Avi K

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  • in reply to: Golden Age Shiduchim #1456318
    Avi K
    Participant

    GAON (= never having heard of Rashi or Tosafot), if they do not know the “how to” and they will attempt to defraud the government he is helping them to do an aveira.

    Joseph, according to the statutes I cited they are considered like married people for the purpose of benefits. while they cannot say that they are married they can claim to be a couple.

    CTL, I doubt that anyone memorized the statute book. In fact, when I cited a statute in a case before the President of the Jerusalem District Labor Court (appealing a National Insurance Institute ruling) he had to look it up as it is not a well-known loophole (I checked the law on the Internet as I had once seen something that suggested it).

    in reply to: Golden Age Shiduchim #1456052
    Avi K
    Participant

    Joseph, I asked a retired shul rabbi and he said that it does not sound right (from the point of view of Jewish ethics) and would not be a party to it. Atthe very least it is naval b’reshut haTorah. Moreover, it could be a double-edged sword as the survivor might not be eligible for survivor’s benefits.

    So far as NYS not recognizing common-law marriage, that does not necessarily bind the Feds. For example, they are prosecuting people in states that legalized marijuana for violating Federal laws. Here are relevant quotes from an actual case (SSR 76-27):

    “The claimant and a woman whom he holds out to the community to be his wife, reside in a State which does not recognize common-law marriages. The Social Security Administration determined that a husband-wife relationship existed according to section 1614(d)(2) of the Social Security Act. The claimant contended that since the State of his residence does not recognize a marriage relationship, the Federal Government should be precluded from recognizing one. Held, a husband-wife relationship as defined in section 1614(d)(2) of the Social Security Act, as amended, does exist whether or not such relationship is recognized by the State in which they reside. Because of this relationship, the claimant is subject to the income and resource deeming provisions of section 1614(f)(1) of the Social Security Act.
    The general issue is whether the claimant is a ‘husband’ under section 1614(d)(2) of the Social Security Act, as amended, and if so, is the claimant affected by the deeming provisions of section 1614(f)(1) of the Social Security Act, as amended. The specific issues to be decided are: Whether the claimant and a woman who are holding themselves out as man and wife to the community in which they reside, are husband and wife under the Social Security Act; and what effect would a State’s nonrecognition of a common-law marriage have in the final determination as to whether they are husband and wife?

    The claimant, an obviously disabled individual, appeared at the hearing with a woman whom he identified as his wife, Eve. Claimant admitted at the hearing that he considered Eve to be his wife and that they had lived together holding themselves out to the community as man and wife since 1971. He indicated that there had never been a formal marriage ceremony binding them but that they looked upon one another as husband and wife. Eve also indicated in her testimony at the hearing that the claimant’s testimony was substantially correct. Both indicated that the child now living with them was the natural son of the claimant and Eve.

    Section 1614(d)(2) of the Social Security Act provides that:

    ‘In determining whether two individuals are husband and wife for purposes of this title, appropriate State Law shall be applied; except that . . . if a man and woman are found to be holding themselves out to the community in which they reside as husband and wife, they shall be so considered for purposes of this title notwithstanding any other provision of this section.’
    Section 416.1005(a) of Regulations No. 16 reads in part as follows:

    ‘Two individuals may be considered to be husband and wife for the purpose of determining that one is the spouse of the other under title XVI of the Act if at the time the application for payments is made or at any later date:
    (1) The individuals are living together in the same household, and holding themselves out to the community in which they reside as husband and wife. . .’
    Section 416.1003(b) and (c) of Regulations No. 16 in this regard reads as follows:

    ‘For purposes of this subpart, the term “household” means one or more individuals living as a family unit in a single place of abode . . . A man and woman are ‘holding themselves out as husband and wife’ if they represent themselves as husband and wife (or as married to each other) to relatives, friends, neighbors, or tradespeople with whom they do business.'”.

    in reply to: Golden Age Shiduchim #1455104
    Avi K
    Participant

    CTL, the מסדר קידושיו might be מסעיה לדבר עבירה if he knows that they will do it. I know a rav who was told by a caterer that if he paid cash he would get a discount of $1,000 as the caterer could get away with not declaring it. He asked a dayan and was told that it was not permitted. It may also be illegal to perform a marriage ceremony without a license (here in Israel this is the case). BTW, if one of the parties has not yet received a civil divorce it could cause legal problems for both. I would consult an attorney who specializes in family and benefits law as well as a competent rav first.

    Here in Israel common-law marriage (ידועה בציבור) is recognized for purposes such as single-parent family and social insurance purposes – and there are inspectors who check up on people. There once was a law rescinding the pension of IDF widows who remarried but it was repealed because of the hardships it caused. It also did not make much sense as women with high incomes also received it.

    in reply to: May a lawyer publicly state that his client is crazy? #1451923
    Avi K
    Participant

    CTL,
    1. May an attorney plead insanity against the client’s will.
    2. What is the difference between morality and ethics?
    3. While you are technically correct that the judge/jury decides the verdict an attorney can blow smoke, especially in the case of a jury.

    in reply to: Trolls: Jewish or Gentile? #1451374
    Avi K
    Participant

    CTL, if you think that this thread should be ignored why did you respond?

    in reply to: Goral Hagra #1447151
    Avi K
    Participant

    1.4142135623730950488…, you are being irrational. Only big talmidei chachamim can do the Goral haGra and get an answer. By definition they do not participate in the CR.

    in reply to: Can a live person be soulless? #1447073
    Avi K
    Participant

    Chabadshlucha,
    1. You can google it.
    2. If they (and their families) survived and thrived after giving everything away obviously they took it back in some form. Or the stories are sippurei savta (bubbe meises in creole German).

    in reply to: Can a live person be soulless? #1446839
    Avi K
    Participant

    Chabadshluch,
    1. We don’t here of such things today? You never heard of the Amityville Horror?
    2. There are stories of “tzaddikim” giving all their money to some needy person and leaving their own families high and dry.

    Random, here is Rambam’s statement at the end of Chelek 1 Chapter 7 according to the translation of Smuel ibn Tibbon:

    “ויחי אדם שלושים ומאת שנה ויולד בדמותו כצלמו” (בראשית ה, ג), וכבר קדם לך (בפרק א) עניין צלם ודמות מה הוא. וכל מי שקדמו לו מן הבנים לא הגיע עליהם הצורה האנושית באמת, אשר היא צלם ודמותו הנאמר עליה בצלם אלוהים ובדמותו. אמנם שת כאשר למדהו והבינהו, ונמצא שלם השלימות האנושי, אמר בו “ויולד בדמותו כצלמו” (שם).

    וכבר ידעת כי כל מי שלא הגיע לו זאת הצורה אשר ביארנו עניינה, הוא אינו איש אבל בהמה על צורת איש ותבניתו, אבל יש לו יכולת על מיני ההיזק וחלוש הדעות, מה שאין כן לשאר בעלי חיים, כי השכל והמחשבה שהיו מוכנים לו להגעת השלמות אשר לא הגיע, ישתמש בהם במיני התחבולות המביאות לרע, והוליד הנזקים כאילו הוא דבר ידמה לאדם או יזיקהו. וכן היו בני אדם הקודמים לשת. ואמרו במדרש: “כל אותן ק”ל שנה שהיה אדם נזוף בהם היה מוליד רוחות”, ר”ל שדים, וכאשר רצהו השם, הוליד בדמותו כצלמו.
    והוא אמרו: “ויחי אדם שלושים ומאת שנה ויולד בדמותו כצלמו” (שם).

    You can see for yourself at
    http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=11580&st=%d7%a6%d7%9c%d7%9d&pgnum=47

    In fact, in American cities there are many stories of such people taking over apartments. This has prompted the Manhattan District. Attorney’s office to institute a Narcotics Eviction Program.

    in reply to: Can a live person be soulless? #1446149
    Avi K
    Participant

    Chabadshlucha, I was not aware that hat was one of the Thirteen Principles. In fact, many Chassidic stories have serious halachic problems. Either they could not have happened or Chassidut is not a halachic movement.

    in reply to: Can a live person be soulless? #1446091
    Avi K
    Participant

    I heard that some of the BST stories were written by maskilim in order to make fun of him.

    in reply to: Can a live person be soulless? #1444673
    Avi K
    Participant

    LB, yes. That is what happened to Cain. That is why he is not listed among the descendants of Adam haRishon (Bereisheet ch. 5).

    Random, Rambam disagrees with you.

    in reply to: Is the ‘Fire and Fury’ book on Trump lashon hara? #1444321
    Avi K
    Participant

    Dor, “weather in relation”. It depends on which way the wind is blowing (I think that you meant “whether”).

    in reply to: Single State Solution for Israel #1444318
    Avi K
    Participant

    Crawley, they are the occupiers. Jordan is Palestine (and the Jordanians are occupying our Ever haYarden). They are the ones who send their children to commit suicide attacks. I suggest sending some to the UK in exchange for the Jews living there under Sharia patrols.

    in reply to: Is the ‘Fire and Fury’ book on Trump lashon hara? #1444112
    Avi K
    Participant

    Trump is an ohev Yisrael ben ohev Yisrael. The fact that the Clinton crime family soldiers are combining with the sour grapes crowd says a great deal. The best (or worst) are the shrinks who diagnose Trump without having ever met him, let alone examined him.

    in reply to: Single State Solution for Israel #1443919
    Avi K
    Participant

    1. It is not necessary to forcibly transfer anyone. Most Arabs in Yehuda v’ Shomron and 80% in Gaza have admitted that they would leave if they could. Many more probably would but won’t admit it. An international resettlement fund could be set up to pay them to relocate to countries that need immigrants with money (Germany, for example, still needs 800,000 workers). Those Arabs who hold Israeli citizenship state privately that they are not crazy enough to prefer to live in an Arab state. Even in public they scream whenever Lieberman talks about giving the PA the Triangle in exchange for settlement blocs.

    2. What about our Ever haYarden?

    3. Akuperma, you are forgetting the successful double transfer between Greece and Turkey following the Greco-Turkish War following WW1. There are approximately 1 million Jews in Europe and 1.5 million in the PA (their statistics have been shown to be greatly exaggerated). That would be a fair exchange.

    in reply to: Is the ‘Fire and Fury’ book on Trump lashon hara? #1443920
    Avi K
    Participant

    Gavriel, not to mention reversing a seventy year injustice and recognizing Yerushalayim as our capital as well as defunding our enemies.

    in reply to: Can a live person be soulless? #1443434
    Avi K
    Participant

    Rambam (Guide 1:7) says that this is the definition of a שד. According to Psychology this would seem to be the definition of a psychopath. Rav Ephraim Sprecher quoted Rav Soloveichik as saying that if you see someone who has no human feelings, like a Hitler or Stalin ym”s, you can be sure that he is one of them.

    in reply to: Cozy Winter 🌡️❄️ #1440335
    Avi K
    Participant

    Here in Israel the temperature is the same as on the East Coast. Just that there is a “C” rather than an “F” after the number.

    in reply to: PSA About the Use of the Phrase “Trolling” 📢 #1440334
    Avi K
    Participant

    Neville, the problem starts when he tells you that he always lies.

    in reply to: What does a Chamsa symbolize in Orthodox judiasm? ✋ #1439697
    Avi K
    Participant

    Both the Chatam Sofer and Rav Ovadia say that the evil eye only works id\f someone thinks it does as with pairs (Pesachim 110a). Moroever, statistically we are all somehow descended from Yosef.

    in reply to: FAST APPROACHING: The End of Secularism in Israel #1438825
    Avi K
    Participant

    ROC,

    1. Please produce evidence for your contentions. If you do not you will be convicted of hotzaat shem ra and sentenced to obtain forgiveness.

    2. Even if you are correct, if you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem.

    3. I looked up Crawley on Google. It does not seem to be a particularly Jewish community. In fact there is only one “shul”, which is called “Liberal”. Am I correct in presuming that that is the UK version of Reform? If so, how do you justify living there rather than in Israel,

    in reply to: PSA About the Use of the Phrase “Trolling” 📢 #1438827
    Avi K
    Participant

    In Internet slang, a troll is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting quarrels or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal, on-topic discussion, often for the troll’s amusement. (Wikipedia)

    So it is irrelevant if the troll believes what he writes or not.

    in reply to: Explaining to girls that only boys light the Chanukah Menorah #1437536
    Avi K
    Participant

    Are we going to start rehashing the three non-oaths (why, BTW, also involve the other nations) again? It seems that I will have to re-post 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 (Inro. 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) Hashem 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 d”h huchal shevuato shel Avimelech and Shulchan Aruch YD 236,6).

    in reply to: Explaining to girls that only boys light the Chanukah Menorah #1437215
    Avi K
    Participant

    Actually these laws are found in Horiot 13a:
    מתני’ האיש קודם לאשה להחיות ולהשב אבדה והאשה קודמת לאיש לכסות ולהוציא מבית השבי בזמן ששניהם עומדים בקלקלה האיש קודם לאשה:

    גמ’ ת”ר היה הוא ואביו ורבו בשבי הוא קודם לרבו ורבו קודם לאביו אמו קודמת לכולם חכם קודם למלך ישראל חכם שמת אין לנו כיוצא בו מלך ישראל שמת כל ישראל ראוים למלכות מלך קודם לכהן גדול שנאמר (מלכים א א, טז) ויאמר המלך (אליהם) [להם] קחו עמכם (או מ) עבדי אדוניכם וגו’ כהן גדול קודם לנביא שנאמר (מלכים א א, לד) ומשח אותו שם צדוק הכהן ונתן הנביא הקדים צדוק לנתן ואומר (זכריה ג, ח) שמע נא יהושע הכהן הגדול אתה ורעיך וגו’ יכול הדיוטות היו ת”ל (זכריה ג, ח) כי אנשי מופת המה ואין מופת אלא נביא שנאמר (דברים יג, ב) ונתן אליך אות או מופת משוח בשמן המשחה קודם למרובה בגדים מרובה בגדים קודם למשיח שעבר מחמת קריו משיח שעבר ‘ מחמת קריו קודם לעבר מחמת מומו עבר מחמת מומו קודם למשוח מלחמה משוח מלחמה קודם לסגן סגן קודם לאמרכל מאי אמרכל אמר רב חסדא אמר כולא אמרכל קודם לגזבר גזבר קודם לראש משמר ראש משמר קודם לראש בית אב ראש בית אב קודם לכהן הדיוט איבעיא להו לענין טומאה סגן ומשוח מלחמה איזה מהם קודם אמר מר זוטרא בריה דרב נחמן ת”ש דתניא סגן ומשוח מלחמה שהיו מהלכים בדרך ופגע בהם מת מצוה מוטב שיטמא משוח מלחמה ואל יטמא סגן שאם יארע בו פסול בכהן גדול נכנס הסגן ומשמש תחתיו והתניא משוח מלחמה קודם לסגן אמר רבינא כי תניא ההיא להחיותו:

    So we see that sometimes a man comes first and sometimes a woman comes first. There is also an order among men. Rambam indeed says that the reason a man is saved before a woman is that he has more mitzvot. However, according to Rashba it is a gezerat haktuv. That is to say, Hashem decided that this is the order (and there must be some order) and that is that,

    in reply to: Are Sephardic rabbinic leaders called Rabbi or Chacham? #1435690
    Avi K
    Participant

    A woman sat next to an Ashkenzai rosh yeshiva on a bus. He moved and there was a big argument. The next day she sat next to a Sephardi rosh yeshiva. Hedidn’t move nadshe got off at the next stop disappointed. When asked about it he said “Hu rav. Ani chacham”.

    BTW, in Germany there was a designation “Chaver” which YU revived forty years ago. I heard about someone who insists on being called to the Torah as “ben haChaver”.

    in reply to: President Donald Trump, Oheiv Yisroel Par Excellence #1433573
    Avi K
    Participant

    CTL, I do not understand how a frum Jew can be a social liberal. Being a scial liberal means supporting toeva “marriage”, forcing bakers to bake cakes congratulating them, banishing religion from public life even if it a general monotheistic statement, “no” to school chocie legislation, etc. I do hope, however, that you follow other Americans into retirement in EY soon.

    Mentsch, maybe you should not be makpid on maaser kesafim. According to some opinions it is only middat chassidut. Even according to the machmirs it only applies to income after expenses.

    in reply to: President Donald Trump, Oheiv Yisroel Par Excellence #1431252
    Avi K
    Participant

    As usual it depends on whose ox is gored. Those who are fleecing the taxpayers with “entitlement” (who says that they are entitled anyway) will lose as will those living in huge estates and consequently pay high property taxes. Rubashkin, who received an inordinately stiff sentence (he was not pardoned but his sentence was commuted) due to the judicial and prosecutorial misconduct gains. Hopefully Pollard who was sentenced so severely due to Cap Weinberger’s lies and whose religious rights continue to be violated will be next. Israel is, of course, the big winner. I think that this makes him am ohev Yisrael (son of an ohev Yisrael). MAGA

    in reply to: Can there be parve meat? #1431158
    Avi K
    Participant

    Akuperma, you don’t need a tardis. if the Concorde is revived you can fly in it westward. Depending on how far from the Equator you are you might be able to gain two time zones.

    As for what bnei Torah will do there will probably be another kashrut war similar to the present chicken war. This is known in Hebrew as אחודת (I don’t have time to look it up but there is a Rema against this regarding a case where the community of Rheinish allowed eating a fish that other communities did not yet they did not hesitate to use Rheinish’s utensils).

    in reply to: Explaining to girls that only boys light the Chanukah Menorah #1430684
    Avi K
    Participant

    Kolelman, women were not saved from the Syrian Greeks?

    Chabadshlucha, I doubt evry much that Golda’s children needed her. She was 71 when she was elected PM. Both of her children were in their 50s.

    Regarding the topic of this thread, while the MIshna Berura says that wives and daughters do not light separately Rav Soloveichik held like the Machaziut HaShekel that they should (at least Askenaziot).

    in reply to: Can there be parve meat? #1430590
    Avi K
    Participant

    Rand, not everyone is on your exalted level.

    in reply to: Who Are The Most Liberal Posters in the Coffee room? #1430563
    Avi K
    Participant

    Yanky, populist rhetoric is used by any cynical politician thinks it will improve his position (@my LBJ was also a cynical politician – he used the “n” word saying that the Civil Rights Act would have blacks voting Democrat for 200 years). Thus, there is left-wing populism (e.g. Black Lives Matter) and right-wing populism.

    in reply to: Can there be parve meat? #1430551
    Avi K
    Participant

    Ubiquitin, the burger is grown from a cell of a live cow. Shechting it would defeat the purpose, which is to have meat without harming animals.

    Dor, not being as tasty can allow shechting an animal and cooking the meat on Yom Tov rather than erev YT. This we see that it is an important consideration.

    in reply to: Can there be parve meat? #1430102
    Avi K
    Participant

    G, so is in vitro meat. If you buy a natural chicken wing a chicken was slaughtered and then its wings were cut off. Here a cell is grown into a chicken wing. in a lab. There will have to be a pesak on this as Israel is a leader in the field and just signed a $300m deal to export to China.

    in reply to: My new name #1430103
    Avi K
    Participant

    What makes you think that you are great enough to be Bitul?

    in reply to: Can there be parve meat? #1429979
    Avi K
    Participant

    Ubiquitin, it is a cell of a living animal. While it is less than a k’zayit we pasken that les than a shiur is a Torah prohibition just that there is no earthly punishment.

    in reply to: Who Are The Most Liberal Posters in the Coffee room? #1429916
    Avi K
    Participant

    CTL,

    1. I take it that your BA is not in American History. Henry Wallace was the leader of the left wing of the Democratic Party and candidate of the pink American Labor Party in 1948 (he broke with Truman over the Cold War). Strom Thurmond ran on the Dixiecrat ticket. This, IMHO, was great for the Jews as Truman’s precarious position in an election year (besides the double split he was a back-door President and jeered as a failed haberdasher and machine politician).

    2. It is utter nonsense that conservatives wanted to keep Jews and blacks from voting. Moreoevr, as I previously noted, the biggest fighter against antisemitism in modern America was William Buckley (and BTW, the liberal avoda zara FDR was an antisemite who failed to lift a finger to help Jews until it was almost too late).

    3. Rav Soloveichik also decried the expulsion of religion from the public schools and blamed it for crime in the streets. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has also decried the “wall of separation”. So instead America now has a quasi-religion of liberalism complete with the burning (so dar at least not literal) of heretics at the stake (ask Aaron and Melissa Klein, former owners of Sweet Cakes By Melissa).

    4. How did the Republicans prevent Jews from buying homes? In any case, it was better for the Jews when people lived in ethnic neighborhoods. Even those who stopped observing most mitzvot remained culturally Jewish and did not intermarry.

    in reply to: Who Are The Most Liberal Posters in the Coffee room? #1429124
    Avi K
    Participant

    SHY, you are correct regarding American conservatism. In fact, Orthodox Jews are taking an increasing role in American conservative politics. However, “conservative” is a relative term. Brezhnez and Co., for example, were right described as conservatives. Historically European conservative parties have at least bordered on antisemitism. This was also true of some on the American right pre-William Buckley, who purged them from the conservative movement. Of course, once classical liberalism became established those who supported it came to be considered conservative.

    As for property, after the beracha it is ours. Indeed, Chazal say that one who steals someone’s property steals his soul. According to Rav Kook the Torah bars selling nachalot permanently because just as Am Yisrael is spiritually connected to Eretz Yisrael and can only flourish here so too is the relationship of an individual Jew to his nachala. This is so strong that according to Kabbala is Reuven dies owing money to Shimon and Shimon does not forgive him (the power to forgive shows that it is his) they both have to keep coming back until the debt is paid.

    in reply to: Is it acceptable to go for a walk on the 1st date? #1428474
    Avi K
    Participant

    CTL,

    1. When the Steipler was a bachur he had to travel a long distance by train fora shidduch (I very much doubt that they met in a nice restaurant). He had a suspicion that the seats were shatnez so he stood all the way. As a result he dozed during the meeting and she rejected him.

    2. How do reconcile “educating” someone to earn a “good living” with Hashem’s control of parnassa? Is making a great deal of money more important than a satisfying job?

    3. If part of the job of a junior attorney is to lunch with clients you are correct. If not, who cares? BTW, I had a co-worker who was dating a Swiss woman. They had an argument over on which side of the plate to put the knife and which side to put the fork as apparently there is a difference in this between Europe and America. Maybe it would havebeen better if they went over Sarah Jackman.

    in reply to: Old Earth #1428316
    Avi K
    Participant

    Litvishechossid, in fact the Zohar predicted that the gates of wisdom would open up in 5600. Apparently it was not time beforehand. As for the age of the world, it depends on when you start the count. Onkelos says that after Hashem created Adam HaRishon he gave him the power of speech. The earliest writings found date back to about 5,100 years ago. It stands to reason that language did not start until not long before (in historical terms).

    in reply to: Is it acceptable to go for a walk on the 1st date? #1427924
    Avi K
    Participant

    Litvishechossid, once in NY I some a woman to an nice restaurant which also had a show being that it was Motzash. She complained that I took her by subway as I did not have a car. I wanted to tell her that I took her in a train. I should have pointed out that a subway car cost about $1 million.

    CTL,
    1. What about people who do not have so much money?
    2. Being with the wrong person can ruin your meal.

    in reply to: Is it acceptable to go for a walk on the 1st date? #1426327
    Avi K
    Participant

    Of course, it is also possible that “riding” does not have the same connotation that “רוכבת” had for Rabbenu Chananel.

    in reply to: Is it acceptable to go for a walk on the 1st date? #1426325
    Avi K
    Participant

    What about riding bicycles? That way they will have to be shomer negia. In deference to those who think that saying that she is riding a bicycle is like saying that she is riding a donkey we can call it sitting on moving bicycle.

    in reply to: [Fiction] A Nazi attempting to unleash a biological weapon in Israel #1421683
    Avi K
    Participant

    There was one where they were Arab terrorists. The CIA agent who discovered it was really Jewish but had been raised as a gentile by his father and his father’s non-Jewish second wife. The first wife was a victim of vicious lashon hara in the frum community, which was the spiritual cause of the plot’s near-success (this was ascertained by a group of mekubbalim who also revealed the agent’s true identity).

    in reply to: Rabbi Aharon Lopiansky on Modern Othodox/Dati vs. Chareidi #1420823
    Avi K
    Participant

    DY, Rav Ovadia very much enjoyed listening to Arabic music. For a discussion of the different opinions you can hear “Ten Minute Halacha – Listening to Secular Music” (actually it’s about sixteen minutes) by Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz.

    in reply to: Where can Israeli Jews escape to in case of emergency? #1420769
    Avi K
    Participant

    Neville, outside the Medina’s borders have a lesser degree of protection. Thus, when David HaMelech fled to Gat, which was under the rule of Plishtim, he said that he was expelled from Hashem’s inheritance (Shmuel Alef 26:19).

    in reply to: Rabbi Aharon Lopiansky on Modern Othodox/Dati vs. Chareidi #1420764
    Avi K
    Participant

    Winnie, according to I what I heard Rav Soloveichik did not sing zemirot at all. Do you think that he was not a committed Jew? The Gra and the CS spoke about musicology, not necessary being a bundle of emotion. In fact, David HaMelech was punished for calling divrei Torah zemirot
    (Sotah 35a). Rav Kook explains that zemirot come from the heart whereas shirot come from the intellect. There is a well-known statement (which the Baal HaTanya also brings) that a person is divided into three parts: moach (intellect), lev (emotions) and kaved/klayot (desires and imagination). If the intellect rules the emotions and the emotions rule the desires and imagination he is a melech. If the the emotions are on top he is Lemech. If it is totally reversed he is kelem (embarassment).
    As for Carlebach, the fact of the mater is that most gedolei Yisrael discouraged going to his concerts for well-known reasons.

    in reply to: Where can Israeli Jews escape to in case of emergency? #1418840
    Avi K
    Participant

    Syag, please do not feed the troll.

    in reply to: Can you change the way people pronounce your last name? #1418847
    Avi K
    Participant

    LB, you can correct them and refuse to answer to the mispronunciation. As for local pronunciation, people should be aware of differences. Growing up in NYC I knew that it was How-stin St. but Yoo-stin TX. Then there was Lon Guyland and Hizzoner Da Mayuh.

    in reply to: What about American Jews? Where can we escape to in case of emergency? #1418759
    Avi K
    Participant

    The version I heard has a chain going back to Rav Chaim of Volozhin that the Jews in America will never be persecuted as Jews. Of course, it does not mean that they will not be persecuted for some other reason, as were many leftist Jews in Argentina. It also begs the question of the self-holocaust being perpetrated.

    in reply to: Jews Who Are Known By Their Non-Jewish Name #1418628
    Avi K
    Participant

    Ubitquin,
    1. you protested what you consider to be an attempt to destroy Jewish Creole German so obviously you want to preserve it.
    2. Rabaul Creole German a.k.a. Unserdeutsch (“Our German”) is a German-based creole language that originated in Papua New Guinea. It was formed among the New Guinean children residing in a German-run orphanage in what was then German New Guinea. About 100 native speakers survive today, most of whom migrated to Australia after Papua New Guinea’s independence in 1975. (Wikipedia)
    3. I ask out of curiosity.
    4. I was comparing spending time and effort on learning Jewish Creole German (a.k.a. Jargon) and Standard German.
    5. Yes I do put thought into my comments. Do you?

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