Always_Ask_Questions

Avira > chazal’s authority in all areas

you have to be more specific on what you mean here. chazal’s authority is collective, of course. We have amoraim presenting a position, but then rescinding it when someone else brings a baraita. This is normal. There are many social takanot that hinge on the result.

Say, R Huna would buy leftover vegetables at the end of the market day. But, now farmers have cellphones and abuse it by quickly sharing the news and bringing more vegetables to sell to R Huna. Will R Huna insist on his minhag or change his policy?

Avram > . I also find it interesting that the CR is not full of angry kollel wives bemoaning their fates.

A fair point. I saw a number of people of all genders working in chinuch who are burnt out with the lifestyle. As a shocking illustration, one complained to me that her husband did not want to move the kid to another school for several years because they both worked in the current school and it was “free”. But you are right, a lot of kollel wives are nashim chayil and do not complain here (although they have their own site).

And I am not at all claiming that something is majority or typical. I am asking – whether we have mechanisms to prevent abuses, however rare they might be. Gemora brings examples of women upset by away husband, so it is not unthinkable.

I out in-laws on the list of possibly non-kosher funding for the reason that if the in-laws are not doing it fully out of their free will, there is avak geneiva here.

Suggestion of working less is accepted, Avira already mentioned that. My understanding that majority of Bavliim would come to the yeshiva for 2 months and go work the rest of the year while reviewing the masechet on their own.

Avira, gemora generally respects facts and logic. To understand your position better, I would like to see your examples of, say, Amoraim, researching facts and then paskening against the facts. I am sure there are some examples when we “do not believe our eyes”, but let’s analyze what are limits.

For example, there is a discussion between Jewish and Greek scholars whether the world was created and seemingly Greeks won the argument, but Jews are staying with our position due to the strength of the tradition (some of the conclusions may be Tosfos, not fully in Gemorah times).I understand that this is due to the incompleteness of the Greek proof. Were they to be shown a video recording of the eternal world (I guess this would have been an eternal video), they would have agreed.

Korach also davened, I presume.

Alan Jotkowitz in The Intersection of Halakhah and Science in Medical Ethics, Hakirah 19, 2015 compares Tzitz eliezer with R Moshe on several other topics – time of death, eod of life care, artificial insemination, .. and conckudes that Tzitz Eliezer leans towards more conservative positions relying on classical halakhic decisions without taking modern science into account, while R Moshe is more “modern” (my words, not his). For example, he rejects paternity disproof by blood type, relying on Gemora’s position that all “red” (including blood) comes exclusively from the mother.

> what do you say to someone who is just sitting and not learning?

you don’t need to say anything to him, except a polite hello. At some point, he’ll get hungry and will have to get up.

The most effective way woudl be, to quote Reb Regan, “for Jimmy Carter (3rd) to lose his job”. Reduce problems that government creates for businesses, make sure people expect that their businesses will not be vilified and regulated.

Daas, if you were to drink the same good stuff I do, you would notice that I referred a _greater_ r Moshe – son of Maimon. I am not trying to rank Rabonim, I am just replying to those who do it as a way to quash other opnions. I am also in no way support Roe, just trying to understand the range of halakha that is absolute and what are the social components. As Gefilte mentions, it is possible that R Moshe was reacting to the social conditions (and I have no problem with that too).

Avira > Americans are wildly against most of the 7 mitzvos being capital offenses.

Actually, I did rough estimates, 5 out of 10 comm on the havero side are ordered according to popularity in current society if you take them literally: a tiny percentage of people kill, with increasing frequency going further.

Syag > Danger has criteria

Right. I was just pondering this. We can put some numerical values on mixtures – 1/60, 1/100 and on preponderance of evidence (50%), but I am not seeing good definition of “danger” or just “this might happen”. Anyone knows?
Gemora has a lot of discussions weighing dangers of missing out on something v. remote risk (not necessarily to health, maybe just of public confusion). On the current page – should we allow yibum under some confusing and rare circumstances when someone somewhere might see that and not realize what exactly is happening and learn halakha incorrectly. While the weights are not clear to me, what is clear that every time we can avoid risk, we should consider it seriously. Very common solution in Yevamos – do halitzah instead of yibum, something you would not do if there was no risk at all.

As to socks – what if a shidduch date is already driving? what if she is gonna steal socks from her sister or even brother, risking lives in the upcoming fight? what about mental stress on her mother?
So, I usually take such calls at work (btw, my kids consider calling rude, they text) – at least first 2-3 per incident.

No price controls. He is simply printing money to give to those who are lacking and forcing companies to produce formula or whatever other markets his decrees destroyed.

n0mesorah, thanks a lot. I did not know that Sefaria’s gemora is using R Steinsaltz! Woe to me for not recognizing it … I think I looked up what Seforia sources are before 2017. I don’t recall whether they had Bavli then at all. Also, they are using mathematician’s Heinrich Guggenheimer 2015 translation for Yerushalmi.

Edited

Answer: current Daf Yomi Seder.

More(!) seriously, I have to answer humbly “I do not know” to the OP’s question – despite years of diligent study with a personal tutor. Even after the tutor and I introduced. B’H, several more exemplars into the world and I was zoche to observe them closely, first in vivo and then in vitro – I still cannot comprehend them. But the Seder is not over, so I am still holding hope.

A bigger picture – there is always a difference how we address risks coming directly from Hashem, or indirectly from our enemies:
David rightfully choose a plague v. a war, as there is no end to which evil people might go; We teach Torah in the face of Romans or Soviets, etc. But there is no chiyuv to do bris milah on a bleeding child to prove that we are big tzadikim. This was also addressed in some of teshuvos regarding Covid.

Where the limits of risk are might be a subject for debate. People can indeed be affected by biases here: some because they “believe in science” and will swallow anything to show how “progressive” they are; others – because they do not trust anything “from goyim” and do not know anything themselves. Most are affected by the bias of convenience and personal finance – I don’t want to do some extras; do something my friends do not do; or that can hurt my mossad. (kiso/koso/kaaso).

Gadol, yes, we will first need to file for an order to disclose ujm’s IP.

Maybe rather than monitoring mental and prisoner records, there should be psychological tests for empathy. Just review of social media would suffice, like in this case.

Avira and it’s evil at its core.

>> When it comes to mitzvos “Hashem will forgive us”, nu nu, it’s only a mitzvah…

We have lots of halakha of postponing bris (jaundice) or cancelling (hemophilia, empirically measured – 2 brothers dying), possibly even draft as I mentioned (Yevamos ~ 70). So, it is clear that health is a factor, the question is a matter of degree that can be rationally discussed, nothing “evil” here. The “forgive” wording is entirely mine, poorly paraphrasing the shabbos breaking rationale “live for them”.

>> But when we have non torah based political interests…. that’s a different story.

I understand that you see this as political on the context of pro- and anti-Zionism. Here we are trying to get into another person’s mind, so let’s try following him. In the context of people affiliated with Israel as a Jewish country, this is an issue of having an upper hand against the enemy who is a threat to Jewish lives. Lubavicher was quoting in this context a difference between fighting goyim in general and those who attack border cities – the latter requires extra protection, otherwise enemy will continue creeping in over time, like Russia in Ukraine. Har Habayit is an important place both in Jewish and non-Jewish minds, so prevailing there matters. You can continue arguing that his premise is wrong and Jews should evacuate from Israel, or you can disagree with the heshbon whether it is healthy to provoke a billion people, but – again, from that POV – it is a reasonable sevora.

Avira > we’re not obligated to follow the opinions of climatologists, there’s no source or mesorah for it.
n0 > We should follow the truth.

I agree with both! We have great mesorah from Gemora that we should use sevorah to make decisions. Sometimes, you can experiment yourself, others – consult experts. In all cases, you need to be critical of what experts are saying and strive for truth. Of course, one should listen to gedolim here – who know halocha and either studied science themselves or can consult sufficient authorities.
Edited. Leave it to the rabbeim to decide who is qualified to pasken.

Avira, a good question about difference between metzitza and har habayit. I presume that the thinking is that danger is allowed when there is a reason. On metzitza, one can say that H’ will be also concerned about baby’s health and will forgive skipping this tradition. Gemora says that one Rav will postpone bris due to draft from wind, so it is not too outrageous to be concerned about remote threat to a baby. On the other hand, one might claim that going to Har Habyit has a value in strengthening Jewish presence in Yerushalaim, etc rather than danger. I understand that this is questionable, and that nonsense for you, but this is a disagreement on political judgment rather than halakha.

Looking at metzitza issue from recent knowledge, Aguda’s response that “driving is more dangerous” seems to be true. On the other hand, cases of post-bris herpes is still reported in press once in a while over the years. Maybe someone wants to compute numbers to compare with covid danger per person, assuming say 10 herpes cases per NYC (of course, cases may be under-reported).

We can also conclude that, similarly to Covid, it is possible that R Tendler with his understanding of builogy and statistics understands the danger and thus osers, while a community of people who do not study that may rely on “shomer peshayim”, as they do for Covid.

anon, it is Trump’s fault. He appointed Powell. Biden was not expected to do better, say thank you that he resisted appointing a diversity socialist that his team wanted.

Apparently even after all blunders, there are still things that administration can do, but does not:
1) Biden.. dangled the possibility of at least temporarily waiving the Jones Act, . that says only American-flagged ships can carry fuel and other goods between U.S. ports. The industry would likely jump at that, but there’s doubt that the administration could overcome union opposition to doing so

2) Industry ..requesting faster permitting times for pipelines and easier access to public lands for drilling — .. administration is unlikely to acquiesce. In fact, the Interior Department in January is expected to propose new rules that would raise the royalty rates companies pay to produce oil on federal land.

Gadol, thanks for explaining this old adage: of course, it means that the person should always go “up” – when he leaves the house and when he comes back! To remind yourself of this practice, you should always leave the house from the basement so that then you go “up”, and then come back to the first floor (or whatever is the top floor when you live on a terrace).

Syag > You admit you are lacking information but your response is to tell me to do research.

to recap: I did my research – have read a number of works and heard references from others that all lead to the conclusion that the Rav is a Talmid Chacham. You and others are dismissing him based on some unclear references/rumors/opinions that claim that his views are not just something you do not agree, but unacceptable. I am pointing out that the picture of such a dysfunctional Feinstein family does not make sense and should make you ask yourself a question.

Btw, some introductions mention that a number of Igeres Moshes are addressed to R Tendler. Can someone summarize what topics are in their conversation and how is R Moshe addressing R Tendler?

Jackk, thanks, this is mind boggling stuff. Is this still prime-time TV or on C-span? How many people are watching (besides you).

Syag,
I am not familiar w/ R Tendler’s declarations that are “against Torah”. I am not fully familiar with all he said and did over years, I read some of his science-related work and it was reasonable. He was R Moshe’s s-i-l and not put in herem by him, as far as I know. A quick search shows that R Reuven Feinstein spoke at R Tendler’s levaya. All of this just has to give you a pause before proceeding, but I see no acknowledgement.

ujm, you can refer to physicists on the issues of physics, but if you look at relationship between science and Torah, you would obviously start with someone who is bokeh in both.