Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
jackk, thanks for sharing. I felt so down for the guy thinking that the only positive thing going his way were covid tests ..
There is one and only one basic cause of inflation: too high a rate of growth in the quantity of money
Milton Friedman
You are a trustee fór the poor and should treat their money at least as careful as yours, maybe more. Shmuel’s father would keep money hidden in 3 layers, 2 of his and the middle of yotomim, protecting them on both sides – from genavim and from water.
And it is easy to spend their money more efficient than your own, as there’s so much need … If you are buying house for yourself, you are limited to a neighborhood and your family members preferences. If you are looking to buy a house for poor people, you can invest where you can find a good property. If ny is overpriced, buy in Lakewood. If poor in Lakewood are getting free government food, buy food for poor in Florida. If you meet a person looking for help with a wedding, but looks suspicious, go to a gemach and find a worthy recipient. A possible argument against would be that Hashem sends you a mitzvah and you should do that rather than looking for a better one. So a need in front of you should have preference over slightly higher need in another place, as halakha says
Dofi, great argument. Ujm, punishment is right in the Mishna – poverty and inability to give tzedoka
GH, you mention specific declassification regulations, my Dershowitzian argument is that president can use his own procedure. The only problem would be if he were to take anything after 1200 on the inauguration day or maybe after the new guy takes a shvuye. I think a ganav acquires movables when he picks it up with the intent to take it even while still on property of the baal habait. In this case, T was still baal habait lavan when he picked them up and had declassification powers.
Again, if he were to sneak in later while new guy was sleeping at the wheel as usual, T would be hayav. I am sure this is discussed in halochos of renting real estate somewhere
AAQ> , but I think Dems attempts to federalize it as well as other issues will help here.
Today’s FBI raid proves this point reviving Hillary and Hunter for elections. a great point, AAQ.
jackk, thanks for starting posting correct numbers.
inflation in real life: I stopped by a retail non-Jewish grocery store (usually as all Jews I “don’t buy retail”), tried to pick up a 1.5 lb pack of chicken from the usual place, but the bottom park of the pack fell off! Turns out, they now sell thinner packages with 0.8 lb per pack… When I jokingly mentioned this shrinkage to the store employee, he claimed to “know nothing” about it. Next they’ll rename “chicken thighs” into “chicken thigh”.
again, Antipater was the slave in question and he was not a king, but a powerful king-maker. There was no reason for him to fail given his political talents, so surely his owners had yiush.
common,
as I understand old-days halakha, baaley tzedokah were responsible for checking out the recipients. So, this mishna may presume common practice (and seychel!).Maybe, there is more leeway if you give your own money. Still, a more detailed reference will be needed to make a decision.
> “Get a job!” yelled the rav,
I actually observed the Rav always calmly getting a thick pile of money out of his table and giving to them, while I was hesitating (in deserving cases, he might announce who it is and why).
I then asked whether to give in suspicious cases. He answered “give a dollar”. So, I don’t need to wonder any more how is a Rav in possession of such think pile of funds – these are all single dollars prepared for such cases.
So, the halakha seems to be – do not over-indulge, but do not offend either.
Avram, re:educational system. Note that Bava Basra directly relates to the age of schooling. At least one of the methods tried during that period was to start at teen ages (and the result was that they did not listen to parents). So, they were not following Pirkei Avot. Maybe not surprising – avot misha is either by Yehuda b’ Tema or Shmuel HaKatan, both late tannaim who seemingly lived after the school experiments.
I accept a possibility, as you say, that avot advice may be normative and BM2 period was an exceptional period. But so are other periods, especially current one. Modernity uprooted so much and created so many opportunities – including our capability to measure results. So, I would say Bava Basra experimental approach is so relevant.
Also, Ketubot 50 discusses ages and seems to suggest that 6 and then 10 or even 12 are _earliest_ ages to teach, that is, one should not force a younger kid. This is discussed in Usha, so it is post-BM2 when things got even worse …
He could have easily found a way to dismiss her without showing his attitude …
As Berdichever would say – look Eibishte how honest are your children, they’ll risk a lawsuit but will not lie! Hopefully, after this story, more nashei hayil from Bnei Brak will get jobs at Ichilov and Tel-Avivians
will start changing their attitudes when they encounter these nurses.Avira > rather a university which has a judaic studies program.
I don’t think this is how they see themselves. I heard one of their leaders saying, not sure how seriously, that they fashioned one of their advance learning programs as an Masters degree to placate parents and so that law schools do not ask question – what did you do for these 2 years?!
As 1 says, other yeshivos also give transcripts. YU happens to on a more expensive side and a more advanced program.
Well, previous surveillance warrants against Trump’s people are now known to be deeply flawed. But then they expected those warrants to stay in secret court. So, hopefully, this one was more legit.
I presume when Dershowitz will be defending Trump, he will use a Talmudic argument: as President can declassify any document, then any document he took with him are by definition declassified, as him taking the documents shows his intent to declassify.
But for those who are wondering what is in those 10 boxes, you came to the right place! Last time I was at Trump place, I had a chance to peak into his safe while he was distracted pouring liquor. So, here is a list of what was in the safe:
– love letters from Dear Leader
– Hillary’s emails, neatly wiped, in a big envelope with return address: Kremlin
– Hunter’s memo on how to fight corruption in Ukraine
– password to twitter account
– wedding pictures, several separate envelopes
– Obama’s letter to the new President, pleading with him not to lose to Biden
– Presidential seal with a note to give it to Biden in case Biden remembers he needs itChaylev,
this is an interesting tosfos, but historically speaking Yidden at the time did not learn tosfos, But the logic is relevant: one might assume that the owners gave hope already for Antipater, who might have been haughtly inside, but politically astute – stayed in the secondary position. Even Herod himself was very sensitive politically – he did things for Jews and for Romans, so we are talking about owners not being despaired about like fifty years. Imagine if Qaddafi were your slave – do you think you would not have an yiush for 40+ years he was in power?Roe is a result of decades of conservative efforts, and culminating thanks to focus and cooperation between Trump and McConnell, despite all odds. Disregard immediate confusion and media outrages, the issue will move into state politics and courts and will play out itself accordingly. Roe v Wade in Google Trends web search spiked on June 27 and was back to nothing one week later. Possible danger is that conservatives who were motivated by Roe v Wade will now stop coming to vote, but I think Dems attempts to federalize it as well as other issues will help here.
There was an influential paper published about 2000 explaining how Hispanics are growing and will make this country fully Democratic in 20 years. 20 years passed and, gasp, Hispanics are voting R-
jackk,> Current gas prices. Florida 3.76 National 4.05
I hope you have an innocent explanation but your numbers copied from AAA site are off:
Florida 3.776 National 4.059 or rounded as you did: 3.78 and 4.06
numbers are updated daily and show “down” trend, so even they were updated between your and my posts, they were higher before.Can’t trust a dem even on a penny … now do you understand why people are checking silverware when dems distribute hundreds of billions of dollars
jackk > I doubt anyone is going to vote Republican, who isn’t already a Republican, due to inflation.
I don’t think you appreciate how inflation affects majority of people., outside of your affluent circle. Inflation is very regressive, it hits people who spend most of their income on necessities and do not have assets that appreciate, like housing and stocks.
Also, at the higher end, you will mostly notice (or not notice) decreasing quality of the things you buy. At the lower end, there is nothing to cut already, except raising prices.
jackk, if I understand correctly, you point of posting prices is to show that they’ll be down soon and everything will be dandy by election day. I don’t think this will work – people just spend their vacation travelling during summer and they’ll remember that. Also, inflation is cumulative – prices went up and slowing down of further rate will not help people pay for groceries that increased in price.
> homeowners typically pay out $100,000-$200,000 in interest, and much of the interest is paid early in the life of the loan, which slows building the equity
I think this is bad math. It does not matter in a long-term, when you pay just interest or principal. There is cost of capital that you pay as interest and you are paying it regardless. You are only losing when buying/selling often due to closing and related costs. So, it is often a good idea to buy house early in marriage. In olden times, Rambam recommended buying house before marriage, but in our times, you got to be ready that the bridge will not like the neighborhood, or the view from the windows, so you’ll need to move anyways.
Maybe a machlokes between Avram and CTLawyer may be explained by their surroundings. Avram gets more in-town poshute shnorrers who are trying to help their offspring. Ctlawyer may be getting more organized ones that travel between towns having lists of shuls, wealthy people, with netflix-type reviews from the previous visitors. The latter may either belong to organizations or be not-fully-vetted types.
netflix: a friend with a local business pointed to me that once he gave a visitor more than usual amount, and the next week visitor insisted on exactly the increased amount.
Avram > tannaim are passing down the mesorah
Avrah, how do you explain Bava Basra 21 that explicitly describes the trial and error process that Tannaim (or earlier) used to come up with a working educational system?
Maybe we can agree that yes they had a mesorah of what the goals are; that one should try; and one should not be shy of rejecting what does not work; and respect empirical research
In general, note that some of the classical science was rejecting empirical approach in favor of nice-looking theories. There are a number of places where T’Ch are more empirical than Greeks. I read a paper about it but can’t recall the source right now.
Menachem, agree, I know a haredi Rav who interacts frequently with non-observant Jews and when asked “are you a Zionists”, he answers – “yes, as in ‘hamehazir shechinato l’zion’ “. That is, he does not want to be negative on the idea, just does not support specific implementation.
with radar detector, you are not warning the masses, just yourself. So, if you are driving correctly otherwise, you may hope it will protect you when there is some unfair play from police, such as putting a sudden 30mph sign on a 50mph road and waiting behind the corner. I am not sure it will help you though. His radar should see you same time your radar detector sees his radar. And you will waste your precious mind on anticipating being caught all the time. Much better is to go at a safe legal speed while learning from a tape. Then, when there is a traffic jam, you can say B’H, I can review this sugya for longer!
In this bill, the money is brought in and spent, or, more precise, spent and then possibly brought in. I mean, Pres Manchin made us feel better about this – it is 3x lower than the previous idea, and there is even something for mining and oil, I think. But, still if your main idea of raising funds is by spending more on IRS upfront in a hope they find something, this is somewhat desperate. As it is, they send insane notices to validate $0.02 and similar, what will be next.
Ashkenazim in Northern Europe were not farmers, as Jews were usually not allowed to own land in Europe. So, they lived in dense towns and villages with non-Jews and communal kitchens readily available.
+1 to those who nominate gedolim they are NOT following
I think Yohanan Hurkanos converted Idumeans, whoever they were at a time, then Alexander Yannai and his brothers before him relied more and more on Idumeans for military support. Alexander also conquered and converted Greek cities in Yehuda and and Transjordan. Note that we have kosher converts at that time, not all were fake (Shemaya, Avtalyon). Alexander made Antipater, Herod’s father, a governor. Antipater played an intermediate when Alexander’s sons, Aristobolus and Hyrcanus, invited Pompey to resolve their competing claims to malchut. Antipater was mostly in charge with Hyrcanus being nominally a king (source: Berel Wein’s book).
Does the fact that Rabbis criticized these conversions made them invalid? Were they treated as sofek as Samaritans? Anyone has sources for that? Bava Basra seems to treat him as ben eved, that would make him disqualified for malchut.
moishe, step back for a second, and read some moderate Republicans, some of them like Trump as much as you do. Still, vast majority of them acknowledge that most of his policies were very effective. Some reasonable Dems also acknowledge that, even if they sometimes disagree with them. Note that some of these policies were achieved using “non-orthodox” approaches disregarding conventional advice. Furthermore, same and more people now see that people who criticized him are all hat and no cattle. For example, those who accused him of failing on covid policies because he tried to look macho, now do the same thing themselves and did not achieve as much as he did. same goes for ME policies, Russia, China, employment, etc. So, the question then becomes whether it is possible to find someone who will be as strong on results and with less personal negatives? Lots of Republicans are now talking like T trying to take that role, but, in my opinion, they are more likely to replicate negatives but not positives. I would say that people who were part of Trump’s team or supported his activities in some way (not necessarily all) have track record, such as Pompeo, Pence, Kushner, Mnuchin, Bolton. First two are also electable.
As a little girl in Driving said to r Yehoshua when he tried following a path through a property: gazlanim like you made the path. Same for Waze spotting
If someone here actually puts police locations into Waze or just pressing “no there”. I suggest asking a shaila, it may be lifnei ever or preventing police from catching mazikim
Gadol, thanks for the update. I’ve been part of us-israeli joint projects and it ain’t easy
while both belong to google, their system do not seem to sync. I think, Waze is more personalized and inventive: it will use your speed and try to schedule you going side (sometimes crazy) routes in an effort to save 60 seconds. Also, developed in Israel. I don’t know whether team is still there.
When the Chatan was 18, how old was the kalah? 12? 14? From the biological point of view, this would maximize number of children better than having a 18yo chatan. Obviously we don’t do that, that means we value other factors in the marriage not just number of offspring.
Indicating a hazard in Waze may save lives, but how is indicating a cop does!? You are helping someone who is driving dangerously to avoid being caught. Maybe putting a cop signal every couple of miles would really help. In fact, the best would be to put this signal in front of your own driving route.
Gadol, I presume that Mishna gives ages that would work for an average person, taking into account experience of that time. In a related example, bava basra lists multiple ways to educate kids- by parents, kohanim in yerushalaim, at regional centers, and for each explains why it didn’t work: not all parents were good teachers, too far to drive, teenagers wouldn’t listen, until coming up with the system that worked: local Rebbes in every town. It is mefurash here they didn’t have some magical wisdom what to do, they tried different systems, it took many years until Yehoshua Ben Gamla came up with the right solution . Dame thing with marriage: they saw marriages at 14 fail, and men at 20 doing wrong things so 18 it was
Bavel was already different, where young man could marry and go learn after that away from family, different from EYTo merge several topics – is it OK for an addicted person to collect money for youtube subscription? or netflix?
DY > taking the Rambam out of context, and even more so out of historical and halachic context.
this is exactly my point. Avram above defends applying Pirkei Avos literally to current social situation. At the same time, here yo are calling to put Rambam away into historical context. Tiuvta Avram tiuvta, do we agree?
At the same time, one does not reject social takanos (of which Rambam is, it is in the book of halakha, but Pirkei Avos is not, it is more of etza, I think) just because we don’t like it. And even if circumstances call to follow a different advice, we can still take the lessons and aspiration from both Pirkei Avos and Rambam.
Avram, not defending a particular read of the Mishna, but there’s a clear difference between mitzvah from the Torah and a social rabbinical regulation. Gemora is full of social and psychological insights that guide their decisions and it is not such a big leap that some respectful adjustments need to happen. Many people for example ignore Rambam’s and others position forbiding payment for Torah learning etc so you may want to answer on substance instead of accusing him of kefirah
common, I understand. I am still not sure how ti distinguish between those who are unable and those who are unwilling or confused in their middos. We used to have kahalim that will provide support – upon investigation. Otherwise, this becomes lifnei ever. A guy travels around to raise funds for his firstborn, and think, great this worked, I’ll do the same for the rest.. If he were to have it hard time, maybe he’ll go get a job… I am not advocating refusing tzedokah, but these community policy questions exist even if refuse to acknowledge them.
ujm, I fully agree and fully respect people who live like that … It would seem that if we were to optimize life according to Torah principles, a man should first learn Torah and basics of math and English, then spend 2 years acquiring a profession (4 year college, including CLEPs and yeshiva credits), and maybe another two to get MS by age 25, and then continue working or doing business, say, 2 days a week, or 3 hours a day, whatever is better for his learning schedule. In this way, he can spend most of his life learning and maybe doing chesed using his professional skills (heal, teach ..). Unfortunately, seeing everyone else’s standard of living makes it almost impossible to limit your quest for gashmiyus.
I can’t relate to any of these issues that you discuss in such depth and detail. Would appreciate a couple of links so that I can educate myself.
RebE, maybe the secret of maturity was that Rivka’s father, a tzaddik as he was, sent her to work from early age?
Mazel tov, looks like we got a new editor – now defending Israeli secular schools and Persian monarchs. higher standards for 9th of Av? I respectfully submit. Or maybe my writing is getting even more obscure.
where are takanah weddings? I understand that several popular Jewish towns in US limit how much people spend on weddings to a degree that, B’H, weddings halls are full (presumably not just by growing population but also by OOTners coming for cheap weddings and reduced supply of providers due to lower prices). Is this working? Is it also done in Israel?
Syag, just as I am calling for understanding and commend you for the same, you are calling me out for attitude … We see here that several people with “working minhagim” do not understand the need to support kids after wedding, so lack of (immediate) work prospects clearly affects the situation. for example, working chosson vekallah should be able to get a mortgage to finance a house based on their salaries, maybe with some down-payment support from parents.
There is nothing inherently wrong with this approach. While normative American saves for his retirement and expects kids to pay for their mortgage; in this approach parents pay for apartments, while children will then start working later and then pay for their children and maybe even respect & support parents in their old age al pi halakha, so parents need less of savings. So, if this works for most people, then it’s fine. If, as alleged here, it does not work for too many people and they are collecting, then clearly something is not right.
Who knows the Israeli tour guide who pointed tourists to the kever of Shmuel when someone noted that he already pointed to his kever a day before! The guide replied that that was Shmuel Alef, and this is Shmuel Beit!
edit
Currently Azeri Bayraktars are flying looking for Armenian rebels, maybe they’ll find the teva, hope they do not bomb it!
It was customary to temporarily bury bodies in Bavel and after a year to carry bones to Eretz Isroel. Why not for Mordechai and Esther? Maybe Mordechai was buried in Persia due to his government status, similarly to Yosef?! edited
Is there also a Muslim tradition of Yonah’s kever in Mosul (destroyed by ISIS).
Killing without traceability already exists. How many times someone drank tea and died without a polonium test?! The scary thing is like you say: targeting groups of people, not only age but also race and ethnicity DNA and immunity system. For example, a country can give a vaccine to the citizens and then unleash the virus, or just prepare the vaccine in advance. For example, maybe Russia created their Sputnik before COVID started and thus were relatively fast to the market. Imagine the current war without mRNA vaccines, while the West still in 3 year long lockdown
Shalom, I think Saudis just announced a tiny increase in production. Lhavdil, oil prices are like walls that lowered out of respect to r eliezer but didn’t fall out of respect to r Yehoshua
Those who criticize apartment buyers do not understand the difficult and different situation those parents are, as Syag is saying. If children do not have immediate prospects for high earnings, how are they expected to live? Parents can’t really complain as they put the kids into this position by not giving them work skills. Beh, kids will eventually find a way to get some parnosah and then will do the same for their own kids, midah kneged midah..
It is a really hard question how to respond to the requests: on one hand, one wants to help a person in need, on another – you are enabling a multigenerational problem … Maybe provide funds to chatans apprenticeship or help them buy a business instead of an apartment