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So far as the proper tax system is concerned, the default halachic position (as in all money matters custom overrides) is that the rich should pay more for things that benefit property and they should pay equally for those that benefit life. For example, if a police force is only concerned with thieves the rich should pay a higher fee. If it is concerned about murderers the rich and the poor should pay equally.
CTL, it is admirable that you are generous with your own money but you have no right to be generous with other people’s money. We learn this from Avraham Avinu who would not take even a shoelace after the war of five kings against four but insisted that his soldiers be paid. I reiterate that the free enterprise system is the best tzedaka provider because it provides a better standard of living for all as a result of productive work. Those who are considered poor today live much better than medieval nobility.
1, free-market economics and crony capitalism are two very different things. In the former case there is free entry into the market. In the latter case businesses (not necessary big ones – LA actually has a test requirement for flower arrangers) get government protection from competition/
Neville, trickle down worked for both JFK and Reagan. It has transformed gray socialist states into prosperous countries. It is also transforming Israel.
CTL. so what if they inherited it? It is their money. Moreover, their investments create jobs., which is the highest form of tzedaka.
The whole problem is zoning laws that prevent building towers where the cost of land can be divided among many apartments. In NYC you can add rent control, which discourages private building, and the Landmarks Preservation Commission that takes whole neighborhoods off the development table. More cronyism. An alternate solution would be widening telework so that people could live in areas where housing is cheap.
The mitzva is on Am Yisrael not on any individual. An any case, according to Rav Chaim Brisker Amalek is any antisemite so baby Hitler was not yet Amalek. Certainly not before he was even born (the context was abortion). I also don’t know if that would have changed anything. Maybe someone who lived in obscurity would have become Fuehrer.
RY, actually there were attempts on his Hitler’s life between 1921 (the Beer Hall Putsch) and 1944 (the July Plot). Their failures led him to believe that he was invincible.
I had a chevruta whose wife is from France. when he went to visit her family he was warned not to wear a kippa in public. He ignored the warning and was physically attacked – once he was almost shoved in front of a subway train. That was 25 years ago. Now it is much worse.
LB, please do not feed the troll.
Joseph, the Zohar says that sometimes a person has to marry someone who is not his/her zivug in order to become ready for the real marriage. This was the case with Uriah and Batsheva. If he had not been killed he would have divorced her.
Dor, when a person frequently offends his interlocutor.
1, as a matter of fact there is a caterer in Haifa called ืื ืืื. There is also a duet called ืืืืื ืืืืื.
According to Shidduchim and Zivugim yes. On the other hand, Rav Eliezer Melamed said that a person might have a number of potential zivugim rishonim. According to Kabbala they will eventually marry in gilgulim.
Chulenterrov,
It is normal for people to change the way they speak after immersing in another environment. I even knew someone who developed a Texas accent after moving to there from NY. For examples, English-speakers who live in Israel say “I’m going to the makkolet” rather than “I’m going to the grocery store”. Would you rather he learn nibbul peh?
I also do not understand why “do you mochel me” would be out of context. Are you the unforgiving type?
Takes, actually the Torah says not to go back. There are an umber of terutzim regarding Rambam. That it is only with the intention of going permanently, that it only applies to all of Am Yisrael.
Winnie, so how can you hear Yiddish, which is a dialect of German? As for Spain, there is no source for that story. Why just Spain and not England and France, which also expelled their Jews. How about not living in St. Louis, which is named after the king who burned the Talmud? In any case, many chramot become dead letters. For example, there was once a prohibition against a single man between the ages of 20 and 60 living in Jerusalem. Rav Ovadia noticed that nobody was paying attention so he finally convened a bet din to repeal it.
How many Germans today were even around during the Holocaust? Blaming them is like blaming us for killing Yushki. As for the reparations, paradoxically it was this money that built Israeli industries and enabled Israel to double its population in ten years.. Up until then there was a severe austerity program with food rationing.
When the Jews are forced to move on prices will fall. Invest in Eretz Yisrael.
Rav Chaim Brisker davened quickly. When someone pointed out that Chazal say that one should daven like he counts money RCB said that he also counted money quickly. Some people need to daven at a certain pace or they lose track. This was called the yetzer hara jumping on the wagon. On the other hand, the Imrei Emmet said that already in his day the yetzer hara was driving it. In any case, different people have different needs. This is also why some shuls have several minyanim.
I knew someone who tried looking at the ground. He saw filthy graffiti. If you have no choice you are anoos. Try thinking about the aveira (both yours and theirs). Think about how degrading it is for a person to go about like an animal.
Neville,
1. Everyone agrees that there is an obligation to pay taxes.
2. “Lord” simply means “master”. Even capitalizing it only means that it is a title.Yserbius, not to mention the Unitarians. In any case, I do not think that Xtians who are not theologians really think about it. They believe in one God but consider Yushki to be their savior. That is how they always refer to him. There was an irreverent saying that “Jesus saves but Espo (hockey player Phil Esposito) shoots in the rebound”.
No. It just means that you have to wait patiently until it is approved.
Rav Soloveichik not only allowed it he inaugurated the bet midrash in Stern College. he said that today when women study law not teaching them Gemara is teaching them tiflut.
Who says it is in danger? He is simply being a NY “in your face” personality. The real question is whether the Democratic Party can be saved from drifting off into the leftist never-never land. If not, what will happen if they get back in power and the fiscal chickens come home to roost? Once they asked what they can do for their country. Now they ask what their country can do for them but they cannot repeal the laws of economics.
CTL,
1. What would happen if someone wrote in Mickey Mouse anyway? In any case, not all participants here live in CT.
2. Don’t you think that there should be school choice? What about all the Jews who are too rich for scholarships but too poor to pay full tuition? Moreover, the competition will force public schools to improve,Akuperma, Jews came to America for economic opportunities and freedom from pogroms. Probably most Moslems also came for freedom from dictatorial regimes and a better economic life.
The Chazon ish dealt with this. He said to do nothing as you are being passive. My own chiddush is that If we take each life as being infinite value than any number times infinity is the same.
CA,the enemy of my enemy is my friend. White supremacists and Moslems are enemies. Whom should we support? My personal opinion is Moslems there are forms of Islam (there are at least as many sheetot as in Orthodox Judaism) that are very close to Judaism. In fact “Sharia” has the same meaning as “Halacha”.
RY, now they are saying “death” to their own politics.
However, I will remain a Republican as that is the party closest to my views.
I thought that JFK solved the question of not voting for people because of their religions. What about the opposite? Suppose someone is an Orthodox Jew but liberal on political issues.
KY, it was under constant surveillance, young people were discouraged from going and some of the “daveners” were informers.
CTL, ืจืคืืื ืฉืืืื.
CTL,
1. Why shouldn’t parents have realistic choices? Not everybody is a rich hot shot lawyer.
2. Actually it is possible to vote for Stalin. One can cast a write-in vote. There was once even an election where a candidate who had died after it was too late to remove his name from the ballot won. In any case, don’t be disingenuous.CTL, if you are not willing to put your religious beliefs into secular law at least be consistent. Don’t cry about chesed (and BTW, by definition chesed is something that is not enforceable as it involves going above and beyond), which might not even apply to Noahides. The proof of your hypocrisy is your statement “The fact that abortion and same sex marriage is legal doesnโt mean anyone in the CR will partake; which is why I donโt see these things as a threat” (which is not correct – see Bereisheet Rabba, 26:5 that the Flood came because of this).
Regarding Obamacare, it is another massive Federal boondoggle that will collapse of its own weight. It is not for nothing that the US has a federal system.
Same-sex “marriage” is not enabling. The state gives its stamp of approval by issuing a marriage license. Of course, one could take the libertarian position that the state should get out of the marriage business and treat everyone as an individual. If any two people want to call themselves married that is their business. In any case, where is the tikkun olam here? The same goes for abortion.
I do agree with you though that people should vote for local candidates on the basis of local issues. Who cares what someone’s position is on the Iraq war if he will have no say regarding it? This is also true of a parliamentary system.
Ubiquitin, of course, I meant that the Commies endorsed the other candidate.
Ubiquitin, suppose all the Nazis endorsed a candidate who said “Send all the Jews to Israel”? How about if all the Communists said “No. Force them to be good proletarians here”?
CTL, be generous with you own money and not with others’. We learn this from Avraham Avinu who would not take a shoelace after the war but made sure that his soldiers were paid. He then took a huge amount from Avimelech being that he owed money to the hoteliers. Besides, who says that government always improves society? Maybe it sometimes improves society by staying out of the way.
Ubiquitin, the primary is an election to see who will be the party’s candidate,
CTL, so anyone who points out problems with the DP is a right-wing troll? You should stay in your safe space where no one can threaten you. As a famous Democrat said, if you can;t stand the heat stay out of the kitchen.
Ubiquitin,
The title of the thread is “Question for Jewish Democrats” and the O.P. asked if they would vote for Stalin in a primary, obviously being sarcastic although (in most of the NE they would probably vote for him in the general election as they are programmed to vote Dem) and what are their views on the acceptable left limit.Edited
In any case, the O.P. specifically addressed Democrats and asked their views on the leftward, antisemitic lurch of their party.
ZG, someone else who calls himself a rabbi said that secular soldiers who die for Israel go to Gehennom. He based this on a seance(!) conducted by a “famous rabbi” named Rami Levy (Rami Levy is actually the owner of a discount supermarket chain and while he is traditional he is definitely not a rabbi). Apparently there is a famous rabbis course.
Takes,
1. Read it again. He says MBY explicitly. Here is one statement:
ืืชืืจ ืขืงืื ืืืฉืื ืื ืืืกืฃ, ื ืชืืื ืืืืื ืืฆืืื ืืช ืืืืจื ื,He also says that Ephraim (Yosef) is the material side and Yehuda the spiritual side but that they cannot yet work together. In his letters he also says that the reason for the secular Zionists’ anti-Torah attitude is that they do not understand that the Torah includes nationalism and that this was caused by the galut. In fact, his son and continuation Rav Tzvi Yehuda did not like the term “dati leumi” as it implies that the two are separate but some hold by both.
2. We cannot have anything “now”. We have to work for everything. We have to work for professions, for Torah and for Mashiach ben David. This is a gradual process (Yerushalmi Berachot 1:1). One very important factor is ridding ourselves of sinat chinam and factionalism. Another is to be thankful for what Hashem has already given us. Phil Chernofsky, the Education Director of the OU Israel Center, compared it to three brothers who were hit by a car while playing in the street. They were eventually released from the hospital but needed outpatient treatment. One brother said that if they were released it meant that there was nothing more necessary. One said that if they stil needed treatment there was nothing for which to be thankful. The third thanked Hashem for being brought so far and prayed for the future.
Plus, Ramban (Sefer haMitzvot, mitzvot that Rambam “forgot”) says that there is an obligation in our time to conquer EY. Plus, Rav Kook (Hesped b’Yerushalayim) said that Mashiach ben Yosef, whose job is kibbutz galuyot and the physical building of EY (see Kol haTor of Rabbi Hillel Rivlin), has come. He is either Herzl or the Zionist movement in general (RK does not specify).
Here we go again. I see that I will have to post this four hundred times.
1. The pasukim cited refer to the kelei hamikdash, not the people.
2. They are aggadata. Aggadata cannot be understood literally (Rambam, Intro. to Perek Chelek).
3. They are not brought down in any of the codes.
4. According to Rav Chaim Vital they were only for 1,000 years (Intro. to Sefer Etz Chaim 8).
5. According to Rav Meir Simcha the San Remo conference repealed them as the other nations agreed.
6. According to Rav Soloveichik (Kol Dodi Dofek) Hashemn has called.
7. The other nations violated their oath not to persecute us too much on several occasions (Crusades, Chmielnitzky massacres, pogroms, Petlura massacres, Holocaust). Thus, the deal is off (Sotah 10a with Rashi dโh huchal shevuato shel Avimelech and Shulchan Aruch YD 236,6).Joseph,
1. Medinat Yisrael is the first flowering of our redemption. In Rav Kook’s words, the foundation of Hashem’s throne in this world.
2. Without Medinat Yisrael there would have been mass conversion in the wake of the Holocaust as Xtian missionaries were using it as proof that Hashem abandoned us c”v.
3. The shelosh shevuot are no longer in effect – if they ever were. I have posted about this several times.
Mr. Sarah, how is it possible to arrive at a figure. Even in Israel, where one can measure the number of seats won by religious parties there is no way of knowing how many simply tired of sectoral politics. Moreover, one cannot know how many secular Jews become observant and what percentages go to different groups – and whether they stay with a certain group or move on to another stream (this can happen when they initially become very machmir and then stabilize in the middle).
Joseph, do you object to asking Hashem to bestow wisdom on those in power?
Takes,
1. If one should daven there should be a tefilla. In fact, in all countries a tefilla for the government was instituted to be said on Shabbat. They are all basically the same with slight variations depending on the government (in the US POTUS and the VP, in the UK the King or Queen as the case may be. The rest of your rant is a slew of personal insults that do not deserve an answer.
2. You may live in galut but you still have obligations to Am Yisrael. If for some reason you have a halachic exemption from living in EY you should at least give of your money.AY, I did not see any post accusing the rabbanim of wanting to profit monetarily. Moreover, I agree that that is nonsense. However, considering the actions of the Peleg in attacking Rav Kaminetsky as well as what the Atra Kadisha hoodlums didto Rav Eliashiv when he reached an agreement with the government on removing ancient graves (which may not even have been of Israelites) I think that he has good reason to fear public pronouncements. I also think that he is saying things in private that is very much not to their liking.
BTW, just who are “us”? Have you made aliya?
Nobody except Lapid wants to put them in jail. Simply take away their benefits. IMHO, just as there is a Loyalty in Culture law (although really I am against all government aid to cultural events and sports) there should be a Loyalty in Torah law. Any institution that does not support the state should have to depend on private donations and tuition. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
Iacisrmma, in my experience “hatzlacha” means “don’t expect any help from me”.
Takes,
1. That is referring to a spiritual burden such as LGBT, fraudsters, etc.
2. Rambam says that the chukkim are also logical. We just may not be able to perceive the logic. Regarding eidim zommemim, various Rishonim give reasons. Ramban says that if the bet din din punished the person he was really guilty (eidim mezamim do not say that he was innocent, only that the first two eidim were lying). Abarbanel says that it would undermine public faith in the judicial system to punish the eidim after the defendant has been punished.Neville, the process of teshuva has nothing to do with politics. In fact, it is in spite of the political machinations of the Chareidi parties. It has to do with an inner yearning of Jews coupled with efforts of machzerim b’teshuva who understand today’s non-observant Jews.
MrSarah, there is actually movement between different streams of Orthodoxy. There are even organizations in both the US and Israel that counsel people who were brought up in communities that are inappropriate for them but do not want to stop keeping mitzvot.
ZG, also the NK does not take government money, The rest want to have their cake and eat it too.
MrSarah, why can’t they do their service in DF battei midrash, give shiurim to soldiers, etc.?
Mod, actions are halachic issues. Having a yetzer hara is a given.
DY, what non-Torah path? Defending Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael? I personally think that Rav Nachman Kahana’s plan was a good one. The Rabbanut would give exams. The best performers would get a deferment for a few years (I don’t remember exactly how many) to learn, the rest would enlist. After the few years are up the best would be exempted and the rest would become chaplains. During this period those learning would occasionally give shiurim to soldiers. They would also declare that they are learning for the success of the IDF. This would allow the real learners to continue to learn and give those who are not suited an alternative.