Avi K

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  • in reply to: Teimanim With Multiple Wives #1528545
    Avi K
    Participant

    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.

    in reply to: Teimanim With Multiple Wives #1527996
    Avi K
    Participant

    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).

    in reply to: Dual Citizen #1527829
    Avi K
    Participant

    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 time

    in reply to: Teimanim With Multiple Wives #1527818
    Avi K
    Participant

    RY, 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.

    in reply to: Teimanim With Multiple Wives #1526946
    Avi K
    Participant

    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.

    in reply to: Dual Citizen #1526778
    Avi K
    Participant

    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.

    in reply to: Teimanim With Multiple Wives #1526552
    Avi K
    Participant

    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.

    in reply to: Dual Citizen #1526550
    Avi K
    Participant

    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.

    in reply to: Dual Citizen #1526462
    Avi K
    Participant

    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.

    in reply to: Teimanim With Multiple Wives #1526458
    Avi K
    Participant

    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.

    in reply to: Teimanim With Multiple Wives #1526444
    Avi K
    Participant

    Joseph, because of the friction having them in one home will cause. I know of an Arab who is mehadrin. He has one wife in Abu Ghosh and another in Cairo, whom he visits on his vacation.

    in reply to: Dual Citizen #1526424
    Avi K
    Participant

    Lit, you now have to come to Israel to ask forgiveness from each on of us for your hotzaaat shem ra.

    in reply to: Teimanim With Multiple Wives #1526342
    Avi K
    Participant

    Joseph, not so far as I know but it is better that way. I heard that that was the custom at least after they came to Israel. In fact, Yaakov’s wives and concubines each had her own tent.

    in reply to: Dual Citizen #1524804
    Avi K
    Participant

    Winnie, I once had to leave for what turned out to only be a few months. I did not owe anything on the period when I was abroad. I was billed much later and they tried to impose a late penalty but I argued with the clerk and she cancelled it.

    Ben,
    1. Serving IS one’s ruchniut.
    2. On the contrary, the Zionists offered to send armed men to guard the yeshivot but they refused saying that they had an good relations with the local Arab leaders. The only “provocation” was refusing to sign away the Kotel (both Rav Kook and Rav Sonnenfeld steadfastly refused despite British pressure).
    3. The state is the state of all Jews. If you do not think that one Jew has the obligation to protect another if he can then there is a tremendous hole in your chinuch.
    4. Rav Ovadia also said that Israel’s wars are milchemot mitzva. He also said that without the IDF there would be no yeshivot.
    5. FYI, only 20-22,000 have been killed since 5708. Who is to say what would have happened to them if they had had to stay in Europe and Arab countries? As we say here ,every bullet has an address. Once someone drove wearing a helmet and bullet-proof vest. The bullet struck in the tiny space between them. On the other hand, once Arabs fired over thirty shots at a girl waiting at a hitchhiking station from the other side of the highway. She was only lightly grazed and was released from the hospital the same day.
    If not for the state of Israel there would have been mass conversion. Xtian missionaries were using the Holocaust as proof that Hashem rejected us c”v. They even accosted Rav Soloveichik during his travels between Boston and NY. If there had been a state twenty years earlier there would not have been a Holocaust.

    in reply to: Dual Citizen #1524194
    Avi K
    Participant

    Winnie, you do not have to pay Bituach Leumi while in Chul if you have actually changed residency. One who is making an extended trip can exempt himself by notifying them that he is leaving for an indeterminate time. of course, when he returns he will not be covered for that period.

    Joseph, an even bigger benefit is enlisting and doing a great mitzva.

    in reply to: Dual Citizen #1524095
    Avi K
    Participant

    Lit, an American citizen must leave with his American passport. I presume that there is a computer match to the Social Security number. Snowden left before being discovered. As for Israel, extraditing residents to the US, that door swings both ways (although Israel has conditions like no death penalty and right to serve sentence in Israel). The Tzitz Eliezer discusses the halachic rationale for allowing it in Torat haMedina (while Rav Shaul Yisraeli disagreed it could be that the service of sentence in Israel clause did not exist then).

    Joseph, if they are not at least legal residents they all have to leave periodically when their visas expire.

    Akuperma, that is a spy attitude.

    in reply to: Dual Citizen #1524096
    Avi K
    Participant

    Regarding allowing criminals to stay, there is currently a dispute over the guy who sent threats to JCCs in the US. Israel claims that the crimes were committed here and therefor triable here and the US claims that they were committed there.

    in reply to: user names #1524090
    Avi K
    Participant

    Are you referring to a newsreel or a movie reel? Perhaps a Virginia reel?

    in reply to: Dual Citizen #1523555
    Avi K
    Participant

    1. It is a mitzva to serve in the IDF as all of our wars are milchemot mitzva . See THE HAREIDIM AND THE MITZVAH TO SERVE IN THE I.D.F by Rav Eliezer Melamed (online).

    2. American courts have suspended passports of American Jews even if they do not have Israeli passports as they are eligible for immediate citizenship under the Law of Return.

    in reply to: Dual Citizen #1523125
    Avi K
    Participant

    Joseph,
    1. If they are born in Israel they will be citizens even if their parents are not.
    2. It is a great mitzva to serve in the IDF.

    Avi K
    Participant

    Joseph, FYI they come from Hungarian backgrounds as did their founder Amram Blau.

    Among their activiities:
    1. Conducting a prayer vigil for Arafta ym”s
    2. Seeking an alliance with Louis Farrakhan ym’s
    3. Spying for Iran against Israel

    in reply to: Dual Citizen #1523073
    Avi K
    Participant

    You can visit the US without a visa (there is a bill pending to add Israel to the list of countries with waivers).
    If you are otherwise eligible you can collect Social Security while living in Israel (into either an American or Israeli account).
    You can vote in both countries’ elections.
    Some jobs are reserved for citizens.
    Disadvantage: you will be required to report income (if you receive more than the mean amount for reporting)and assets (if they total at least $10K) to the IRS although a bill is pending in the Congress to change to residency-based taxation.

    in reply to: Communism vs Liberalism #1522889
    Avi K
    Participant

    Ubi, the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics defines fascism as socialism with a capitalist veneer. That is to say, nominal ownership along with profits is in private hands but the government makes the decisions.

    Time, one can say that she was off-track but she intended for tikkun olam. Similarly, the ACLU, with if also often off-track was founded by a Jew (Arthur Garfield Hays). Aryeh Neier , who is observant, led ion from 70-78 when he founded Helsinki Watch, later renamed Human Rights Watch.

    in reply to: Would you let your children listen to non-jewish music? #1522725
    Avi K
    Participant

    RJ, anti-Zionism has nothing to do with keeping Jews frum. It is inertia and psychological denial and the belief that people have the right to tell Hashem how to bring about the Geula. Maybe also a subconscious happiness about being in exile. It spares frum Jews from having to go about running a state.

    in reply to: Communism vs Liberalism #1522705
    Avi K
    Participant

    Ubi, I once read an article by someone who recalled that her German professor reprimanded her for her Yiddishisms. Assuming that the German word “nation” has the same as the English meaning (and English and German are also related) it does not mean “state” but is similar to the Hebrew word עם. This is contrary to fascism where control (although not nominal ownership) is in the hands of the state. Thus the Nazi party was correctly called National Socialist (and is still called that in Germany).

    Health, actually there is a common thread between various movements that have attracted Jews. All seek tikkun olam. One can throw in Ayn Rand (born Alissa Rosenbaum), Paul Samuelson, Ludwig von Mises and Milton Friedman. In fact, the argument between Trotsky and Stalin ym”s was that the former wanted to foment world revolution and the latter wanted to concentrate on Russia and its sphere of influence. A Jew can never get away from his Jewish destiny although he can be totally non-observant. Rav Soloveichik referred to this dichotomy as “two covenants” – the Berit ben haBeitarim and Berit Chorev.

    in reply to: Communism vs Liberalism #1522173
    Avi K
    Participant

    Ubi, are you a commentator on Engels? Marx said that the state will wither away. Of course, it could be that something was lost in the translation from the original German.

    in reply to: Communism vs Liberalism #1521985
    Avi K
    Participant

    Ubi, that sounds like fascism. Communism and socialism believe that the means of production should be in the hands of the workers. Marx, in fact, envisaged the state “withering away”. there are also variations and hybrids. For example, libertarian socialism calls for businesses to be workers’ cooperatives free of state interference. Classical liberalism (today’s libertarianism) is socially liberal while believing in laissez-faire economics. The common thread is individual rights as expressed in the non-aggression principle. What today is called liberalism is really akin to corporatism in that it views rights and responsibilities as accruing to groups rather than individuals.

    in reply to: Would you let your children listen to non-jewish music? #1521980
    Avi K
    Participant

    Shopping,
    1. Anything? If he praises her intellectual achievements? If he sings of his devotion and loyalty to his family?
    2. I do agree about the “beat”. On the other hand, BTs often need a “halfway house”.

    in reply to: Would you let your children listen to non-jewish music? #1521918
    Avi K
    Participant

    Shimin, what do “ehrlicher shomrei torah ” say about the Internet?

    BTW, it is well known that Rav Ovadia very much enjoyed listening to Egyptian singer Um Kulthum.

    Avi K
    Participant

    DY, eiva and chillul Hashem do intersect. One can do a chillul Hashem without causing eiva (e.g. a Jew who cheats on his taxes). There can be eiva without chillul Hashem (if the anger remains personal). However, as every “religious” Jew represents Judaism they often go together. For example, in an article about the alleged legal violations by Chassidim in Brooklyn a certain newspaper pointed out sarcastically that he English translations is “pious ones”.

    Dor, even paranoids have enemies. Why do you think that split-screen was shown? Many things are “newsworthy” but are not conflated on TV.

    Avi K
    Participant

    Dor,
    1. Apparently he has done teshuva for his past statements.
    2. How do you know about those split-screens? Do watch (please excuse the expression) TV? I saw at least some of the speeches on Arutz-7 and there was no split screen. In any case, you should blame the station manager not the chief rabbis. He is obviously some antisemite or self-hating Jew who wanted to ruin the public joy.

    in reply to: Would you let your children listen to non-jewish music? #1520722
    Avi K
    Participant

    Sammy, would you let your kids learn the Pythagorean theorem? That came straight from the head of a pagan. Rambam says in his intro to Shemoneh Perakim that one should accept the truth from whoever says it.

    Shopping, what if a man sings “Gd Save the Queen”?

    Avi K
    Participant

    I see that Hagee spoke at the end and did not mention him at all.

    in reply to: DO WE REALLY HAVE A GOOD EXCUSE TO LIVE IN CHUTZ LA'ARETZ? #1520643
    Avi K
    Participant

    HaKatan, the SR was a daat yachid and admitted it. The oaths are definitively no longer in force and may never have been. My only admission is that at one time they MIGHT have been. You are simply in denial.

    Avi K
    Participant

    Dor, I just saw the video (I presume that you are referring to Dr. Robert Jeffress). . He prayed to “the Gd of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”. At the very end he referred to that man as the “Prince of peace” and “our (a presume he meant Xtians) lord”. “Lord” can simply mean “leader”. If they want to consider him their rebbe I have no objection. BTW, another Chabad rabbi was right there with him and spoke right after him.

    How does sitting at an event not in a church (which is ordinarily a problem of marit ayin that one is praying there unless it is obvious that one is not) imply agreement? Jeffress also praised Netanyahu and Trump. Does sitting there imply endorsement of either?

    in reply to: Would you let your children listen to non-jewish music? #1520641
    Avi K
    Participant

    For that matter, Chabadniks sing to one of Napoleon’s marching songs – even though the baal haTanya supported the Czar.

    in reply to: Would you let your children listen to non-jewish music? #1520252
    Avi K
    Participant

    Shopping & Mentsch, were the souls of those who composed zemirot to non-Jewish tunes damaged? These are conjectures without basis. As for Acher, he also delved too deeply into Kabbalah and misinterpreted pesukim about the reward for mitzvot. It was everything together (and maybe the Greek songs were immodest).

    in reply to: Would you let your children listen to non-jewish music? #1520009
    Avi K
    Participant

    If something does not bother the Halacha why should it bother anyone? Children are not expected to keep middot chassidut. First a person should achieve, zehirut, zerizut and nekiut. Only then should he work on chassidut. The Gra said that Judaism is like a ladder. If you try to jump steps you will fall. Rav Kook said that this is because a person must always be balanced. Keeping an inappropriate (for one’s general spiritual level) chumra will lead to inappropriate kulot in other areas.

    in reply to: Posts on Shabbos? #1520002
    Avi K
    Participant

    There is a program that allows one to close the site in each zone according to when it is Shabbat there.

    in reply to: The Roman Artichokes #1515251
    Avi K
    Participant

    I asked a rav and he said that checking artichokes is so difficult that he does without. Ask your LOR. The OU does not allow artichoke hearts in restaurants it certifies due to this. Apparently the leaves are less difficult although they must be checked.

    in reply to: Teshuva for Retzicha #1514555
    Avi K
    Participant

    Rabbi Akiva Eiger has a teshuva about vehicular homicide (a wagon and horses) where there were two victims:

    שו”ת רבי עקיבא איגר מהדורא תניינא סימן ג

    נ”ד דהאיש ההוא גורם גדול, ואפשר דלענין גלות היה פטור ג”כ מדין שהוא קרוב למזיד להריץ הסוסים טעונים במשא ובלילה, ואדם מועד לעולם בדבר שקרוב לפשיעה, דהיינו כעין אבידה, כמ”ש תוס’ ב”ב (דף צ”ג ד”ה חייב) ואם היו משאות של אחרים, וע”י נפילת העגלה היו נפסדים, אף עם היה שומר חנם, קרוב הדבר בעיני שהוא חייב לשלם מדין מזיק דהוי קרוב לאבידה דודאי צריך ליזהר ולחוש שמא תפול העגלה ע”י שמירץ הסוסים בלילה, ופוק חזי מה שהחמיר המהר”ם לובלין בתשובה (סי’ מ”ג ומ”ד) בענינים שלא לדונו לגרמא, כמו בענין שלפנינו, לזה לדעתי הקלושה, ראשית התשובה יהיה אחרי שנהרגו בנו ומשרתו הנער ולא עשו פירות בעולם, הוא יקים זרע להם, דהיינו שעבור בנו הנהרג יחשוב באם היה זוכה להכניסו לחופה כמה היה מוציא עליו נדן ומלבושים ושארי ההוצאות, ויפריש כפי הסך ההוא שיהיה לקרן קיימת לעולמי עולמים, ומהרווחים יוחזק בן עני לגדלו וללמדו תורה וגמרא עד שיהיה בן ט”ו שנים שיוכל לשלחו ללמוד בישיבה ואח”כ יוחזק מהרווחים תלמיד אחר, וכן לעולם, והתלמידים ההם יקראו על שם בן הנהרג שהוא מחזיקם, ואם ישאו להם נשים ויולידו בנים, הבן הבכור יקרא בשם הנהרג, ועבור הנער המשרת יקבל האיש על עצמו ליתן כל ימי חייו מידי שנה בשנה כ”ה ר”ט ליתן מזה שכר לימוד לבני עניים בשנה הראשונה ישלם לעשרה מלמדים עניים שילמדו יום יום שיעור לתועלת נשמת ההרוגים, ויאמרו נוסח התפילה וקדיש דרבנן, גם יפרוש סך מה שמהרווחים ישולם לאיזה לומדים בכל יום היא”צ שיעור משניות, ולהתפלל עליהם ולומר קדיש דרבנן. כל ימי חיי האיש ההוא, ישלח ביום היא”צ שלהם עשרה אנשים על קברם לבקש עבורו מהם מחילה:

    ובענין סיגופים, אחרי שכתב מעכ”ת נ”י שהאיש ההוא סמוך לימי הזקנה, לזה ראוי להקל עליו, ולזה במשך ג’ שנים יתענה ב’ וה’ וער”ח ועשי”ת ולהשלים התעניתים האלו, ואחרי ג’ שנים יתענה בימים אלו הנ”ל עד אחר חצי היום, ואם הוא בדרך ורואה שקשה עליו התענית יפדה התענית בעד ערך ג’ פעמים ח”י גדולים שיתן לעניים, וכל ימיו לא ילך לסעודת נישואין [זולת בסעודת צאצאיו או שהוא שושבין]. וכל לילה קודם שהולך לישן יתודה בלב נשבר ובבכיות גדולות ולבקש מחילה וכפרה מהשם יתברך, יקבל ד’ תפילותיו וצדקותיו ותעניתיו ברחמים ויכפר לו כפרה גמורה, ונפשות ההרוגים יתפייסו, ויליצו טוב בעדו, כן נראה לענ”ד, ידידו דו”ש הק’ עקיבא גינז מא”ש.

    The din of kippa was for someone who deliberately murdered without witnesses or was a three-time loser on chiuvei karret (Sanhedrin 81b).

    in reply to: The Embassy is really opening up in Jerusalem? #1514583
    Avi K
    Participant

    Dorah, what about releasing Rubashkin and steadfastly supporting Israel at the UN?

    in reply to: best place to live? #1514584
    Avi K
    Participant

    JJ, a certain American rav asked Rav Tzvi Yehuda if he should make aliya or stay in chinuch in America where he knew the language and mentality of the kids. RTY told him to make aliya and ask again after he got settled. He did so and RTY told him that now that his permanent home was in EY he could consider going back for a few years to be involved in chinuch.

    in reply to: The Embassy is really opening up in Jerusalem? #1514585
    Avi K
    Participant

    Also appointing defender of religious freedom Neil Gorsuch to SCOTUS. This could be very important for Orthodox Jews with Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission pending.

    in reply to: The Embassy is really opening up in Jerusalem? #1514105
    Avi K
    Participant

    1. It is in an out-of-the way place so it will not be a problem. There are embassies in the middle of DC and that does not seem to present problems.

    2. They do anything connected to diplomatic relations. It is also the base of the Ambassador.

    3. Yes. They will do the same things that they now do a the Tel Aviv embassy (apply for passports and visas, record births of children, etc.).

    in reply to: best place to live? #1514100
    Avi K
    Participant

    Joseph, talmidei chachamim, especially of their stature, are considered to be in EY. However, if they would live here they would be much greater. Rabbi Zeira fasted 100 fasts to forget the Torah of Bavel.

    Laskern,
    1. The fact that the king does not completely follow the Torah does not mean that he is not the king (Sanhedrin 20b Tosafot d”h melech).
    2. The Geula comes slowly in stages (Yerushalmi Berachot 1:1). Just as Shaul’s kingship was temporary (see “Kol haTor” of Rabbi Hillel Rivlin regarding Mashiach ben Yosef and Mashiach ben David as well as Rav Kook’s essay “Hesped b’Yerushalayim” printed in “Maamarei HaRaya”). It could happen that there will be a Torah republic in the future followed by a monarchy. That will not mean that the state has been annulled. L’havdil, France is now on its fifth republic but is still the same state.
    3. The yetzer tov in EY is also much greater.

    in reply to: best place to live? #1513485
    Avi K
    Participant

    Joseph, Chazal say that a Jew in Chul is like someone who has no god and that the Jews there do a”z in purity. The former is because the hashgacha is indirect. the latter is because they love their Sundays when they can do all their shopping in the glatt kosher supermarket. not to mention the fact that they give and receive Xmas presents and bonuses. Not to mention that here Jewish holidays are official days of rest and many offices are even closed on Chol haMoed. There you have to beg your boss to let you take vacation days,

    in reply to: BT vs FFB #1513470
    Avi K
    Participant

    Shopping, your rav does. Very often there is a conflict between two halachot and the rav must decide which takes precedence. There are also shaat hadahak, hefsed meruba, etc.

    in reply to: President Donald Trump, Oheiv Yisroel Par Excellence #1513250
    Avi K
    Participant

    From the Washington Post:

    For his own part, Todd told The Post he didn’t think of the odd nickname as anti-Semitic. “I’ve never taken it that way. If it is a slur, I’ve never heard of it,” Todd said.
    Peter Kenez, an emeritus professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz who survived the Holocaust and went on to become a historian of the atrocities he witnessed, wrote about the “sleepy eyes” stereotype in one of his books. However, he thinks it is very unlikely that Trump knows about it, or that he picked up the term from one of his advisers.
    Instead, Kenez said, it is probably just a coincidence that Trump uses the same nickname for Todd.
    “I doubt that Trump knows what he’s talking about. . . . [‘Sleepy eyes’] was hardly a major feature of Nazi propaganda. It was not something that every German had to know,” Kenez said. Other stereotypes were far more common in Nazi Germany, he said. “I think it is too obscure. Our president has to have it to think up an adjective for everyone that he says something bad about. I suppose nothing else came to him.”

    in reply to: BT vs FFB #1513251
    Avi K
    Participant

    Not true, Joseph. In Germany intermarriage was so high that demographers say that the Jews would have disappeared even without the Nazis. Reform had already made inroads into Poland and many Jews joined the Bund and the Polish Communist Party. In fact, the reason why the Chofetz Chaim and Imrei Emmet supported Bet Yaacov was the fact that Jewish girls were going OTD because there was no alternative to Polish public schools that pushed Polonization.

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