Avi K

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  • in reply to: Refuting the Three Oaths [Gimel Shevuot] #2268769
    Avi K
    Participant

    1. See Yoma 9b that there was tremendous anger at the Babylonian Jews for not making aliya en masse.

    2. See Ramban, Sefer haMitzvot, mitzvot that Rambam “forgot” that there is a Torah obligation in our time to conquer and settle Eretz Yisrael.

    3. Rav Soloveichik said (Kol Dodi Dofek) that Hashem has knocked. Just look at the Land giving forth its fruits (Sanhedrin 98a with Rashi d”h meguleh mizeh).

    3. BTW, the Jewish National home was supposed to include both banks of the Jordan River as well as Gaza. Jordan is the real Palestinian state as it was part of the Ottoman province of that name.

    in reply to: Time for Frum Magazines to Change their Standards #2261551
    Avi K
    Participant

    Aira, please cite where Rav Moshe’s alleged teshuva appears. I find it very difficult to believe that he would write something like that. Besides, doctors and nurses can certainly find professions that pay at least equally well, without the crazy hours and astronomical malpractice insurance premiums caused by juries who think that they are doing chesed by giving out huge awards.

    In any case, Chazal say that it is a mitzva (Sukka 25a). See Nishmat Avraham, OC 38,6 in the name of Rav Yitzchak Zilberstein that this is even if they are paid.

    in reply to: Time for Frum Magazines to Change their Standards #2261406
    Avi K
    Participant

    Pappas ben Yehuda kept his wife, Miriam Magdalei Neshaya (the Hairstylist), locked up at home. That is why she went OTD. – Gittin 90a

    in reply to: Time for Frum Magazines to Change their Standards #2261220
    Avi K
    Participant

    Hakatan, how is it more frum not to mention women? One newspaper printed Caroline Glick’s column under the byline C. Glick ( wonder if their Tanachs refer to Devorah as D. and their gemarot refer to Beruria and B).. That is not frum. It is silly and a chillul Hashem as it makes Judaism look ridiculous.

    Aseh, actually Jewish men have had to listen to their wives since Hashem told Avraham to listen to Sarah. In some cases, aman who wants to change his trade (e.g. become a tanner) needs his wife’s permission.

    in reply to: @CTLAWYER #2256752
    Avi K
    Participant

    Mazal tov.

    in reply to: RFK’s second wife #2246114
    Avi K
    Participant

    The subject is RFK, Jr. Besides continuing his family tradition regarding women, he is a conspiracy theorist and anti-vaxxer who has made antisemitic claims. Apparently, he is still suffering from the traumas of his father’s assassination, being packed off to a surrogate family due to his mother’s inability to run the family and years of drug abuse.

    in reply to: Hilarious Headline (part 3) #2237649
    Avi K
    Participant

    From the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

    The word itself was adopted into English (via Latin) from Greek Exodos, which literally means “the road out.” The Greek word was formed by combining the prefix ex- (meaning “out of”) and hodos, “road” or “way.” Other descendants of the prolific hodos in English include episode, method, odometer, and period.

    in reply to: Defeating Those Who Want Us Dead #2231073
    Avi K
    Participant

    The maamin knows that we are obligated to do hushtadlut. Chazal call looking for a miracle where we can do this troubling Hashem.

    in reply to: To add to the list of YU’s sins #2217304
    Avi K
    Participant

    The idea is to show them that Judaism is the root. Moreover, it’s allowed to teach them the details of the sheva mitzvot. According to some, a mitzzva. While not all agree, the Rema says (Responsum 10) that the mitzva of dinim includes all of Choshen Mishpat. A goy who learns Torah is like the Cohen Gadol 9Avoda Zara 3a). The Meiri differentiates between a goy whose interest is purely academic and one who seeks the truth.

    You really started off Elul on the right foot with your hotzaat shem ra.

    in reply to: Jew vs. Jewish Person #2213668
    Avi K
    Participant

    At one time, Jew” was considered pejorative. The polite words were “Hebrew” and “Israelite”. I guess that going back to the latter is not politically correct in some circles.

    in reply to: The final word on Moshiach from the meisim (hopefully!) #2206287
    Avi K
    Participant

    Are the haskamot really haskamot or just berachot? In any case, I do not interpret aggadatot literally (see Rambam’s intreduction to Perek Chelek). It is very dangerous to apply this practically. This is how a certain other religion started.

    in reply to: More than One Type of Toeiva #2198265
    Avi K
    Participant

    Avira, as with everything else, a person must use the fifth section of the Shulchan Aruch. If the victim does not know about it (e.g. someone said lashon hara about him), forgot about it, or would be embarrassed by it being recalled, one should not talk about it. The idea is to fix the harm that was done to him.

    in reply to: Bridging the Gap Between The Torah World and MO #2198206
    Avi K
    Participant

    Avura, according to Ramban, conquering EY is a Torah mitzva. Rambam. Even according to those who only look at security, we cannot give up land. Look at what happened when we gave up Gush Katif. Obviously, war overrides pikuach nefesh of individuals.

    So far as the O.P.’s question is concerned, there are a number of rabbis who alternated between the Mir and YU. I would imagine that the same is true of other Lithuanian yeshivot. Orthodoxy is represented by, to borrow a mathematical term, a continuous distribution, not a discreet distribution.

    in reply to: More than One Type of Toeiva #2198203
    Avi K
    Participant

    Akuperma, do they really? A certain financial criminal is not only unrepentant but is being lionized as a miracle worker. Many others who are not caught are proud of fooling the government. They think that they are really smart.

    Avira, there are two types: one who only has SSA and another who also has a normal side. In fact, a certain religious Israeli singer announced that he has SSA but is married, has children and is completely loyal to his wife. Rav Shmuel Eliahu said that he should be given full shul honors. See Pirkei Avot 4,1.

    in reply to: Did we really go to the moon #2189895
    Avi K
    Participant

    A frum Jew in orbit would have to constantly daven as it is always the zeman below him. The big problem would be saying Kiddush Levana on the Moon. How can he say that he cannot reach it even if he would jump?

    in reply to: Who is my government working for? #2189428
    Avi K
    Participant

    Reagan said that the scariest words in the English language are “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you”. On the hand, Chazal saay that if not for fear of the government, people would swallow each other alive. It depends on how much government.

    BTW, it’s “or whom is my government working?”

    in reply to: Time to demolish orthopraxy #2186505
    Avi K
    Participant

    What about someone who wears the uniform but is a baal lashon hara and hotzaat shem ra, especially about Eretz Yisrael (the Ben Ish Hai says that this includes the residents), or who commits financial crimes and not only does not do teshuva but is lionized and held up as a miracle worker?

    in reply to: Lo sichanem #2183770
    Avi K
    Participant

    Rav Kook said that we should also love non-Jews (Middot haRaya, Ahava). Rav Ovadia permitted saying a “mi sheberach” for a ‘םומגקג Druze soldier and a hashkava for the Druze police officer killed in the Har Nof massacre as they do not worship idolsץ Rav Moshe allowed honoring a non-Jew who benefited the Jewish community. Chazal instructed us to give tzedaka to non-Jews, to visit their sick, and to comfort their mourners as the Torah’s ways are ways of peace. This would seem to be in line with the comment seen by the O.P.

    Of course, As Rav Tzvi Yehuda (Kook) said, this does not obviate the halachot regarding distancing ourselves. This is a dichotomy of Judaism. On the one hand, we are universalists, and on the other hand, we are particularists.

    in reply to: Is every Rav now a Gaon as well? #2182190
    Avi K
    Participant

    The Gaonim never heard of Rasho o rTosafot.

    in reply to: Judicial reform poll #2179508
    Avi K
    Participant

    I do not believe all he scare stories bandied about by leftists. In fact, several investors expressed interest in investing in Israel and did not even mention the reforms. However, if a consensus can be reached, it will be better. If we can finally have a constitution, it will be even better. The problem is that Lapid, Gantz & Co. want to oust Netanyahu more than anything.

    The Knesset reconvenes after Yom haAtrzmaut. The reforms are already tabled and ready for enactment. If there is no progress, Netanyahu can pass them and blame the Opposition.

    in reply to: Itamar Ben-Gvir #2165794
    Avi K
    Participant

    Avira, did you ever hear of “eilu v’eilu”? Full disclosure: I do not go up on Har haBayit but those who rabbanim allow it should be allowed to do so. This ship sailed ninety years ago. The Mufti ym”s threatened dire consequences if the Jews would not admit that the Kotel is theirs. The Breitish and certain ghetto Jews pressured Rav Kook and Rav Sonnenfeld to agree. Both steadfastly refused and the threat dissipated.

    Avi K
    Participant

    Avira,

    1. DeHaan was writing libelous articles in gentile European newspapers. Being that I want my response to be published, I will not denote his motives. They are well-known. Rav Sonnenfeld wanted unlimited Jewish emigration and thought that he could get it by giving up on the idea of statehood. However, the Arabs knew that at some point they would not be able to hold onto control. They never would have agreed. Thus, the Faisal-Weizman Agreement also failed.
    2. If frum Jews had come to EY en masse as Rav Kook urged, Israel would have been a Torah state from the beginning. Instead, it is taking longer.
    3. The rest of your post is nonsense. Shuls in America have police guards. A frum Jew who works in the general job market just might be fired for speaking against toeva. The media constantly attacks Orthodox Judaism. Assimilation is rampant and also affects the frum community.

    Historian,

    1. The State of Israel is a Torah commandment (see Ramban, Mitzvot that Rambam “Forgot”).
    2. As for the hareidן community, Rav Kook explains that this approach made them unable to start the Geula rolling. They were passively waiting for Mashiach to fall from heaven. However, we must do hishtadlut as in everything else. They did not want to revach v’hatzala came from others.
    3.Tell me, would you have advised Yehoshua bןn Nin to try to make peace with the Canaanites? Would you have advised David haMelech to take peaceful steps to avoid the Plishtim’s hatred?

    Avi K
    Participant

    correction: Rav Sonnenfeld wanted unrestricted Jewish immigration.

    Avi K
    Participant

    What does DeHaan’s killing have to do with the IDF? The O.P. has an emuna issue. DeHaan would have failed even if he had lived because he was trying to stop the Geula (for ulterior motives, which are well known). Similarly, the Hashgacha put Rav Kook, who had the right citizenship, in London to lobby for the Balfour Declaration and kept the anti-Zionist German rabbis, who had the wrong citizenship, from going there

    in reply to: Cherem on sefer “Pshuto Shel Mikra” #2144207
    Avi K
    Participant

    The author was a prominent talmid chacham who founded the Michlalah in Jerusalem. I someone disagrees, so he can also write a sefer. Notthat I am comparing, c”v, but Moreh Nevuchim was burned and all of Ramchal’s books were banned.

    As for haskamot, please cite where Ramban says this. It would apply to all sefarim today as no one gives a real haskama. They give berachot. BTW, the mekubbalim starting with the Zohar say that Hashem runs the world through intermediaries. The Jewish people in Eretz Yisrael are an exception. The Rivash objected to the idea of sefirot (Responsa 157) but there are other legitimate opinions.

    Avi K
    Participant

    I also have my doubts about this story. The father and uncles did not do a melacha themselves. Even if they did, it would at least be permitted בכדי שיעשה .

    in reply to: No torah no jewish state #2117495
    Avi K
    Participant

    Avram,

    1. That was that genration. It was a punishment for their initial refusal. The next generation did conquer it. See Ramban, Sefer haMitzvot, Mitzvot that Rambam “Forgot”.

    2. So why did Yehoshua refrain from killing the Givonim? Halachically, it was a mekach ta’ut.

    in reply to: Derech Emuna settlement #2117494
    Avi K
    Participant

    Avirah, Rav Pam, Rav Moshe Schain (Ruchoma Shain’s husband) and Rav Avigdor Miller all went to mixed colleges (CCNY). Rav Soloveichik and the last Lubavitcher Rebbe also did (the University of Berlin). The Ner Yisrael yeshiva has an arrangement with Johns Hopkins. Yeshivat Chaim Berlin has also always sent men to colleges.

    in reply to: Derech Emuna settlement #2117493
    Avi K
    Participant

    Wasn’t Jerusalem destroyed because of sinat chinam?

    in reply to: No torah no jewish state #2117168
    Avi K
    Participant

    Ujm, are you serious or just a troll? Schlissel is a murderer. Maybe a shoteh, but a murderer. Kanaim pogim bo only refers to certain acts. A woman with a woman is not one of them, especially if it is consensual.

    Regarding, the Hashmonaim, after the first generation, they were Tzaddukim. Yanai slaughtered the chachamim and his sons fought a civil war and brought in the Romans. Even so, Rambam says that one of the reasons why we celebrate Chanuka because we had sovereignty for 200 years. The present-day state is the proverbial half a glass. It supports yeshivot and seminaries (more people are learning today than at any time in our history), IDF kitchens are kosher. Shabbat is an official day of rest and chagim are holidays. Most government offices are even closed during Chol haMoed.

    Chazal say (Chullin 63b) that the ra’ah is called that because he sits in chutz la Aretz and see a carcass in Eretz Yisrael. The Kotzker says that nothing is more tamei than that. There will not be a downfall like the Chashmonaim. Rav Herzog paskeend it when it looked like Rommel would get here c”v. There will a peaceful transition or transitions, in the same manner, lehavdil, as states in the US change their constitutions.

    Avira, FYI, conquering and possessing EY is part of Torah. So is looking good in the eyes of the other nations. This is called “kiddush Hashem”.

    in reply to: Derech Emuna settlement #2117170
    Avi K
    Participant

    Avira, Rav Moshe disagreed with Rav Goren but, so far as I know, he never threw him out of his house. I don’t know that RG ever went. The irony is that those who consider themselves talmidim of Rav Eliashiv, who resigned over the pesak, are annulling conversions left and right when couples come to marry. In the Langer case, there was no documentary evidence that a conversion and remarriage even took place. There was documentation that they were married by a priest. If there was a pro forma conversion, it was coerced (her father had incriminating information about Borokovsky). Rav Soloveichik and Rav Henkin supported RG. RS invited RG to speak at YU and participated in his shiurim.

    in reply to: Derech Emuna settlement #2116670
    Avi K
    Participant

    Ujm, the Shulchan Aruch(CM 369,6) paskens like Rambam that it does. Rav Ovadia says that one cannot say “kim li” against them. I personally cannot understand the Ran. Is he saying that David and Shlomo were illegitimate rulers? Not to mention the fat that there is a mitzva to appoint a king. The Netziv interprets “melech” to refer to any government , as does Rav Kook.

    in reply to: Derech Emuna settlement #2116388
    Avi K
    Participant

    Who says that chareidi gedolim were against settlements? There have been a number for many years: Kiryat Sefer, Beitar, Emmanuel, Tel Tzion. The “settlement” in question is not a settlement but an encampment. Like it or not, the chareidi world is changing. Maybe we should, as Rav Kook said, ditch these labels. They prevent teshuva by giving their wearers the impression that they are 100%. They also cause chillulei hashem when it comes out that some wearers are much less.

    BTW, The Aguda signed on the Declaration of Independence. Rav Kahaneman flew the Israeli flag on Yom haAtzmaut – and the tradition continues. He also did not say tachanun.

    Avi K
    Participant

    This is illegal. She should call *3406 between 9 and 3 Sun-Thurs. I will write, though, that I am somewhat cynical about claims of humiliation. BTW, at one time married women in general were refused jobs because of this.

    in reply to: Was Hordus a Jew? #2113117
    Avi K
    Participant

    Hordus’ father was an Idumean. However, his mother was a Nabatean Arab. Unless she converted, that would make him a gentile.

    in reply to: Brooklyn Sephardi Shuls Non-SY #2109641
    Avi K
    Participant

    There are many different Sephardi and Eidot haMirzrach (strictly speaking, a Sephardi is someone who is descended from Gerush Sepharad) communities. So far as I know, the takana only applies to the Syrian community (and not all Syrian rabbis supported it).

    in reply to: שנאת חינם #2108595
    Avi K
    Participant

    If we have a state it is because sinat chinam has moderated. Lessing, in fact, thought that we would never have one because we could not get along. When was the last time there was a fist fight in shul over whether to say some tefilla? However, if the state is imperfect and we don’t have the Bet haMikdash, we obviously have a long way to go.

    This fable once appeared in Mishpacha magazine:

    Once upon a time, in the year 5780, after millennia of Jewish praying and yearning, the Mashiach finally arrived at the gates of Jerusalem.

    He tried to enter through the first gate, but the gatekeeper, who was wearing a kippah serugah, seeing that the gentleman who claimed he was the Mashiach was not wearing a kippah serugah, doubted his authenticity and concluded that he must be a false Mashiach. The gatekeeper denied him admission.

    The Mashiach tried a second gate, but the gatekeeper, who was wearing a black hat with a three-inch brim, seeing that the gentleman who claimed he was the Mashiach was not wearing a black hat with a three-inch brim, doubted his authenticity and concluded that he must be a false Mashiach. The gatekeeper denied him admission.

    The Mashiach tried a third gate, but the gatekeeper, who was wearing a shtreimel, seeing that the gentleman who claimed he was the Mashiach was not wearing a shtreimel, doubted his authenticity and concluded that he must be a false Mashiach. The gatekeeper denied him admission.

    So it went at all the seven gates to Jerusalem. Each of the gatekeepers at each of the remaining gates was wearing a different head covering:

    At the fourth gate, a turban;

    at the fifth gate, a gray fedora;

    at the sixth gate, a black velvet yarmulke;

    at the seventh gate, a black hat with a one-inch brim.

    Wherever the Mashiach was not wearing the precise duplicate of the gatekeeper’s head covering, he created doubt and suspicion, was considered a false Mashiach, and was denied admission. Thus was he not permitted to enter any of the seven gates to Jerusalem.

    And there he stands, waiting patiently for someone to let him in.

    What kind of head covering was the Mashiach actually wearing?

    He was wearing none of the above.

    That’s because he was wearing all of the above.

    A fantasy? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

    Meanwhile, the Mashiach and all his head coverings linger patiently at the gate.

    in reply to: Segula R’ Chaim Palagi and sheker #2093601
    Avi K
    Participant

    It’s not a lie. It’s a segula for the organization. The same with the “kabbalistic knife” some organization once advertised.

    in reply to: Every Yids a safek mamzer #2091971
    Avi K
    Participant

    רב יהודה חזייה לרב יצחק בריה דרב יהודה דגדל ולא נסיב א”ל מאי טעמא לא קא מנסיב ליה מר איתתא לבריה א”ל מי ידענא מהיכא אנסיב אמר ליה אטו אנן מי ידעינן מהיכא קאתינן דילמא מהנך דכתיב (איכה ה, יא) נשים בציון ענו בתולות בערי יהודה וכי תימא עובד כוכבים ועבד הבא על בת ישראל הולד כשר ודילמא מהנך דכתיב בהו (עמוס ו, ד) השוכבים על מטות שן וסרוחים על ערסותם … אמר ר’ אבהו אלו בני אדם שאוכלין ושותין זה עם זה ומדביקין מטותיהם זו בזו ומחליפין
    נשותיהם זה לזה ומסריחים ערסותם בשכבת זרע שאינה שלהם

    קידושין עא ע”ב

    in reply to: Torah on Youtube #2087407
    Avi K
    Participant

    Always, the Siyum haShas was in Meadowlands Stadium. Yankee Stadium has five kosher stands. The meat is chassidic shechita. There is also a place for davening during the Seventh Inning Stretch.

    in reply to: Unusual occupations for frum people. #2082724
    Avi K
    Participant

    Actor (Steven Hill, Esti Michelle Rosenblatt’s children).

    in reply to: Local elected frum people #2080996
    Avi K
    Participant

    Correction: Pollak is not married (or at least was not when she ran) so apparently it is her hair.

    in reply to: Segula for parnassah #2080994
    Avi K
    Participant

    Segulot for parnassa only work for those who sell them.

    in reply to: Local elected frum people #2080991
    Avi K
    Participant

    UJM, Agudat Yisrael was represented in the Polish Sejm. Rabbi Meir Shapiro was a member for several years but stepped down to concentrate on building his yeshiva.

    in reply to: Local elected frum people #2080984
    Avi K
    Participant

    Montreal has a Chassidic (Vizhnitzer) woman borough councilor. Her name is Mindy Pollak and she speaks English, French and Yiddish, wears a sheitel and did not shake hands with men during her campaign. She was approached to run for the federal Parliament but turned it down because she wants to finish what she started.

    Avi K
    Participant

    UJM, that is the problem. You think that you are still in the shtetl. BTW, they were not so holy. Anyone who learns the responsa literature knows that.

    in reply to: The Russia-Ukraine War Hoax #2078448
    Avi K
    Participant

    It’s no longer Purim.

    in reply to: Viktor Yanukovych, President of Ukraine #2065243
    Avi K
    Participant

    Ujm, does your hat have a good hechsher?

    in reply to: Is it time to leave America #2061984
    Avi K
    Participant

    Avira,

    1. The yaldei Tehran and Teimanim claims have been debunked by various inquiries, inclyuding one by Menachem Begin’s government , which had an interest to discredit Labor.
    2. The IDF is designed to defend Am Yisrael.
    3. The Declaration of independence mentions צור ישראל. Do you not believe that this is Hashem?
    4. it is a known fact that gedolei Yisrael told Jews not to leave Europe.
    5. Where did you get that bit about tefillin?
    6. The State definitely is the representative of the Jewish people. If you don;t believe our enemies will tell you otherwise.
    7. Dina d’malcuta dina. The state must give religious freedom because then Jews in other countries will not be given religious freedom. This is the state of the world today. ידנו לא תקיפה .
    8. Control? Wanting kids to be taught skills so that they can be productive citizens and get off welfare?
    9. Who claims that the Bagatz is the Sanhedrin?
    10. What caricatures? Anyway, the solution to that and your other claims is for frum Jews to make aliya, accept citizenship 9which many hareidim refuse to do while enjoying all the benefits as “students”) and vote.

    in reply to: Is it time to leave America #2061700
    Avi K
    Participant

    HaKatan,

    Mashiach ben Yosef did come in 5708. The Zohar says that easch 1,000 years of creation is lagainst one of the first six. That means that 5708 is the sof zeman bittul chametz. There is no greater chametz than the galut.

    BTW, Rav Soloveichik said that if not for the creation of the State of Israel Jews would have assimilated completely. Missionaries were using the Holocaust as proof that they were right. RS himself was accosted a number of times during his trips between Boston and New York. The creation of the State destroyed their whole sheeta. This is besides the great mitzvot of establishing a sovereign state in Eretz Yisrael (which was heralded by almost all of the gedolim in Eretz Yisrael, including the Agudaistim), building the Land and being mosser nefesh to save Jews.

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