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Abba_S, Korach also used “common sense” (Rav Soloveichik called it the “common sense rebellion against Torah authority”). The chances of an animal infecting a person with COVID-19 are very low. Even if this were not so, the vast majority who get the viruses would not be affected or only slightly affected. That is why epidemiologists agree that it is at least theoretically possible. Whether or not this is a practical possibility depends on people. If you have not gotten the jab get it!
Resident mortal, NYC is only making a recommendation. I guess it depends on how machmir one wants to be. In any case, I would not go by the People’s Republic of California.
.לא ראינו אינה ראייה
There are a number of articles online. Google “recovered people getting corona”.
I just checked the numbers. Breakthrough cases were only 3% of those fully vaccinated. Nationwide, the percentage of breakthrough cases is less than .08% of those fully vaccinated. A little of 1% of those fully vaccinated who tested positive died. The vaccines work.
For that matter, how many were asymptomatic?
Besides, vaccinated people have very mild symptoms if any.
Resident, vaccinated people can indeed transmit the disease but the chances are much less as are the number of people they infect. That is why in the US there is no mask requirement for those who have been vaccinated. In Israel there still is because the government wants to be extra careful.
Rav Asher Weiss gave a whole shiur on the general subject of inadvertent killing someone after a bachur wrote asking what teshuva he had to do after infecting people who died. He brought down Rabbi Akiva Eiger’s teshuva (Mahadura Tanina 3) regarding someone who caused a wagon accident in which two people were killed. Among the things the person had to do was fasting every Mon and Thurs for a year, not to any simcha other than his children’s weddings, send an orphan to yeshiva until age 19, and then send another until age 18, and establish a kollel where the avereichim will learn for illuy neshmot the niftarim and say kaddish.
Getting the jab is no big deal unless you have a specific medical issue. If you have recovered you might only need one. I am shocked that people who are machmir on any little minhag are so meikal on nefashot.
Anti-vaxxers, as opposed to those who have real medical conditions that preclude getting the jab, are doing a great deal of damage. I refer the O.P. to Jacobson vs, Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905).
1. You have your continents mixed up. In Asia it is good. In Germany it is terrible.
2. Rav Hirsch has been dead for over 140 years. Even with live rabbis, there are arguments over what they said. There are even arguments in the Gemara over what a certain rabbi said with each person swearing that he is correct.
3. Austritt was forming a separate religious community recognized by the Prussian government. The reason was practical. The Reformers who controlled the established community did not want to maintain the mikva or provide kosher food.
4.Today there are two Americas. The Obamanation, which you mentioned, and the traditional “Leave it to Beaver” America. I agree with you about the former but not the latter. IMHO, this is why the left is anti-Israel and anti-Semitic and the right (other than a few nuts who cannot possibly be called conservatives) pro-Israel and pro-Jewish.
5. BTW, Rav Azriel Hildesheimer also advocated studying general culture. In his seminary talmidim were required to also earn university degrees. Among them were Rav Soloveichik, who earned a doctorate in philosophy and the last Lubavitcher Rebbe, who studied mathematics, physics, and philosophyRun from Corona? Are you vaccinated?
BTW, the Ben Ish Hai says learn from the fate of the spies that one who speaks badly about Eretz Yisrael is liable to כרת. Rav Meir Simcha and the Maharam Haggaz also have very sharp things to say about this. Rashi (Sanhedrin 110b) says
תנו רבנן עשרת השבטים אין להם חלק לעולם הבא שנאמר ויתשם ה’ מעל אדמתם וגו’ — ואית דמפרשי עשרת השבטים אין להם חלק לעולם הבא היינו לימות המשיח, שלא יקבלם משיח עם שאר גליות לפי שספרו בגנות ארץ ישראל כדאמרן לעיל, כי מטו שוש וכו’, ובדבר הזה נענשו מרגלים:Avira, there is also “v’asita hatov v’hashar”. This, apparently, is behind the Be’er haGola’s famous statement. The Netziv says in his introduction to Sefer Bereisheet that the Avot werecalled yesharim because of this.
You are wrong about Rav Hirsch. He believed in studying German culture as well as science and math. This was Torah im derech eretz. In his commentary on Pirkei Avot he writes
“Derech Eretz includes everything that results from the fact that man’s existence, mission and social life are conducted on Earth, using earthly means and conditions. Therefore this term especially describes ways of earning a livelihood and maintaining the social order. It also includes the customs and considerations of etiquette that the social order generates as well as everything concerning humanistic and civil education.”
Ujm, geneivat daat (SA CM 228:6). See also B’er haGola CM 248:5.
Avirah, first of all, Rav Soloveichik earned a doctorate in philosophy. rav Kirsch himself studied philosophy as did Rav Kook, his son rav Tzvi Yehuda and one of his main talmidim, the Rav haNazir (Rav David haCohen). Rabbi Jonathan Sacks also studied it. He as well as many other rabbis, both in America and Israel quote non-Jewish and secular Jewish writers. Of course, someone who wants to study it should have a rav. This also depends on the branch of philosophy (logic, which is very mathematical in nature, is considered a branch of philosophy) and why one is studying it. Some just want to learn how to formulate arguments. In fact, when someone asked Bertrand Russell why he did not live according to his theories he replied that he was also a mathematician yet no one expected him to be a triangle.
As for Rav Meiselman’s book, he is attempting to show that Chazal were not wrong about science. I personally have my doubts as to whether or not they meant their statements literally (the Ben Ish Hai seems to take them as metaphors and Rambam says that all the aggadatot were metaphors). However, it is clear that they interacted with non-Jews and even admitted when they were right (Pesachim 94b). Shmuel went to a debating club called Bei Avidan (Shabbat 116b) and had a number of conversations with a non-Jewish sage named Ablett.
Huju, this way neither suffers.
From an actuarial point of view, the girl should be 2-3 years older. That way they can expect to die together.
It is very difficult to determine who took from whom. The story about Plato learning from Yirmiahu cannot be literally true as he lived about two hundred years later. However, it is known that when he was a young man he went to Alexandria in search of wisdom. He almost certainly learned from those in Yirmihau’s bet midrash. In the middle Ages Jewish and non-Jewish philosophers freely read each other’s books. In fact, there was a period when Ibn Gabirol was thought to be a Xtian, c”v, because the only extant edition of “Mekor Chaim” was in Latin.
Refuah sheleima.
Always, RM learned Torah from Acher. This one cannot learn from an atheist or a non-Jew. However, one can certainly learn chochma. Does it matter what Pythagoras and Euclid believed?
Avira, that is why I used the Sephardic pronunciation of מצוות. I am half Ashkenazic and half Sephardic. That, BTW, reinforces my definition of Yiddish as creole German. “Fromm” means “pious” or “religious”. Perhaps, though, מדקדק or מקפיד would have been a better choice. BTW, “Yiddish” should be capitalized. There should also be a period after “all”.
Please define the term. The original meaning was one who shakes (at Hashem’s word). This is the origin of “Quaker” Now it seems to imply a political group.
RE, there are six explanations in Tosafot. One is that it is talking about false converts. This also Rashi’s opinion. Another is that they become so frum they embarrass born Jews. Another explanation is that it is very difficult to be careful about the mitzvot regarding their treatment. In fact, I heard that when Rav Scheinberg heard that a talmid in the yeshiva was a ger he trembled with fear. The Maharshal points out that in many times and places it was illegal and even punishable by death.
Avira, Rambam says to accept the truth from whoever says it. In any case, as I posted, I was referring to the meaning of a secular concept. One can certainly learn the meaning of a word from anyone. Would you reject the Merriam-Webster dictionary because it is written by non-Jews?
Avira, Rambam, in his introduction to “Shemoneh Perakim” says that he took from non-Jewish philosophers. In the Guide, he quotes Aristotle and various Molem philosophers and then contrasts them with his view. This is also a common explanation of יפת אלקם ליפת וישכון באהלי שם.
In any case, I was discussing altruism, which is a general concept.I found that gemara you cited. It’s Baba Batra 10b. The maskana is Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai’s interpretation, which is what the Malbim says.
Avira, it’s on the pasuk. And it is the peshat. חטאת and not חטא. Please quote your sources in the Gemara and Rishonim.
They are obligated by a contract. Their hands are tied unless they want a hefty breach of contract suit. Keeping one’s word is also a Jewish value. As minhag hamedina it would probably also be binding halachically.
1. I am sure that his father was a giver but actually, it is Ben-Gvir.
2. He is the Deputy Speaker.
3ץ Everything goes according to the, both in berachot and the opposite.
3. “Adoni” just means “Sir”. He does not have to say that it is with love.
4. Please either learn to spell or use a spell check. It is “committers”. In any case, I do not understand the use of the word. He was not committed, just removed.
5. If you are serious, you get an “F” in logic. If not, I don’t advise you to give up your day job.RE,
1. There is a machloket regarding deriving benefit from mitzvot. Rashi says that they are a yoke. Rashba says that the benefit is in the next world and this is not considered a prohibited enjoyment (e.g. in the case of a neder). Rand was an atheist but she might agree that even a perceived benefit negates it being altruism as the person feels good about what will come to him.
2. The Malbim says that it is an atonement for them. That is why the word used is חטאת and not חטא.
Ujm, if she wanted to be PC she probably would have.
RE, you are contradicting yourself. You say that “making others happy makes us feel good spiritually” but that this does not matter. So who cares if it makes us happy. Anyway, that interpretation is a daat yachid and certainly not the peshat. The peshat is that a person who is satisfied with what he has is rich in a psychological sense.
Avira, what is “pure altruism”? Is there impure altruism? For that matter, what is altruism? Auguste Comte defined it as giving without a thought of receiving anything in return. Ayn Rand accepted his definition and thus opposed altruism but added that getting a good feeling is a benefit and therefore giving charity in order to feel good about oneself (and presumably for a mitzvah in the case of a believing Jew, which she was not) is not altruism. Thus, she states that a man should risk his life to save his wife. Rashi, who presumably negates all charity not done for the sake of a mitzva, would probably agree with her but limit egoism to wanting to perform a mitzvah.
Avirah, we have a positive commandment to keep alive gerim toshavim. The Maharatz Chayot, Rav Kook, and Rav Herzog say in accordance with the Ritva that while according to Rambam the bet din does not formally accept them if we know that people keep them we treat them as if they are gerim toshavim. As for mefakeach hagal, the Chatham Sofer says that in our time we do it because otherwise non-Jewish doctors will not treat Jews and there might even be pogroms.
BTW, Rambam and Ramban healed non-Jews. Ramban also delivered their babies.
Ujm, I see that you did teshuva. Yasher koach.
Avira, you are way out of date. “Morris” is from a couple of generations ago. Today MO Jews also give their kids Hebrew names. I guess they figured that if other groups can give their kids ethnic names they can too. BTW, Rav Moshe’s letterhead had an English side where his name was given as Moses Feinstein.
In the case you cited, the person bought the desk on Craig’s List, not at a yard sale, and the CNN article mentioned that he is an Orthodox rabbi.
In any case, when the recipient sees that the person is wearing a kippa or modest dress he will figure it out. There is also not only the issue of kiddush Hashem but also avoiding a chillul HaShem. If it is discovered some reporter will dig out the fact that he is an Orthodox Jew and trumpet it.Rav Aryeh Levine gave a donation to the Israeli relief efforts in Biafra. He said, “They too were created in HaShem’s image”.
Lower, don’t tempt me.
Avira,
1. If they wrote it for generations they intended it for generations. Similarly, there were millions of nevi’im in Tanachic times but most said things that were only for their times. Whether something is applicable in a specific time and place is for the poskim to say.
2. Everyone knows that the Meiri’s writings were not known in their times. There are also many instances where a pesak is not mentioned because the writer did not see it.
3. If omission is rejection, why do anti-Zionists keep harping on thee three oaths?
4. “I do dismiss the psak of people who are incapable of seeing past the egel hazahav of Zionism”. Nu, I dismiss the pesak of those who repeat the sin of the spies.
5. The Meiri’s pesak is a sevara. If non-Jews act justly we cannot be worse with them. One can just as easily say that those poskim who spoke harshly about non-Jews were influenced by bad relations in their times and places. The Be’er haGola, however, wrote what he wrote (CM 348,5) around the time of the theChmielnitzky massacres. Perhaps he saw them as punishment for these actions. BTW, the Netziv says in his introduction to Sefer Bereisheet that the Avot were called yesharim because that is how they always behaved, even with the lowliest pagans.Always, someone once said that there are three places: the City, the island, and the rest of the world.
Avirah, so how does Rashi explain Shimon ben Shetach returning a precious stone to an Arab? A Jew should always try to do a kiddush HaShem and not do a chillul HaShem. BTW, the Rema says (CM 259:7) that if there is a dina d’malchuta to return an aveida one must do so (in general, we are not required to treat them better than they treat each other, and according to Roman law, an aveida belonged to the finder – finders keepers, losers weepers). See also Rambam according to Be’er HaGolah CM 266:2 and Mammon Yisrael – Halachos of Others People’s Money by Rav Pinchas Bodner, pg. 153 regarding gentiles who believe in Gd and have the rule of law. See also on this Sheeta Mekubetzet Baba Kama 113a in the name of the Meiri. Both Rav Hirsch and Rav Kook say that the Halacha is like him.
Avira , I suggest that you read Martin Gilbert’s “In Ishmael’s House”. First of all, the dhimmi laws also involved humiliating subservience. Jews could not build new synagogues and were required to step down and out of the way when passing a Muslim. In Yemen, girls whose fathers died were given to Muslim families (unless they were married – which is why they married so early). There were forced conversions *see “Iggeret haShmad”), blood libels, and massacres from the time of Mohammed’s genocide of Arabian Jewry. Zionism gave the Jews a place to go. It also shut up missionaries who were claiming that the Holocaust proved that they were right all along, c”v (even Rav Soloveichik was accosted on multiple occasions). Most importantly, Zionism re-established the Jewish state. Yes, it has imperfections. So do children and parents. So does a shul. Would you desert them because of their imperfections?
Avira, you are guilty of slander. How does Israel not allow people to practice Judaism. What about the violations of freedom of religion in America by the toeva crowd, not to mention the marginalization of those who, unlike you, support Israel (which is also part of Judaism)?
BTW, the Chesed l’Avraham says that when someone is inappropriate for Eretz Yisrael he must be ejected. However, being that he is still a Jew the land has pity on him and makes him feel that it is to blame.CA, wasn’t Blomberg a Republican?
Avira, Rav Moshe invoked it regarding voting. I believe that he also allowed honoring a non-Jew who helped Jews at a dinner. Chazal say that someone who is not grateful is less than a dog.
Sam, not all of them consider him a god. The Unitarians, for example, think that he was at most a prophet. Some consider him to have been merely a moral exemplar. Most today, other than the clergy, do not really think about these things. They simply are following family traditions. Some only go to church for social or business reasons. In any case, you also have to check out Jews (and those who claim to be Jews). They may be using it for non-tzedaka purposes. BTW, a certain tzedaka sent out an appeal with a photoshopped picture of Rav Kanievsky and an open book. Someone I know looked closely and saw that it was a New Testament.
Rav Eliezer Melamed says that it depends on what are considered honorable clothes in the place. On a kibbutz shorts and work clothes are considered honorable clothes. In other places, this is not so. Rav Soloveichik rebuked rabbanm in Florida for wearing shorts. Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook told talmidim who became rabbanim to dress in a way that would cause the public to respect them. Rambam (Hilchot Deot ch. 5) says that a talmid chacham should wear average clothes (see Shabbat 145b that over-dressing could be a cover-up).
Regarding talmidim, part of the machloket between Slobodka and Novardok involved dress. In the former, the talmidim had to dress up so that they would feel that sin was beneath their honor. In the latter, they dressed poorly in order to break their pride.
The prohibition of freshly laundered clothes does not apply to those that are worn to absorb sweat. Some even apply this to shirts (Piskei Teshuvot 551:17). I once read that ordinary slacks are also not a problem.
Biden certainly cannot issue this kind of executive order. It is also doubtful that a law passed by Congress would pass muster in view of United States v. Alfonso D. Lopez, Jr., 514 U.S. 549 (1995). However, they could possibly bar non-vaccinated people from interstate transport under the Commerce Clause, although there might be a Fourteenth Amendment question. As it stands now, states may fine people who refuse to be vaccinated (Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905)). Of course, that was a different time. Whether or not the Court would uphold it is a question.
Philosopher, the Pfizer vaccine produced amazing results in Israel. Did you read the halachic article I mentioned? As Rav Asher Weiss said, אין ספק מוציא מידי ודאי. If you read Hebrew you can also read להתחסן או לא להתחסן by Rav Dr. Avraham Steinberg, who is the foremost expert on medicine and halacha in Israel, if not in the world, on the Arutz 7 website. You can see some of his exemplary credentials at the end of the article.