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Laskern,
1. According to your view one should not ask for a scholarship. Commit to pay the entire tuition and hope that Hashem will provide.
2. We see from Yaakov Avinu that a sin can cancel a good decree (shema hachet yigrom). Hashem Himself gave Shmuel a cover story so that Shaul would not kill him.
3. There is no dispute. The Maharshal does not say that he has no means to repay. He just does not have cash at hand but he has collateral. The Gra says that no one will lend to him. Perhaps this is because he is known to be a deadbeat. In fact, it is prohibited to lend to him because of lifnei iver (the Chafetz Chaim discusses this in Ahavat Chesed).Laskern, the Aruch haShulchan says (OC 242:44) that is only if someone has a business where the natural order of things is for there to be ups and downs. However, if someone has a fixed income he should not. In fact, someone who borrows not knowing how he will not be able to repay is a rasha (Rambam Hilchot Malveh v’Loveh 1:3) and according to the Rav Soloveichik in the name of the Brisker Rav he is a thief.
JJ, suppose Hashem decides that if you will work a certain amount you will earn a certain amount?
We are required to do hishtadlut. The decree might even be conditioned on it. Chazal say that one should save one third, invest one third in land and one third in a business (Baba Metzia 42a). One should also supervise one’s workers (ibid 29b). Both Rav Moshe (IM OC 2:111) and Rav Ovadia (Yehaveh Daat 3:85) advise buying life insurance.
It doesn’t matter. Even if the person asked explicitly being that he has no right to commit suicide there is no right to kill him if he asks. See Physician – Assisted Suicide: A Halachic Approach by Rabbi Yitzchok Breitowitz. Note that David ordered the ger Amaleki executed for killing Shaul at the latter’s request.
There is even a machloket regarding someone who gives permission to hit him. Some say that the hitter is over on a lav (Responsa Chavat Yair 163, Shulchan Aruch HaRav 5 Hilchot Nizkei HaGuf 4, Chazon Ish CM 19:5) being that a person is not the owner of his body, Hashem is. Others say that he is not over (Responsa Mahalbach Kuntras HaSemicha Kuntras Rishon d”h od, Minchat Chinuch Mitzva 48 Ot 3 as this is a matter of monetary damages and, in the case of parents, their personal honor).
RY, unfortunately I am not a prosecutor so I cannot. However, as an astute observer as well as a zaken (zeh kanna chochma) I can offer an opinion. Who are you to defend him?
The Rogochover says that murder is so heinous that we even execute an insane person (ubiarta et hara mikirbecha). Rav Zilberstein disagrees. Rav Moshe, in a letter to then NY Gov. Hugh Carey (IM CM 2:68) says that someone who kills because of a cruel nature should be executed because of tikkun hamedina.
Of course, every measure must be taken to be sure that the right person is executed. However, giving him life imprisonment means that the public will have to pay for his upkeep his whole life, he can commit crimes in prison, escape, etc.
So far as a psychopath is concerned, Rambam says (Guide 1:7) that he is not really human but a sheid. Thus it would seem that he should be put down as is a mad dog.
Time, if you have some you can listen to Rav Nota Schiller explain the importance of baseball.
MDG, for that matter many Ashkenazim say that Hashem was captured (נשבה לאבותינו instead of נשבע) c”v.
I guess your rabbi does not know Yiddish so well. A shmuess is actually a שיחה (in English a discussion or talk) – and is so translated in Israel. There is even a book םכ Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz’ talks called שיחות מוסר
Time, “shmuess” is actually Ashkenazic Hebrew – שמועות.
Time, actually Rav Ovadia accepted them as Jewish and even allowed an Ethiopian girl to marry a cohen based on Responsa Radbaz 7:5 and 4:1290. The Chief Rabbinate decided to require giur l’chumra (no beracha) because of lack of documentary evidence for the time since. Declaring them safek goyim would also remove the possibility of mamzerut as their gerushin is not halachic (neither is their kiddushin so according to Rav Moshe it would not matter). Being that their practices are not in line with normative Judaism in general they do not fit my statement.
Neville, there was only an advantage to be gained by lying when they requested exit visas and help from HIAS. Once settled in America there was no longer a need to pretend.
Igor, not only Russians. Now because of cultural assimilation it is not so true. However, in my generation (I am 64) it was pretty to easy to tell if someone was Jewish. In fact, in NYC one could also tell if someone was Irish or Italian.
Midwest, cite your sources. If a person comes to us, tells us he is Jewish and keeps mitzvot we believe him unless there is reason to suspect him. See נאמנות אדם על יהדותו by הרב עקיבא כהנא.
In many European countries records go back a very long time. In fact, the Nazis ym”s would investigate a person’s lineage back 150 years before letting him into the SS. Today there are professionals who can trace a person’s ancestry using immigration and other records, both in the US and Europe.
As for your friend, how did the wife feel about converting and remarrying him? I know of cases of mixed marriages where this happened and in one case even attended the sheva berachot after their remarriage.
Time, when Rav Charlap first came to Rav Kook’s yeshiva he addressed him in creole German. Rav Kook said “Being that you are new here I will not hold it against you. However, you should know that one does not address me in Jargon”. “Is there a mitzva to speak Hebrew ” by Rabbi ephraim Sprecher (online) where he quotes various sources, including RMF, as saying that there is such a mitzva. The Sheeta Mekubatzet even quotes the Raavad as saying that one might not fulfill the mitzva of talmud Torah in another language.
As for Rav Reuven’s alleged speech, it would certainly surprise Sephardic and Yemenite Jews (as would being called “Yidden”).
Shabbatai Tzvi did not institute saying Birkat Cohanim in Chul. This is the position of the Mechaber. The Gra and Rav Chaim of Volozhin also wanted to institute it but were unsuccessful.Winnie, many non-Jews have been fluent in Yiddish. James Cagney picked it up as a boy on the Lower East Side – and used it in two of his movies. Colin Powell learned it working for Jews. An immigrant from Russia once told me that when her mother was sitting in a park the Arab caretaker addressed her in Yiddish. He had worked for Jews as a boy in the Old city of Jerusalem.
Tie, kol hasoneh halachot kol yom. BTW, some Sephardic groups also had this pronunciation. Apparently it was widespread in ancient times as it passed into Ancient Greek (sabbaton), Latin (sabbatum), English (sabbath and sabbatical), Spanish and Italian (sabato) and Russian (subbota).
Yehudayona, I would add that if a married woman goes OTD her kids will probably be non-frum (as she would most likely get custody) and marry non-Jews. For the boys that means that their children will not be Jewish and therefore not mamzerim.
Nevile,
1. Here is the relevant passage from the SA:
כל ענייני הגר בין להודיעו המצות לקבלם בין המילה בין הטבילה צריך שיהיו בג’ הכשרים לדון וביום (תוס’ ורא”ש פ’ החולץ).
מיהו דוקא לכתחלה אבל בדיעבד אם לא מל או טבל אלא בפני ב’ (או קרובים) (הגהות מרדכי) ובלילה אפילו לא טבל לשם גרות אלא איש שטבל לקריו ואשה שטבלה לנדתה הוי גר ומותר בישראלית חוץ מקבלת המצות שמעכבת אם אינה ביום ובשלשה.ולהרי”ף ולהרמב”ם אפילו בדיעבד שטבל או מל בפני שנים או בלילה מעכב ואסור בישראלית אבל אם נשא ישראלית והוליד ממנה בן לא פסלינן ליה:So while there are opinions to the contrary the pesak of the SA is as I said (that is the stam).
Here is what the Taz says:
(ח) שטבל לקריו – פירוש: שידענו בבירור דבר זה, וכן באשה. ואז סלקה טבילה זאת אפילו לשם גירות, אף על פי שלא הזכיר בפירוש כן. וכן כתב הרי”ף, וזה לשונו: דאי לאו גיורא הוא – לא הוה טבל. פירוש: דאם לא היה בדעתו אז להיות גר – לא היה טובל גם לקרי. ומה שכתב בסעיף יא שאינו נאמן לומר “נתגיירתי ביני לבין עצמי” עד שיטבול בפני בית דין – התם לא ראינו ממנו שום טבילה לקרי. ועכשיו רוצה לטבול לשם גירות – ודאי צריך לכתחילה שלושה. ומורי ורבי חמי ז”ל כתב דנראה לו שהרי”ף הכי קאמר: מדטבל לקרי – שמע מינה שכבר טבל בפני שלושה, ולא משמע כן כלל. גם מדברי רש”י ור”ן מבואר כן בהדיא, דההיא טבילה לחוד סגי ליה אף אם לא היתה אחרת, וכמשמעות דברי הטור ושולחן ערוך.
2. Whosays we don;t pasken like them? In fact, who are “we”?
Joseph, Rav Chaim Brisker said the opposite. However, if you are really interested maybe you can join an elite IDF unit and volunteer for the most dangerous missions.
Kgh, I understood that the cherem on reading other people’s mail was because not having mail service they would entrust their personal letters to travellers (a merchant would have been very foolish to give a business letter to a competitor). The cherem was an extension of chezek reiah. The cherem on divorcing a woman against her will was to preserve marriages. In the heat of an argument a husband might divorce his wife. Basically it is an extension of the ger mekushar of cohanim. If he were in another port the get would not take effect until an agent could put it in her hands, which could have taken a very long time.
Is anyone here interested in living for kiddush Hashem?
Milhouse, who says that we pasken like the SA and the Taz? Look inside. Even two kosher Jews are sufficient. even an anan sahadei is sufficient.
Sinat chinam means hating someone because he has a different opinion or because he hurt you personally (this is the aveira of netira). Ahavat chinam is loving him because he opposes you. Rav Kook said that opposition comes to tell people where they are erring. The Mekor Baruch, in fcat, quotes the Tzemach Tzedek as saying that the Chassidim owed a debt of gratitude to the Gra for preventing them from becoming another heretical breakaway movement.
Smoking in the presence of others is assault.
DY, it depends on where in the US. I am from NYC. Before I made aliya I read a complaint in the Jerusalem Post international edition about Israelis pushing onto buses. My first thought was how else would they get on if it’s crowded? My second was that the complainer had obviously never changed trains at 125th St during Rush Hour.
What’s wrong with a Smartphone? One of the participants in one my shiurim has one and helps contribute info. What are those who think differently doing here?
1. The article is not antisemitic but is anti-Hasidic.
2. The Google definition of “insular” in this context is “ignorant of or uninterested in cultures, ideas, or peoples outside one’s own experience.”
synonyms: narrow-minded, small-minded, inward-looking, parochial, provincial, small-town, shortsighted, hidebound, blinkeredIt sounds pretty derogatory to me. People should know about other people’s cultures and ideas if they are going to live among them. It will help to alleviate friction and will enable them to better argue their positions (this is found frequently in the Gemara – lesheetatcha).
Having said that, the Hasidim interviewed did not defend the eruv properly. They should have pointed out that someone who is not looking hard for it will not even notice it.
CA, then I did add to your post.
ZD, you are confusing the Communists and the Nazis. In the former Soviet Union a person’s id card included his nationality. The children of a mixed marriage were given their father’s (so Ivanov might be halachically Jewish whereas Rabinowitz is not). To add to the problem it was often possible to change one’s nationality and it was very advantageous to become a Russian. However, they did not right a “J” (in fat, the letter does not exist in the Cyrillic alphabet). They wrote “Yevrei” (Jewish), Russky (Russian), etc.
Changing one’s background also existed in Nazi Germany. A non-Jewish woman could testify in court that her Jewish husband was not the father of her child and make him an Aryan. Money and connections helped.
In any case, the problem will probably go away as the olim, especially those who are not Jewish, have formed a separate subgroup (I even hear children who were obviously born and educated here speaking to each other in Russian unlike children of other groups who generally speak in Hebrew among themselves. In addition, Russian families have a very low birth rate. Two kids is considered a large family. Many are also leaving for the US and Canada.
Whitecar, so when they go out into the world (college, job) and find out that there are some very decent non-Jews they will (as young people often do) decide that if that is a lie it’s all a lie. For starters, we should erase pejoratives like “shaigetz” and “shiksa”, which come form “shikutz”. Those who are not speaking in creole German should also eschew “shvartse”.
In any case, the subject of this thread is a non-starter. If someone is shomer mitzvot and it is known that (s)he went to the mikva for keri/nidda b’diavad (s)he is a kosher convert (SA YD 268:3 with Taz s”k 8).
Akuperma, actually intermarriage has only been widespread for two generations with the exception of pre-Nazi Germany where it was already two or three – and they assimilated completely into Xtian society.
ZD, why is that a problem? One the person learns a bit he will discover that he is not really Jewish and convert. I have several such friends.
CA, no we won’t. Mi shenitma nitma (once a mamzer has melded into the general Jewish community his problem is forgotten – SA EH 2:5). According to Rabbi Yossi even known mamazerim will be purified. Rabbi Meir disagrees (Kiddushin 72b). In a machloket between Rabbi Yossi and Rabbi Meir we pasken like Rabbi Yossi.
The deformed movement is one big funeral.
Health, yes.
ZD, on the other hand in a liberal city the totalitarians will not even let you have gender-separate swimming hours. Even if they do so begrudgingly they make accept whomever identifies with the particular gender. Maybe someone should have a large job before he has a large family and not throw himself on the public l’chatchila.
A site called Homesnacks rated cities with populations of 200,000 or more according to voting records. The liberal list in descending order is:
Washington
Baltimore
Philadelphia
San Francisco
St. Louis
New York
New Orleans
Oakland
Fremont
NewarkThe most conservative in descending order are:
Lubbock, TX
Plano, TX
Tulsa, OK
Colorado Springs, CO
Oklahoma City, OK
Wichita, KS
Fort Wayne, IN
Bakersfield, CA
Arlington, TX
Fort Worth, TXWhy Joseph? If she marries at 15 and averages one per year that will only take her until age 42.
whistling, gum chewing
Midwest, that non-Jew is like Rabbi Yishmael (Mishna, Negaim 2:1).
Smerel, many leftists oppose “white nationalism” while supporting “self-determination for oppressed peoples”. Thus Palestinian nationalism is not really nationalism but self-determination. Some have suggested that European Unionists would really like to see an Israeli-Palestinian federation (which is why they loved Peres and his idea of a “new Middle East”). Some have even suggested joint Israeli-Jordanian sovereignty over Judea and Samaria as a solution. If the JStreters just want to assimilate completely they can change their names and pretend not to be Jewish.
Smerel,
Those secular American Jews who sabotaged rescue efforts did so because they feared that more Jews would mean more antisemitism. They also feared that WW2 would be labeled a Jewish war.This was not without foundation. In a 1938 poll, approximately 60 percent of the respondents held a low opinion of Jews, labeling them “greedy,” “dishonest,” and “pushy.”41 percent of respondents agreed that Jews had “too much power in the United States,” and this figure rose to 58 percent by 1945. In 1939 a Roper poll found that only thirty-nine percent of Americans felt that Jews should be treated like other people. Fifty-three percent believed that “Jews are different and should be restricted” and ten percent believed that Jews should be deported. Several surveys taken from 1940 to 1946 found that Jews were seen as a greater threat to the welfare of the United States than any other national, religious, or racial group.
J Street and their ilk do not fear generally fear antisemitism (I suspect that many Jews on campuses who publicly espouse anti-Israel positions do so out of fear). They are ideologically opposed to any form of nationalism. I think that this is also why the Right is pro-Israel. In fact, one politician once commented that Netanyahu could be a Republican.. BTW, the feeling is so mutual that there was once talk of Netanyahu bringing the Likud and several smaller parties into an Israeli Republican party.
Rambam says (Guide 1:7) that they are humanoids who lack a tzelem Elokim and are therefore capable of causing great damage. I read in Rav Soloveichik’s name that if you see someone like Hitler and Stalin ym”s who has no human feeling you can be sure that he is one of them. This is more or less the definition of a psychopath.
As for Poe’s Law, Agnon was once asked what he meant in one of his stories. He told the inquirer to ask a certain literary critic.
In what sense was Mill an outlier? His ideas informed 19th Century America and Britain. He is still considered one of the foremost modern political philosophers.
Lady Astor denied that the Clivedon Set was pro-fascist (although she was very antisemitic) and in fact, their names were in the Black Book of those to be arrested after a Nazi invasion of Britain.
Lincoln was not a liberal. If he was he would have let the South secede. He would have even let slavery continue if he thought that both it and the Union could be preserved. He was a conservative in the sense that he believed that law and order are the highest values.
Wilfrid Laurier? Now there is an outlier.
J.S. Mill who wrote “the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community [but explicitly not what he considered to be a barbaric community], against his will, is to prevent harm to others” . Friedrich Hayek is another example. Another is Robert Nozick (Anarchy, State, and Utopia ).
As for British political humor, when Lady Astor told Churchill that if he were her husband she would poison his tea he replied that if she were his wife he would drink it. When MP Bessie Braddock MP said “Winston, you are drunk, and what’s more you are disgustingly drunk.” he replied “Bessie, my dear, you are ugly, and what’s more, you are disgustingly ugly. But tomorrow I shall be sober and you will still be disgustingly ugly.” The Americans are also not slouches. Sam Houston said about an opponent “He has all the characteristics of a dog save loyalty”.
The 18th Century Whigs were not classical liberals at all. While they supported individual freedom it was only because they saw it as an English tradition (and thus viewed voting as a privilege rather than a right) rather than Natural Law. This was echoed in the original demand of the Americans for their rights as Englishman, implying that Frenchmen, for example, had no rights.
Time, the author of that quote, Edmund Burke, was not a classical liberal but a conservative who believed that societies must maintain their traditions and that change should be evolutionary (see his disciple Russell Kirk’s Ten Conservative Principles /em>. Classical liberals believe that government should be limited to preventing force and fraud (a.k.a. the “night watchman state”). See also the “non-aggression principle”. For further reading see Mill, On Liberty and Hayek The Constitution of Liberty.
Joseph, why not marry another one? Then you can have mothers-in-law on all sides telling you how much you are not good enough for their daughters.
BTW, two women argued over whose daughter got the shidduch. The suggested dividing the boy into two. One mother agreed and the other said not to hurt him. The first woman was ruled the real mother-in-law.
Joseph, I think that they would have been very surprised to be called Yidden. In any case, one cannot learn from what was done there. They also married off pre-pubescent girls whose fathers died (in order to keep them from being given to Moslem families by the authorities). This was also why boys married at very young ages. Rav Kapach was married at fourteen because he had been orphaned several years earlier and was thus in danger (BTW, he only had one wife).
Syag,
1. You obviously did not read the article. The overweight charges are because of fuel costs (the heavier the plane the more fuel it uses).
2. There is a simple solution to your problem Do not bring overweight or extra luggage (and if you really need more stuff bring an extra if that is cheaper) . If you can’t so the time don’t do the crime.
3. Here are a few more money saving tips:
a. save exorbitant tuition costs and homeschool your kids
b. don’t buy your sons tefillin – let them use he shul’s loaner pairs (for that matter you can sell yours and also use the shul’s)
c. don’t buy a car – use public transportation
d. don’t buy a watch – ask others the timeRY, maybe she should look into other societies. Today with Internet shidduch sites it is not a problem.
Joseph,The Gemara calls a co-wife a tzaara. Chazal also say (Tanhuma Ki Tetzeh 1)
כי תצא למלחמה – שנו רבותינו: מצוה גוררת מצוה ועבירה גוררת עבירה.
וראית בשביה וגו’ וגלחה את ראשה ועשתה את צפרניה – כדי שלא תמצא חן בעיניך. מה כתיב בתריה? כי תהיין לאיש שתי נשים וגו’. שתים בבית – מריבה בבית, ולא עוד, אחת אהובה ואחת שנואה, או שתיהן שנואות. מה כתיב אחריו? כי יהיה לאיש בן סורר ומורה. כל מאן דנסיב יפת תאר – נפיק מינייהו בן סורר ומורה, שכן כתב בדוד, על שחמד מעכה בת תלמי מלך גשור בצאתו למלחמה – יצא ממנו אבשלום, שבקש להרגו, ושכב עם עשר פילגשיו לעיני כל ישראל ולעיני השמש, ועל ידו נהרגו מישראל כמה רבבות, ועשה מחלוקת בישראל, ונהרג שמעי בן גרא ושבע בן בכרי ואחיתופל, ולמפיבשת ולאיש בשת הרג, והשליט ציבא על כל בית שאול.
Yitz,
1. Hundreds? I dispute that.
2. The only polygamous Tanna was Rabbi Tarfon – and as the number given is 300 it could be that they were only pro forma marriages so that they could eat terumot and maaserot as he was a cohen. In fact, Chazal call a co-wife a tzaara.
3. One can also say that polygamy among Sephardim (which was actually very uncommon) was influenced by Islam.Syag, actually it is questionable if they have a halachic right to be flexible as it is not their airline.
Lit,
1. See Why do airlines make a big deal out of single-piece baggage weight limits? on quora.com. See my previous post for the rates of different airlines, some of which are even higher.
2. So be late in NY and early in Israel.
3. I would like to hear their stories of rude customers who scream and yell about another &200-$300 on a trip for which they are paying thousands, especially when it’s their fault. I have been on both sides of the bureaucratic desk so I can tell you that there are always two sides. Maybe you should read one of the “dan b’kaf zechut” books.Yitz, whenever polygamy is mentioned in Tanach there is trouble. By Talmudic times it was not the custom. In fact, not one Tanna is mentioned as having more than one wife at a time.
Syag,
1. I obviously meant seven overweight.
2. You had an extra suitcase plus overweight?
3. You should have done due diligence yourself. In any case, as I posted some airlines charge even more.Lit,
1. You branded all Israelis.
2. Before I made aliya I went to an aliya convention where a speaker commented that Israelis say the same thing about the American bureaucracy . An Israeli in the audience jumped up and said “It’s worse”. If you want an airplane story (just out of curiosity, i presume that your luggage was overweight and that you meant seven kilograms as no one outside the US uses pounds – Air France charges €75-€250 per bag, Lufthansa charges €100-€200 if oversized €50-€300 if overweight and Qatar Airways charges $25-$55 per kg online and
$30-$70 at airport), about fifteen years ago an Israeli couple came to NY on vacation. The baggage inspector found a picture of the Ben Ish Hai and decided that it was a picture of Bin Laden ym”s. The couple were detained for thirteen hours, interrogated and sent back to Israel.Joseph,
1. I think that the Jews in Teiman would have been very surprised to be called Yidden.
2. The Israeli Chief Rabbinate ruled that it is now minhag Yisrael to have only one wife at a time (@Milhouse, their authority is that of a bet din kavua, at least for Israel). In fact, the Mechaber says that the Sephardic ketuba has a clause prohibiting the husband from taking an additional wife without his current wife’s permission.
3. Someone I know told me that an Arab co-worker (he worked for a while in construction) bragged that he can have four wives. My acquaintance replied that that means four mothers-in-law.