedents forecloses the Court’s interpretation. Neither United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U. S. 542 , nor Presser v. Illinois, 116 U. S. 252 , refutes the individual-rights interpretation. United States v. Miller, 307 U. S. 174 , does not limit the right to keep and bear arms to militia purposes, but rather limits the type of weapon to which the right applies to those used by the militia, i.e., those in common use for lawful purposes. Pp. 47–54.

an interesting question would be how do Israelis parent in USA and Americans in Israel – do people follow their minhagim or adopt to the local ones? or follow humros of both, as Pesachim recommends.

Ketubot 7: fetuses at the yam suf were signing shira and were aware of the miracle …
on the limiting side: there is a suggestion that someone could acquire an object on behalf on a fetus, but this position is rejected.

Don’t write tuition checks for the year, and you’ll hear from them monthly.

jackk, thanks for the succinct updates. OM-! There WAS screaming.

What is unusual about these hearings that there is prosecution only and they apparently post selected quotes from videos, audios, and texts. At least, some of the media commentary quotes someone saying – or there was another phrase between those two .. I realize that this is R-s fault that they decided to boycott instead of fight, and is a good illustration of how USA would turn out were it to have Robespierre instead of Washington, and also halochos on choshen mishpat about prohibition of listening to one side without the other present.

ubiq > murders v mass murders

I agree that all murders are bad, of course, So, then, one should discuss statistics of those and what are possible reasons behind it and not substitute it with discussion of mass murders however horrific they are. As statistics show that we had 40% increase in just 2 years _possibly_ due to decrease in policing, then anyone who really cares should first restore the policing and save 40% of victims while you are looking at your longer-term plans.

ubiq > Can you think of any other such example, where you oppose a law being enacted because people wont listen ? (we do find this by Chazal lehavdil)

yes, a constitutional amendment can be passed to overrule any court decision about constitutionality. Or court can be packed – the reason it is rarely done is because it is not popular. Or a law can be passed that takes court jurisdiction away in specific areas.

Also, previously US fracking worked as a threat for OPEC: if the price stays high for long enough, fracking will start and continue producing even when prices fall. So, OPEC had to keep prices below the limit viable for frackers and the limit was gradually decreasing due to increasing efficiency of fracking.
Right now apparently fracking industry in weakened and is afraid to invest. Most recent “helpful” move from President – EPA discovered that fracking affects ozone and might soon close most productive fracking areas based on ozone measurements. EPA dept head is apparently a guy who was in charge of developed a plan on accelerating transition from oil under Obama, so ozone is just a means to that (according to WSJ 2 week ago).

Kuvult > I never understood this concept of “Tzadikim” owning or running their own school

There is such concept in Bava Basra – when butcher union decided to slash skins of one who was breaking their monopoly, they were blamed for making community decision when there was a talmid chacham in town. They shold have gone to him for a resolution. (I presume beis din would work also).
That is, Talmid Chacham as a first resort, and democracy as a second (politics at that time allowed guilds to behave as a community, we might consider this a monopoly).

Community approach you mention is also good – if it works. Or, a competition approach that I mentioned. Each might work depending on size and structure of the community. Back to Bava Basra’s discussion of educational system, it seems that we just need to keep the goal – education – in mind (rather than teachers’ or other interest), and whatever works empirically should be used, and if not – discarded. Bava Basra lists approaches tried during Beis Mikdash sheni era: first fathers were teaching (seems like most preferred option) – but many were not educated enough (Lakewood was not built yet); then, they sent kids to Cohanim in Yerushalayim (2nd preferred – most inspired teachers in a most inspired location) – but not all fathers could drive there; 3rd best – regional centers where kids could walk themselves (that is, still somewhat higher quality teachers, less inspiring setting), but only teenagers would walk so far and they would not listen to the teachers (maybe because teachers/setting were not best?); and 4th best approach that worked – teach small kids at each location (maybe not best teachers, but small kids will listen) + ensure sufficient funding (small class sizes or extra teachers) + unlimited competition, as described already.

PS and 2021 had another 5% increase in murders. Pew and others list Floyd protests and subsequent decrease in policing as possible factors, “requiring more research”. So, this seems to be an argument that those who do not want to depend on fickle public to fund police, have a right to protect themselves.

FrumStat, thanks for the explanation. I guesa Musk is not losing either way – either he can get out of the losing deal, or he can generate publicity and sympathy for himself while taking twitter on. Maybe some reverse psychology here – before twitter libs were horrified by the prospect of being accountable for their work, now they can be happy that they are forcing Musk to buy them.

not just “killed”, but did not encourage further development and production, leading to reluctance of businesses to invest. Also, reducing pressure on allies – allowing Germans off the hook from starting building LNG that T pressed them into; and offending Saudis – who are an only country in the world that can change supply by simply turning the spigot to the left or right. Also, for a failed policy of preventing Russian war – our idea was that the response has to be “proportional” so that even if Russia does a little mischief, they can still be afraid of further escalation. Instead, Russia read it as a sign of weakness.

Again, President does not control all events in the world, Hashem does. So, if he has done his due diligence: encourage oil production, steered allies, scared enemies, then nobody will blame him for whatever bas happens despite his efforts. But as he did not – only 29% believe his frantic effort to find who to blame.

Yserbius > @Always_Ask_Questions I am far more scared of a bunch of yokels running around with murderous weapons than I am of our government turning on the people

Mi hu chacham .. But you somehow ended in a country with a constitutional system specifically built to prevent tyranny. If you don’t appreciate it, fine, you are free to suffer or move to a country with other priorities. It is hard to argue about the future and yes currently most developed countries look stable. But if you were to move from revolutionary America to revolutionary France, you would have lost your head several times over an average lifetime.

Menachem > If children could go to different schools, get very different values and hashkofos, and still be taught the infinite value of every single Yid,

Agreed. But I think we still “naturally” tend towards hurtful separation. As R Berel Wein says: if a city has 100 Jews, he wants them to have 1 shul with 100 ppl, what do Jews do – they form 10 shuls with 10 people each, and they end up with 11 shuls, 9 people each …

As to school economics, separation begets monopoly and corresponding decrease in quality and choices and increase in price. Tzadikim in charge of school can mitigate some of it but the general trends exist. Purely theoretical, for example, the pre-war Litvish system, from my limited understanding, worked better. R Kamenetsky and R Ruderman had a 2nd grade Rebbe who once suspected R Kamenetsky of lying – and these Talmidei Chachamim blamed him for preventing others in their class to become Talmidei Cachamim. But this Rebbe was not part of the school system that promulgated bad middos – he was teaching just 2nd grade in his yard. So, presumably they got a great 3rd grade rebbe… So, if, by some organizational magic, parents had choices between individual teachers rather than “school systems”, probably parents will have a better match to their needs and lower price. Increasing competition rather than forming oligarchies that partition the market by catering to different population segments. Econ 101, as described in by Bava Basra.

What is this dichotomy between modern and yeshivish? You are denying first group serious learning, or making it unaffordable and inappropriate by pushing them into expensive private schools, and you are denying second group a possibility of leading normal life earning relatively easy living. Any big school had 2 or more levels for some subjects, there is no reason some levels are college track and others are not, some are kollel track, and others are not. Kids should not be confused that some are going to be rabbis and some lawyers, and some both.

Kuvult, sorry I misunderstood. I had a similar case where I called a chabad house where I wanted to stay as I had a conference on Friday. He was curious of my background and asked: are you a, b, or c? I answered: Jewish. He abruptly stopped questions, laughed and said, of course you are welcome to come. It was a wonderful place.