Avi K

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  • in reply to: President Donald Trump, Oheiv Yisroel Par Excellence #1718853
    Avi K
    Participant

    Dayenu
    by Rabbi Steven Pruzansky

    This is the Dayenu for President Trump, based on the simple realization that there has never been a president as pro-Israel as Trump, and it is almost unthinkable that there will ever be another. Let us count the ways, individual acts for which alone we would sing Dayenu, “it would have been enough:”

    If Trump had only ceased calling the Palestinians “refugees,” it would have been enough;
    If Trump had only rejected the notion that the fate of the Palestinians is the crux of every conflict in the Middle East, it would have been enough;
    If Trump had only halted financial aid to the Palestinian Authority to protest their diabolical “pay to slay” program, it would have been enough;
    If Trump had only questioned the wisdom and viability of the two-state illusion, it would have been enough;
    If Trump had only devastated ISIS in Syria and Iraq, it would have been enough;
    If Trump had only canceled the Iran nuclear deal and committed to thwarting an Iranian nuclear bomb, it would have been enough;
    If Trump had only acknowledged Israel’s right to settle throughout its ancestral homeland, it would have been enough;
    If Trump had only vetoed every anti-Israel resolution tabled at the United Nations, it would have been enough;
    If Trump had only withdrawn the United States from the UN Human Rights Commission and from UNESCO for their vicious anti-Israel bias, it would have been enough;
    If Trump had only unequivocally supported Israel’s right of self-defense, it would have been enough;
    If Trump had only moved the American embassy to Yerushalayim, it would have been enough;
    If Trump had only recognized Yerushalayim as Israel’s eternal and undivided capital, it would have been enough;
    If Trump had only formally recognized Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights, it would have been enough;
    If Trump had only routinely denounced the scourge of Jew hatred, it would have been enough;
    If Trump had only said – as he did after the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre – that “those who are trying to destroy the Jewish people, we will destroy them,” it would have been enough;
    If Trump had only ostracized anti-Israel voices in America, it would have been enough;
    If Trump had only warmly befriended Israel’s Prime Minister and its people, it would have been enough.
    That is some list, even without reciting the al achat kama v’chama that would marvel at the achievement of each of the above. It is unprecedented in the history of the relationship of the United States and Israel and the president is only two years into his administration. Of course, there have been other presidents who were “pro-Israel,” and others who were less than friendly – but there has never been a President whose support was unambiguous and influenced so many other nations around the world as this President. We should be thankful, and express our gratitude without hesitation.

    Gratitude is an especially cherished virtue among Jews and particularly on Pesach when we celebrate our nation’s founding. And even if we limit the real Dayenu to the King of Kings, we do acknowledge that, as King Shlomo put it, “Like streams of water the heart of a king is in G-d’s hands…” (Mishlei 21:1).

    Sure, he may tweet a bit too much and much too vividly at times, and one can quibble with a questionable policy here and there, and others can criticize a character weakness or two, but we betray ourselves and our deepest values if we do not express gratitude. Only a Trump, not beholden to the tired thinking of all the old Middle East experts and their evenhandedness, their failures, and their anti-Israel animus scarcely concealed, could have pulled this off –a re-alignment of American foreign policy.

    And even if Jews are not one-issue voters, it behooves us to at least acknowledge the contrast with prior presidents – some of whom made promises they did not keep, berated Israel and Jews when new rooms were added on to apartments in Ofra and Kiryat Arba, never acknowledged (or acknowledged grudgingly) Israel’s natural, historic, religious and moral right to its homeland, embraced wholeheartedly the chimeras of “land for peace” and the “two state illusion,” urged restraint and proportionality whenever Jews were attacked and wished to retaliate and pre-empt future attacks, and were obsessed with again partitioning the land of Israel and excising its heartland from Jewish sovereignty.

    Whether President Trump is guilty of the crime of obstruction of justice or the virtue and natural right of obstruction of injustice (it seems more like the latter) will be settled according to the new American custom: by the media. As for us, even Jewish Democrats should at least acknowledge these blessings and how the current administration has strengthened Israel – and regardless of the fanciful “deal of the century” coming down the road. We should not only see maror but open our eyes to the wonders of a friendship and alliance that has achieved heretofore unimaginable heights.

    Sometimes we are tested with an abundance of good and not the incidence of evil. That too is a gift of Providence for which we should be ever grateful.

    in reply to: What if I don't want to buy back the chometz from the goy? #1718055
    Avi K
    Participant

    Joseph,
    1. One does not sell the utensils themselves. If you do you have to tovel them again after Pesach as they belonged to a goy.
    2. While a goy is obligated in the sheva mitzvot (and some say all of the mishpatim) there is a machloket if they are also obligated in monetary halachot or if they can make up what they want.
    3. The status of the sale in secular law is not necessarily relevant. Someone snitched to the Austrian government that the Jews did not pay the tax on contracts. The Emperor said that it was not a real contract but just something the Jews do for religious reasons. Someone then suggested that the contract was invalid because of dina d’malchuta dina. the Chatam Sofer said that it was still valid.(the
    Chavat Yair however did mention this as a problem).

    in reply to: Anti-Semitism – Caused By Ourselves? #1717911
    Avi K
    Participant

    Purim was a month ago. Many of our zemirot tunes come from Polish and Russian folk songs and even drinking songs. Chabad even adopted one of Napoleon’s marches even though the Baal haTanya supported the Tsar.

    However, Rav Meir Simcha tells us the real reason. Thinking that Berlin (or Brooklyn or Monsey or Lakewood) is our Jerusalem. Rav Kook says that there are three types of olim corresponding to the three types of shofarot. The best type comes from a ram – those Jews who make aliya out of a religious desire to build the land and keep its mitzvot. The second type are those who come for nationalistic reasons. This is not the best shofar but it comes from a kosher animal so one may make a beracha. The third type are those who are pushed out by antisemitism. This is the shofar from a non-kosher animal. It may be sounded if there is nothing else but one may not make a beracha.

    in reply to: Always Wearing a Hat When Outdoors #1712663
    Avi K
    Participant

    The Ben Ish Hai says that even if one davens at home one should wear a shirt as one would not walk in the street without one. Rav Mordechai Eliahu learns that if someone would walk in the street without a hat a jacket he need not wear them for davening.

    As for what was, if you look at old pictures you will see that a man’s hat signified his station in life. Workers wore caps. Middle class men wore hats that matched (and came with) their suits.

    in reply to: Adama Veshamayim – Avoda Zara #1712537
    Avi K
    Participant

    5ish, are you saying that we go according to the first use? Actually, it was used by the Benedictine monks before becoming a drinking song. Moreover, if it was a German folk tune it probably originated in Teutonic paganism.

    in reply to: Adama Veshamayim – Avoda Zara #1711929
    Avi K
    Participant

    DY, many of of our tunes (e.g. the popular one for “Maoz Tzur”) come from church music. On the other hand, some say that the Gregorian chants were stolen from the Bet haMikdash. Rabbi Yisrael Najara also adapted non-Jewish tunes. In any case how is Yeshivishrockstar so knowledgeable about Wiccan music and Hindu avoda zara?

    in reply to: Adama Veshamayim – Avoda Zara #1711933
    Avi K
    Participant

    In general Rav Moshe was against music. This is a general outlook in some quarters regarding aveiluton the Churban. For lenient opinions see Shut Shoel uMeishiv Mahadura Kama 3:72, Shut Yabia Omer 6 OC 7 and Shut Yehaveh Deah 2:5.

    in reply to: Tax Time Nightmare….Trump’s Tax Reforms Cost me big time #1710761
    Avi K
    Participant

    CTL, the funds are, in fact a pork barrel for all kinds of benefits never intended to be part of Soc Sec. However, the National Ponzi Scheme would probably keep going had people kept on having kids at Baby Boom levels and if the now retiring Boomers would do the younger set a favor and die earlier.

    in reply to: Tax Time Nightmare….Trump’s Tax Reforms Cost me big time #1710497
    Avi K
    Participant

    CTL, I thought that you like paying taxes. The US national debt is now $22 trillion dollars. Unless something drastic is done the Social Security Trust Fund will run out of money in 2034. At that point only 79% of benefits will be payable. Even after I become eligible for an Israeli Senior Citizen’s allowance that will be half of my income. Of course, if the dollar collapses before that the whole world will be in deep trouble. People will simply have to tighten up. Certainly no green new deals and other economic luncaies, Profligate states will have to put on the brakes to or put in receivership (this is what Israel does when a municipality does not keep its financial house in order.

    in reply to: Going t Kever Rochel – “Mama Rochel helf mir” #1705449
    Avi K
    Participant

    Laskern, the Gesher haChaim brings down that everyone agrees that asking the dead to do something themselves is avoda zara. Asking them to intercede with Hashem is a dispute. In any case, as Yiddish was not yet invented it would seem that Rachel does not understand it.

    in reply to: Halachically okay to be liberal? #1704635
    Avi K
    Participant

    Avram,
    1. See Rabbi J. David Bleich’s article <Capital Punishment in Noahide Law in volume 2 of Contemporary Halachic Problems. it is available online on sefaria.org. You can read Rav Moshe’s teshuva (written afterwards) here.
    2. Leo Frank was lynched not executed. In fact, GA Gov. John M. Slaton commuted his sentence.
    3. the extent of Ethel Rosenberg’s guilt is still a matter of dispute. However, she could have saved herself by naming names. She chose to be moser nefesh for her false god. Moreover, as she turned her brother David Greenglass into a communist she might have had the din of a mesicha umedicha.
    4. Under what, if any, circumstances would you support capital punishment?
    5. I find it interesting that liberals are so concerned about people who have rap sheets longer than height but care nothing for unborn babies (and in “enlightened” Belgium and Holland there is already child “euthanasia” but no death penalty for murderers).

    in reply to: Where did all the libs go? #1703368
    Avi K
    Participant

    CTL, that type of reasoning might impress a jury but don’t try it in front of a judge. What does one have to do with the other? Moreover, he met Nancy after he and Jane Wyman had already filed for divorce (and according to Halacha once Noahides split up they are considered divorced). He was helping get her name of a list of Communists (she had been confused with another Nancy Davis). Anyway, Noahides are not subject to the cherem of Rabbenu Gershom so he did not do anything wrong. BTW, he and Jane remained friends and she supported his political campaigns.

    In answer to the O.P.’s question, after they were mugged by reality they went to conservatives every one.

    in reply to: Halachically okay to be liberal? #1703308
    Avi K
    Participant

    Avram, so what is your method? Any human system is flawed by definition. the Maharal says that that is the difference between אמת and אמת לאמיתותה. Being that the court (and in criminal law that includes secular courts a.k.a. משפט המלך) has permission to rule its decisions are אמת. The latter is what Hashem sees. However, it is necessary to have some system (see Ran, Derash 11). It should, of course, be tweaked as much as possible but there must be a system. Would you also oppose the death penalty for obviously guilty criminals like the Pittsburgh shooter, Son of Sam, Mob hitmen, etc.?

    in reply to: Halachically okay to be liberal? #1703105
    Avi K
    Participant

    Avram, then for what? BTW, Rav Moshe disagrees with you (IM CM 2:68).

    in reply to: Ice cream called “big gay” certified kosher-what’s your take? #1702724
    Avi K
    Participant

    Actually, one of the reasons for the name is that the owners feel that it makes people happy. What about listening to “On Top of Spaghetti”
    (בשר וחלב).?

    in reply to: Chabad? Most non religious Jews are not halachikly Jewish. #1702723
    Avi K
    Participant

    Rebbetzin et. al.,

    1. Did you look up my reference to Kiddushin 71b? You can go on Sefaria, press “A” and get an English translation. Due to widespread aveirot during the First Temple period and the fact that mamzerut is forever we cannot know who today is a mamzer and who is not. Statistically today we might all be. Argumentative people (except cohanim) are especially suspect.

    2. Actually just about all mamzerim can be freed of the stain if enough digging is done. For example, a witness who regularly does an aveira (tax evasion, smoking) is disqualified. Rav Moshe once annulled a first marriage after his investigators discovered that the bride had been undergoing psychiatric treatment and had the din of a shottah.

    3. Were the Jews in Bavel considered Yidden being that they did not speak Yiddish?

    in reply to: Ice cream called “big gay” certified kosher-what’s your take? #1701982
    Avi K
    Participant

    Yudel, there is no aveira in being gay. The aveira is doing an action. Even then there is no prohibition for non-Jewish women (see Rambam Hilchot Issurei Biah 14:10 and Hilchot Melachim 9:5). Of course, it could be that Big Gay is someone’s name. It sounds like it could be gangster’s. Speaking of which, what is your take on the Bialystoker Shul having a memorial plaque for Bugsy (בערוש ב”ר מרדכי דוב הלוי) Siegel?

    in reply to: Halachically okay to be liberal? #1701731
    Avi K
    Participant

    Why shouldn’t adultery be a criminal offense? It is one of the sheva mitzvot. In fact, twenty states have criminal adultery laws although prosecutions are rare. Even a law which is only declarative has value. The Akeidat Yitzchak says that this is why Hashem blasted Sedom but not Geva.

    in reply to: Halachically okay to be liberal? #1701616
    Avi K
    Participant

    Ubiquitin,
    1. Please find a proofreader.
    2. Government enforces religion with the blessing of the courts. Two examples are blue laws ( Hennington v. Georgia, 163 U.S. 299 [1896]) and Xmas being a legal holiday (Ganulin v. U.S., 71 F. Supp. 2d 824 [S.D. Ohio 1999 affirmed by the 6th Circuit]. SCOTUS itself has a Xmas party.
    3. Unless you re an anarchist you obviously agree that morality should be legislated. So whose morality? Hillary Clinton’s? Bernie Sanders’?

    in reply to: Chabad? Most non religious Jews are not halachikly Jewish. #1701612
    Avi K
    Participant

    See Ulla’s response to Rav Yehuda on Kiddushin 71b.

    in reply to: Chabad? Most non religious Jews are not halachikly Jewish. #1701600
    Avi K
    Participant

    Charlie.
    1. If it was a Sephardic/Chassidic shul you should have agreed to say “yatzzmach porkenei” and afterwards told them that your intention was “lo yatzmach porkenai”.
    2. There was a case in Jerusalem, when Ashkenazic cohanim also duchan every day, where someone suddenly stopped after 25 years. He explained that when he made aliya there was a storm at sea and he made a neder that if Hashem would bring him to EY safely he would be a cohen for 35 years. In Persia many Jews made themselves cohanim because priests of any religion were exempt from the draft. So what do we do about pidyon haben?
    3. Mi shenitma nitma. No one knows what happened in his ancestry ages ago.

    in reply to: Halachically okay to be liberal? #1700845
    Avi K
    Participant

    Ubiquitin, then what should have a bearing on law? Whatever the spirit of the time says? As we are seeing, no society can be without an ethos. If it will not be the traditional religion of the nation it has to be some other religion or quasi-religion. Secular liberalism has become this quasi-religion complete with dogma, heretics and burnings at the (so far) virtual stake. Russell Kirk wrote about this in his essay Civilization Without Religion? which you can read online.

    in reply to: Chabad? Most non religious Jews are not halachikly Jewish. #1700539
    Avi K
    Participant

    Justme,
    1. How high is a “good percentage”?
    2. There is an inyan according to Kabbala to bring back the non-Jewish descendants of Jews who intermarried. I myself have a friend who went to a BT yeshiva, found out that he was doubtfully Jewish (his maternal grandmother “converted” but did not recall going to the mikva). He went through a giur l’chumra and is now fully observant.

    in reply to: Halachically okay to be liberal? #1699707
    Avi K
    Participant

    CTL, in all of those countries the Catholic Church is very strong. This does not contradict socialist and even Marxist governments. While in the US and Europe the Church has been conservative in Latin America it has a strong leftist strain. After all, Yushki kicked the money-changers out of the Temple and condemned the rich.

    Ubiquitin, you also have foreign ideas. “Tzedaka” is not equivalent to “charity”. A person who starts a business and boosts employment is giving tzedaka but not charity. Rabbi Prof. (Emeritus) Israel Kirzner discusses the role of the entrepreneur in expanding the pie. You can find his ideas summarized on Google.

    I did not find who says that government should not legislate morality but in fact almost all laws involve legislating morality. Laws that punish theft, fraud, etc. all legislate morality.

    in reply to: Halachically okay to be liberal? #1699477
    Avi K
    Participant

    What I find interesting is that liberals want to raise the drinking and weapon buying age to 21 because until then people are not sufficiently responsible (BTW, this is shown by brain studies). Yet they want to lower the voting age to 16.

    in reply to: Halachically okay to be liberal? #1698911
    Avi K
    Participant

    CTL.
    1. You’re right. That was Ubiquitin., I apologize.
    2. It most certainly did overrule a decision. Chisholm vs. Georgia.
    3. So what if it has nothing to do with the subject of the thread? The Gemara also does that.

    in reply to: Halachically okay to be liberal? #1698415
    Avi K
    Participant

    CTL,
    1. “I do not believe that the legislature should violate separation of powers by passing legislation to overrule decisions if the court.” What about the Eleventh and Sixteenth amendments?
    2. Shmittah is not anti-capitalist. It is simply taking a year off to recharge one’s spiritual batteries. The land remains the property of its owner. As for the gifts to the poor (I assume those are the rest of your long list), in every case the poor must do some work for their gifts. Terumot and maaserot are compensation for engaging in spiritual
    work. In fact, the Torah presumes private ownership and even prohibits favoring the poor in a court case where the law is with the rich person.

    ER, Jews have been hurt more than helped by liberal values. Anti-discrimination laws prohibit preferring a fellow Jew in employment, have destroyed the separate institutions (clubs, neighborhoods, etc.) that kept non-observant Jews at least culturally Jewish and therefor kept the intermarriage rate low (even Jewish gangsters and communists almost never married out). Now even campus religious groups may not exclude non-believers. The laws that protect Sabbath observers (which, BTW, have more holes than Swiss cheese) can also be construed as conservative as they encourage religion.

    in reply to: Debating with a Pakistani scammer #1698216
    Avi K
    Participant

    Whitecar, you can answer him with a utilitarian argument. Commerce depends on trust.

    Heargod, it is not correct that capitalism “skewers ones (sic – you forgot the apostrophe) value system into thinking the goal in life is money”. On the contrary, it enables people to rise out of poverty so that they have time to think about spiritual and intellectual matters. Socialism, on the other hand, empowers jealousy.

    in reply to: New Chumra #1698213
    Avi K
    Participant

    AJ, once a certain filter I was using blocked a site because it referred to a place called Middlesex .

    CA, don’t you know how to use a translator on Google? Porush used the male form of the verb (in Hebrew it is different in the first and second persons) and referred to her as “he”.

    CTL, do you say “kol hasoneh halchot kol yom”?

    YO, are you his spokesperson?

    in reply to: Halachically okay to be liberal? #1697469
    Avi K
    Participant

    CTL, what is a suburb? Of course a white woman can define herself as black or Native American so a town can define itself as it pleases.

    Time, FYI fiscal conservatives
    1. Promote the highest form of tzedaka
    2. Are by and large very generous with their own money. Other people’s money is not theirs with which to be generous.
    3. See Gittin 45a regarding public money.

    in reply to: Halachically okay to be liberal? #1696901
    Avi K
    Participant

    Amil, you are correct that they will have to be weaned off. That can be achieved by a law reducing benefits by a certain percentage each year coupled with mandatory professional training.

    in reply to: Halachically okay to be liberal? #1696567
    Avi K
    Participant

    Amil, I guess they will just have to learn English, and other pertinent secular subjects, get jobs and have the size families they can support. Chazal, in fact, presume that a normal person is embarrassed to take charity. They call it נהמא דכיסופא (bread of shame). Publicly taking from non-Jews is an actual prohibition. The highest form of tzedaka is to give someone productive work. this is best done by the free enterprise system.

    Avi K
    Participant

    You have to be careful about idioms. While JFK’s statement “Ich bin ein Berliner would not have been misunderstood in Berlin people from other parts of Germany listening would have understood him as saying that he was a jelly doughnut. For that matter, the English translation of Simcha Raz’ book about Rav Aryeh Levin mistakenly called a heater an over (both are called a תנור in Hebrew). A Sabra I knew wanted to use the word “closet”, He looked up ארון in a dictionary and came up with “casket”.

    in reply to: Question for Jewish Democrats #1693542
    Avi K
    Participant

    CTL, as a matter of fact, not only can dead people can vote for live people but live people can vote for dead people. Five US politicians were elected posthumously (you can google it if you are interested in knowing who).

    in reply to: Question for Jewish Democrats #1693346
    Avi K
    Participant

    CTL, that committee only deals with general programs. It certainly cannot discriminate against Jewish-owned businesses. Omar is on the Committee on the Budget, the Committee on Education and Labor and the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Do you have any idea how much damage she can do?

    in reply to: Can golus end but the geulah still did not arrive? #1692903
    Avi K
    Participant

    MN,
    1. Posting three times does not change anything.
    2. We cannot have anything now. Everything comes gradually with work. Eisav lost his birthright because he wanted lentil soup now.

    in reply to: Where can Israeli Jews escape to in case of emergency? #1692510
    Avi K
    Participant

    I knew someone whose hevruta ran back to America when the first Gulf war broke out. He was immediately called up by his reserve unit and sent to Saudi Arabia. I also heard of an Israeli who ran to America and was killed in an auto accident.

    The fact of the matter is everything is dangerous. Crossing the street is dangerous. The question is how dangerous and why someone is accepting the danger. For example, it is permitted for parnassa if it is something that people normally do (e.g. construction work). Moreover, conquering EY is a milchemet mitzva and that obviously pushes off. Where in EY one lives is not particularly important except perhaps for the areas that were part of Jerusalem during the time of the Bayit Sheni.

    in reply to: Where can Israeli Jews escape to in case of emergency? #1692258
    Avi K
    Participant

    This whole thread shows that the sin of the spies is very much with us.

    in reply to: Danger in America anyone else considering moving?!?! #1692261
    Avi K
    Participant

    CA, just out of curiosity, what do your gedolim say about Internet usage?

    in reply to: Can golus end but the geulah still did not arrive? #1691997
    Avi K
    Participant

    The Yerushalmi (Berachot 1:1) says that the Geula comes slowly in stages. this there is a continuum of galut and geula. Rashi says that a sign of geula is EY bringing forth its fruits in abundance. BTW, according to the Zohar each 1,000 years of creation is against one day of the week. According to that 5708 was the soft reman blur chametz. There is no greater chamez than the Galut.

    in reply to: Question for Jewish Democrats #1691949
    Avi K
    Participant

    Yserbius,
    1. Pres. Trump is the most pro-Israel POTUS ever and has appointed friends of religious freedom to SCOTUS and lower Federal courts.
    2.Omar ym”s sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee! Tlaib ym”s also sits on important committees. Nobody is talking about removing them. Expelling someone requires a two-thirds vote. In the entire history of the House of Representatives only six were expelled. Four for supporting the Confederacy and two after felony convictions.

    in reply to: Danger in America anyone else considering moving?!?! #1691948
    Avi K
    Participant

    Akuperma, what will the Jews on the all-Jewish planet do when something goes wrong on Shabbat? As for America, while there is almost no chance of institutionalized antisemitic actions there is a large chance that individual actions will snowball c”v.

    in reply to: Why Should I Pay for your Limo #1691457
    Avi K
    Participant

    הכנסת כלה is actually הכנסה קלה.

    in reply to: Is Yiddish Holy? #1691461
    Avi K
    Participant

    Ubiquitin,
    1. The Yiddish linguist Max Weinreich said that a language is a dialect with an army and navy.
    2. In Europe it was called Jargon.
    3. Rabbanim wrote to each other in Hebrew interspersed with Aramaic. It was a sign of a ben Torah that he also wrote his business correspondence in Hebrew. This was borne out by discoveries in the Cairo Geniza (BTW, so far no Yiddish documents have been found there).

    in reply to: Is Yiddish Holy? #1691060
    Avi K
    Participant

    Ubiquitin, there really is no single German language but a cluster of similar dialects. Some, such as Bavarian and the North German dialects are quite different. Yiddish is one of them. It is no more a separate language than Yeshivish.

    in reply to: Is Yiddish Holy? #1690798
    Avi K
    Participant

    Ubiquitin and Lechaim, the Germans say the same things about Swiss German. and the Bavarians claim that they speak a different language than the Prussians.

    AY, the Shela haKadosh brought down in Margoliot haYam says about “tot” and “fot” being from other languages (Sanhedrin 4b) that some words were lost from Lashon haKodesh and preserved in other languages. In any case, Israelis will readily tell you that these words are not Hebrew and even supply the official Hebrew word.

    in reply to: Is Yiddish Holy? #1689678
    Avi K
    Participant

    Lashon haKodesh was the spoken language of Am Yisrael until the churban Bayit Rishon. In fact, only the aristocracy even understood Aramaic (Yeshayahu 36:11). Of course, one’s everyday language should also be kadosh. In general our job is to make the chol kadosh. This is central to Rav Kook’s view of the difference between the Torah of Eretz Yisrael and the torah of galut.

    As for Yiddish being a means of separation from the others, in fact, it is a creole German. Speaking Yiddish in Switzerland, where they are mutually intelligible (I have this on the authority of the wife of a friend who is from Switzerland and was demonstrated in “Pastry, Pain and Politics'”) and even in Czechoslovakia and Poland, where german was widely spoken, simply does not achieve this.

    in reply to: Is Yiddish Holy? #1689444
    Avi K
    Participant

    Mammele,
    1. Tape recorder? You really are living in the past.
    2. On the contrary, the niche is getting smaller. I once saw a Russian immigrant try to speak it with a Chareidi. The latter could barely get along and was clearly uncomfortable.

    in reply to: Worst Presidents of the 20th Century #1688967
    Avi K
    Participant

    FDR. He started big government, put innocent people in jail just because of their ethnicities (many Italian and German-Americans were also interned) and refused to do anything about the Holocaust.

    Avi K
    Participant

    They mainly learn Nezikin plus Ketubot and Gittin so they dress like lawyers.

Viewing 50 posts - 601 through 650 (of 3,488 total)