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Pigs are hypocrites. They have cloven hooves but do not chew the cud. They are kosher outside but not inside. In any case, there is only a prohibition against owning non-kosher animals whose meat is eaten. It is part of the gezeira against making business out of non-kosher meat(as opposed to selling meat that was later found to be tereif).
ColumbiaGrad, “gentile” is simply the English translation of “goy”. Pejoratives tend to change with the time and place. At one time “Jew” was a pejorative. The polite words were “Hebrew” and “Israelite”. “Zhid” is a pejorative in Russian but not in Polish. BTW, someone once told me that he was reprimanded for saying “non-Jew”. His interlocutor resented being described according to what she is not. How about the academic “Noahide”? People will be too busy looking it up to be insulted. However, “shaigetz” and “shiksa”are pejoratives no matter how you slice it as they come from “shaketz”.
Wrong, Mentsch. There is an obligation to give food. One can give the person food from one’s refrigerator or take him to a restaurant. BTW, my grandfather a”h once made the latter offer and was told that the person davka wanted money. Draw your own conclusion.
Yytz,
1. Rav Moshe did not share your rav’s concern (IM CM 2:68). BTW, a ben Noach can be executed (according to the Chelkat Yoav and Rav Aharon Soloveichik that is only a maximum penalty) for violating any of the sheva mitzvot. If a person goes down to the level of murder he has certainly already violated several of them.
2. The Torah system is only for a time when Am Yisrael are all tzaddikim and crime is very rare (Maharal, Chiddushei Aggadot Makkot 7a). In “normal” times it would result in hefkerut (Ran, Derasha 11).
3. Who says that there are no attorneys. The witnesses are also accusers and according to Prof. Nahum Sarna there was a public prosecutor in Tanachic times whose title was Satan (which can mean “accuser” or “enemy”). Chazal speak of kategors and senigors in Heaven so apparently it was in use in their time. They also say that anyone, including the judges, can speak for against the defendant (Sanhedrin 32a).
4. One can also say the opposite. Being that the prosecutor does not want a loss he will decline to prosecute, as is his right, where he does not think that there is a strong chance of obtaining a conviction.
5. The defense attorney’s job is also to see that justice is done and not rack up acquittals. However, he is just a macho as the prosecutor. In amany case he is even a former prosecutor who decided to make more money.
Yitz,
1. And it is a defense lawyer’s job to free his client so he is also overzealous by your definition. So are plaintiffs’ and defendants’ lawyers in civil suits. So are insurance adjusters as their job is to lessen the company’s liability. so are actuaries, accountants and just about everybody else. Sorry. Does not hold water.
2. Relevance to the “lower-class” people to whom you referred.
3. The requirement for documentation.
4. Guilty by association? So Joe McCarthy was right?
5. How about something that you can read for yourself? Look up the Gemara in Nida 61a regarding Rabbi Tarfon and the Galileans who were wanted for murder. In any case, it is a sevara. If someone is guilty ofthe crime for which he is imprisoned he is not a captive. He is a criminal being punished for his crime. There was also the case of Rabbi Eliezer b’Rabbi Shimon who turned over thieves for execution (Baba Metzia 63b). See ממה חשש ר’ טרפון? / יעקב צ. מאיר.
Yitz,
1. How do you define “overzealous”?
2. Unfortunately I had experiences with this type in my youth.
3. You still have not answered my question about white-collar cases.
4. While it is true that YCT lists him on their “rabbinic advisory board” at the beginning of the article he only lists positions at Stern College (which machshirs him in my book) – and BTW, the YU website has his shiurim and Columbia and NYU law schools. While Rabbi Weiss has moved significantly to the left it could be that Rabbi Berman did not. In any case, he was quoting Rav Soloveichik.Yitz, you are correct. This is why the secular authorities are not bound by halachic requirements. Rambam even allows capital punishment according to circumstantial evidence (Guide 3:40).
As for criminal defendants being “low-class”, that is only true regarding street crime. Moreover, the probability is very high that they are, in fact, guilty. Even if some are not guilty of the specific crimes charged they very likely committed similar crimes but were not caught.Joseph,
1. Please cite your sources for your statistics. In particular, cite statistics for white-collar crime as there prosecutors must supply documentary evidence.
2. Regarding Rabbi Berman, you are over on hotza’at shem ra. Kol ha posel b’mumo posel.
3. If you do want to posel someone, why not mention that Sheldon Silver pushed through the NYS toeva marriage bill saying “This is a matter of equity and justice. New Yorkers should have the right to marry whom they chose. Partners unable to enter into a civil marriage, and their children, lack basic legal protections taken for granted by married couples.”3. Actually it was Hillel and he did not “come up” with anything. That is a Conservative contention. He only activated a possibility that always existed.
4. Once again, capitalism is the system of private ownership of the means of production. Regarding the definition of a free market, see the Wikipedia article, which gives two opinions. An example of socialism would be a government pizza authority – which would probably make lousy pizzas (when they are available) except, of course, for party members. As George Orwell wrote in Animal Farm everyone is equal but some are more equal (In Hebrew it is even better:
כולם שווים אבל יש ששווים יותר),5. Onaat mammon is fraud. However, if the seller says that the market price (if there is a market price) is such and such but he charges more (or vice versa) there is no onaah.
Mammele,
1. Actually the appeals court said that they do not know if Silver would have been convicted under the SCOTUS rules.2. It does not mean that he did not commit the murder. It just means that so much time has passed that it is not possible to re-try him.
3. Your contention about pidyon shevuim is incorrect. For example, Rabbi Tarfon refused to help Jews suspected of murder. According to Rashi he only suspected them of guilt. Tosafot and Maharshal disagree but also say that if he had known that they were guilty he would not have been allowed to save them. According to Rabbi Saul Berman (Boundaries of Loyalty: Testimony against Fellow Jews in Non-Jewish Courts p. 221 – available online as a Google book) Rav Soloveichik ruled that once someone has been properly charged, convicted and sentenced by an American court there is no mitzva of p”s harsh prison conditions notwithstanding.
3. Not at all. The halacha differentiates between charity and business loans.
4. You keep trying to put the chainek back up. if the new guy lives in the city or at least pays taxes and does not block the way to the existing store, and certainly if he sells specialty pizzas, it is muttar. While there are some restrictions are simply protections of proprietary rights. See Hasagat Gevul: Economic Competition in Jewish Law by Rabbi Chaim Jachter (on-line).
Joseph, there are also many retired people who actually volunteer for jury duty. In any case, there must be some system. Dinim is one of the sheva mitzvot. It seems to me that you are simply engaging in identity politics (compare your virtual conviction of the Kushners).
Akuperma, as a matter of fact, Abarbanel says that all judges should be elected (Rav Hirsch says only the Supreme Court – they then choose the lower court judges).
Joseph,
1. Once again you demonstrate lack of Torah knowledge. The secular authorities have the right and obligation to punish people according to their own standards of proof (see CM 2). Rav Moshe even wrote in a letter to then NY Gov. Hugh Carey in support of the death penalty (IM CM 2:68). The reason, as I understand it, is that the bet din’s job is to enable the sinner to atone whereas the secular court’s job is to maintain public order.
2. Even in Halacha there is the concept of a “kol shelo posek” or “kol ha’am meranninim”.
Shmerel, I find that hard to believe. A melamed who does not perform well can be fired without notice because the damage he does is irreparable. In certain case he can even be fired in the middle of his contract. You can also google חמדת משפט: פיטורי מורה בשל מחלוקת חינוכית עם הנהלת המוסד for another pesak din.
Joseph,
1. People who sit in kollel when they should be working are hurting Am Yisrael by spreading the limited cake of kollel stipends among too many people. Thus, many who do have a future in Torah are discouraged and go to work and those who do not fail to do what they were put in this world to do – in which case they will have to come back and try again,
2. The Chazon Ish says that bitachon is not standing in the middle of a highway and trusting that you wiln not be hit by a car. it is doing hishtadlyut and trusting that whether it panned out or not is good.
Ideally we should provide them with jobs. Government should deregulate the economy, establish a stable currency and protect property rights in order to encourage entrepreneurs and investors. If someone cannot work or is temporary in a fix he should be helped by civil society. If it is too much he should be helped by the most local level of government as possible as they are better able to provide him with a solution that is appropriate for him.
As for what we should give him, unless he demonstrates that he does not know how to handle money he should be given money and allowed to make his own decisions.
With more opportunities for parnassa I would be able to get out of overdraft iy”H.
Akuperma, we have an obligation to be a light unto the nations. How to do so is a machloket between Rav S.R. Hirsch, who says that the way is to be part of their societies, and Rav Kook, who says that the way is to establish a Torah society in EY which will be an example for them. There are also rabbanim in both Chul and EY who are advisors to Bnei Noach groups.
If someone holds like Rav Hirsch and has an interest in law (s)he (Judge Rachel Freier comes to mind) should work hard and advance in the judicial system. Perhaps even become the first Jewish Chief Justice of
SCOTUS (while there have been several associate justices there has never been a Jewish CJ – Abe Fortas was nominated by LBJ but withdrew after a scandal regarding lecture payments broke). Those who hold like Rav Kook should do the same in Israel (in fact, Justice Minister Shaked has expressed a desire to bring Chareidim into the judicial system and even instituted a program to attain this (you can google שרת המשפטים איילת שקד סיכמה עם נשיאת העליון מרים נאור לקצר את תהליך כניסת מועמדים חרדים לשפיטה לאור תת הייצוג במערכת ומתוך מטרה לראות “שופט חרדי ).Ubiquitin,
3. It only forbids it to/from another Jew in the context of tzedaka (see the SA that this is considered the second highest level). The heter iska was developed because it was never intended to allow someone to do business by freeloading on someone else.
4. In Halacha a person has a proprietary interest in his livelihood.
DY, there are several straw men here.
Yitz, I agree. Averecihim should be held to the same standards as (l’havdil) graduate fellows. Teach and help the rabbanim with research. Later on, publish or perish (and I mean in peer-reviewed publications, not pop books that just cull halachot (preferably the most machmir so that no one attacks them as apikorsim).
Ubiquitin,
1. I did not say that you said otherwise. If you agree with me yasher koach.
2. You said that insurance companies prefer group insurance because workers are more likely to be healthy.
3. How does the Torah oppose free market capitalism? It is true that there is the POSSIBILITY of restrictions but they are not mandatory and usually need the approval of an “important person”. For example, rent-seeking is becoming particularly odious in the US. For example (it is being challenged in the courts), LA requires licensing of flower arrangers after they pass a test in which they demonstrate their floral arrangement prowess. Actually, even doctors need not be licensed in Halacha although non-licensed doctors have complete liability in tort.
4. Hasagat gevul is a property protection. Free-market capitalism does not allow theft.
Ubiquitin,
1. There is a limit to how much one can squeeze from the taxpayers, as Rehavam ben Shlomo discovered. I would first cut costs by putting severe limits on the malpractice suits and awards. According Halacha if someone is certified (מומחה לרבים) he is only liable for gross violation of professional standards.
2. Group insurance is not limited to working people. It can be sold to members of a fraternal organization, for example (and originally, as De Tocqueville notes in Democracy in America this was the norm before the New Deal.
3. As “pure capitalism” simply means that there is only private ownership (except for certain public goods like police) limitations do not make a society non-capitalist.
4. Marx actually wanted a dictatorship of the proletariat and eventual withering away of the state. Capitalism implies a free society. In Marx’s society no one would be allowed to compete with the socialized businesses.
Avram,
1. By making pidgen German into a holy language one is snubbing Sepharadim.
2. In some contexts “Jew” can indeed be a pejorative. For example, by using it in place of “Jewish” (e.g. Jew food). At one time, in fact, the polite terms were “Hebrew” and “Israelite”, both of which are more accurate as a Jew (Yehudi) is someone from the tribe of Yehuda. Rav Kook, in fact, never used the word “Yehudi”, always “Yisraeli”. BTW, interestingly, the word “Zhid” is considered a pejorative in Russian (the polite word is “Yevrei”) but a polite word in Polish (when Khruschev came to Russian-occupied zone of Poland at the beginning of WW2 he was shocked to hear Jews referring to themselves as Zhidi).
3. Which Chareidim? What about Sephardic Chareidim (and FYI, Rav Ovadia said that Ashkenazim should junk their galut pronunciation of hebrew already)? Chareidim do not integrate because they do not want to integrate.
Ubitiquin,
1. The point is that socialism destroys medical care just as it destroys everything else. In every country (including Israel) that junked it the economy soared. Just to give one example here, when the phone company was part of the Ministry of Communications it literally took years to get a line. Privatization knocked it down to a couple of weeks and in the main cities even less.
2. The Torah definitely does support capitalism, that is to say, private ownership of the means of production (thus workers’ cooperatives are also a form of capitalism). The ideal of the messianic age is
…וְכִתְּתוּ חַרְבֹתֵיהֶם לְאִתִּים וַחֲנִיתֹתֵיהֶם לְמַזְמֵרוֹת לֹא יִשְׂאוּ גּוֹי אֶל גּוֹי חֶרֶב וְלֹא יִלְמְדוּן עוֹד מִלְחָמָה. וְיָשְׁבוּ אִישׁ תַּחַת גַּפְנוֹ וְתַחַת תְּאֵנָתוֹ וְאֵין מַחֲרִיד כִּי פִי ה’ צְבָאוֹת דִּבֵּר (Micha 4,3-4).
In fact, according to Halacha (unlike, lehavdil, secular law) an employee may waive rights that accrue to him by force of custom. The government in enjoined not to overtax (Nehemia 5:15, Midrash HaGadol Shemot 21 Introduction to parasha, Ple Yoetz “tikkun”, Rav S.R. Hirsch “Horev” 95:604). Some poskim have even ruled that rent control is not binding as dina d’malchuta as it is robbery of property owners enacted by people influenced by communism and socialism (Responsa Havetzelet HaSharon 2 CM 8 d”h v’nira d’harav miTarana and Responsa Maharshag 3, 125). Even those halachot that protect employees can be seen as property protections – the employee has a proprietary interest in his job.Ubituqin, that is because the ERs have to give free treatment. Waitinglsits for surgery in Canada and the UK and super long. Socialism turns gold into lead.
Columbiagrad,
1. Many professions do not require college degrees. For example, a paralegal need not have attended a degree program. In fact, even lawyers did not have to go to college at one time. They apprenticed themselves to experienced lawyers who taught them the job and prepared them for the bar exam.
2. In order to demand a living wage one must produce more than that wage. That is Economics 101.There was a certain wealthy businessman in Brisk who gave the seudat mafseket for the poor every erev Yom Kippur. One year they could not find him and turned to Rav Chaim. He looked around and saw the man in the bet midrash learning. “What are you doing here?” “Money is hevel havelim. I am going to just learn from now on.” “Get out and go back to your business. The poor people are depending on you.”
The Netziv says that Hashem asks different things from different people. It is almost prohibited for someone in one group (talmidei chachamim, baalei battim, communal leaders) to do the job of another group. The Chafetz Chaim likened it to a soldier going to another unit without permission. He is considered to be a deserter.
Avram, who says that the general welfare would be promoted by socialized medicine. In fact, socialism has always turned gold into lead. In countries where this exists people clog up ERs and clinics with imaginary or minor illnesses just to talk to someone or simply because it is free.
Chugibugi, unfortunately there is a general disconnect between what people learn and what the do. See : Aharon Hersh Fried’s article Is There a Disconnect between Torah Learning and Torah Living?
And If So, How Can We Connect Them? A Focus on Middos in Hakirah (on-line).Joseph, what about civil society? What about encouraging people to work?
A person who gets something “free” (someone has to pay) or (better) at a price in accordance with his income has no claim on luxury housing. He should live in a mini-house or apartment with only basic appliances. On settlements many people live in mobile home camps or small apartments built as rentals by homeowners.DY, you are attacking a straw man. Maybe stop using Yiddish words and use Ladino. Better yet, Hebrew. That is the language of all of Am Yisrael.
MA, using the word “Yid” (“Jew” in Jargon, a.k.a. pidgin German) is not only Sephardi-bashing but mimicking Archie Bunker, who also called us that. Let the dead non-language rest in pieces (there is Polish Jargon, Hungarian Jargon, etc.)
1. The air and ground of Lakewood are tamei (Rambam Hilchot Tumat Met 11:1). I will go even further than Tak. The house of the worst anti-religious politician in Israel has more kedusha than all of Lakewood.
2. By living off welfare they are doing a tremendous chillul Hashem besides the problematic nature of accepting tzedaka from gentiles (see SA YD 354:1).
Unfortunately, some people think that they are still in Poland. The fact of the matter is that many Jews did get religiously but not civilly married there as the law severely restricted the right of Jews to marry. However, to get benefits to which one is not really entitled is at best, as we say in Israel, כשר אבל מסריח. At worst it is illegal. A few decades back a couple realized that their combIned tax liability as two singles was substantially less than their liability as a couple so they divorced but continued to live together. The IRS disallowed their trick. In states that recognize common-law marriage it is definitely theft.
What really irks me is comparisons to other groups and Donald Trump. Should Jews be emulating their deficiencies? It also amazes me that the same people who are in an uproar over the peccadilloes of the Kushners, which may even be permitted in their situation, make all kinds of excuses for the alleged severe Torah prohibitions (and even worse but if I mention them this post will not pass moderation –
המבין יביו).Once Rav Yaakov Kmainetzky was asked how it happened that the children of a lamdan all went OTD but the children of a simple Jew stayed observant. He answered that the former cheated in business whereas the latter was scrupulously honest. Their children took note. On this see Be’er HaGolah CM 388:11. BTW, some Jewish communities in Europe kept lists of cheats, those who did not repay loans , etc. and gave them to the authorities and individual gentiles (Jewish Law Annual v. 9 p. 72) in order to prevent them from bringing the community into disrepute.
Joseph, there is a whole website that informs single mothers of possible benefits. called singlemomhelp.
Mammele, riding in a chartered bus on Shabbat is at most uvda d’chol if the driver and most of the passengers are gentile (Rav Moshe prohibits it but there was a “Jew’s ticket in Mumbai during British rule). Stealing is a Torah prohibition and Yom Kippur does not help until it is forgiven. Moreover, as you noted, the former is not a chillul Hashem whereas the latter is.
Health, you brought up the issue so I suggested a solution. If you agree with me yasher koach.
Eliezer, I am willing to judge them favorably and assume that they get hand-me-downs from rich people who change their clothes every few months and have rich relatives who foot the bills for their vacations (I personally have friends whose lifestyles are more than what their incomes – from work – would allow because they have parents who would rather see them enjoy the money than leave it to them after they are gone). However, people should not be ostentatious even if they can afford it. Rambam says in Hilchot Deot that a talmid chacham wears average clothes, not expensive and not cheap. The Chatam Sofer adds that ostentatious living in Chutz laAretz arouses the jealousy of the gentiles (if I may I will add that in EY it is a kiddush Hashem as they want to learn from us).
Health, so cut down on the number of kollel guys to a few outstanding learners. The rest should get jobs. Ner Yisrael has a deal with Johns Hopkins to give a recognized BA in Talmudic Literature which can be used towards an MBA or law degree. The Aguda runs courses in Brooklyn for professions that do not necessarily require a degree. Why can’t they do that in Lakewood? Do they believe that poverty is a virtue (se Nedarim 64b)?
Joseph, have you done teshuva since the threads on the Kushners? BTW, the laws of LH also apply to tinnokot shenishbu and certainly where you do not know if the Jew is observant. It is technically permitted regarding gentiles and Jews who are evil doers (and that includes any aveira which is generally known as well as baalei machloket – see Sefer Chafetz Chaim ch.8). However, it is not a good habit to develop as one will come to say it about observant Jews (Tanna d’bei Eliahu discusses this and see Devarim Rabba Ki Titzei 6:9 with Radal, Sheilta 28:1, Orchot Chaim of the Rosh 83 with Rav Yehezkel Sarna, Rav Binyamin Zilber, Rav Menashe Klein and Rav Chaim Kanievsky,, Responsa Az Nidbaru 14:69:4 and Hut HaShani Hilchot Shemirat HaLashon p. 357). Not to mention that the fact that there will be a chillul Hashem if it is discovered.
Yitz, Chazal say (Shabbat 135b) that an eight-month baby is considered dead and it is prohibited to violate Shabbat for it. The Chazon Ish (Yoreh Deah 155:4), Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (Shemirat Shabbat k’Hilchata , I:35:24) and Rav Wosner ((Yoreh Deah 155:4)Shevet HaLevi 3:141 and 8:89:7) say that today that is no longer true. Do you consider them Reform c”v? I suggest very strongly that you be very careful about what you write (see Pirkei Avot 1:1).
LB, It is a discussion of the blemishes for which a woman can refuse yibum. Even if her husband had the same blemish she can say that her husband was worth putting up with it but his brother is not. As for love changing, you are confusing the Western idea of love with the Jewish idea, which is having two halves of the same soul and thus wanting to give to the other, The Hebrew word אהבה is related to the Aramaic word הב (give).
DY, what will you answer when you are asked if you leard דבר בתוך דבר?
Joseph, mishpat hamelech can be at whatever standard the authorities deem proper. See Ran in Derasha 11 regarding the obvious practical reasons. The philosophical reason, as I understand it, is that the bet din’s job is to enable the criminal to atone whereas the secular authorities’ job is to maintain public order.
There is no justification for stealing! There should not only be glatt kosher but glatt yosher!
What about Haredi violence both in Yerushalayim and Ramat Bet Shemesh? As for the videos, what happened before they began?
What about Haredi violence both in Yerushalayim and Ramat Bet Shemesh? As for the videos, what happened before they begon?
Chazal were right in their time. However, if they would come to life now they would change their ruling.
Health, are you serious? They were raking in millions through straw owners of businesses.
DY, in debt? They made a million but spent $2 million? I wouldn’t be surprised if money laundering and tax evasion charges are added because of the money funneled from the businesses.
No. Rav Moshe has a teshuva about which I do not have time right now to find. He also forbade cheating on the Regents ((HM II:30).
Akuperma some yeshivot (including those in Israel for English-speakers) offer recognized BAs in Talmudic Literature. I now a rav who has a nephew who got into law school with one plus, of course, a high grade on the LSAT.
RY, it depends on the disease. Thus at least some rabbanim advise people not to reveal minor issues until well into the process. Love conquers all (EH 165:4).
DY, what about her connections with her teachers?
Ubiquitin, a boy who was interested in a shidduch with Rav Yisrael Salanter’s granddaughter sent him some chiddushei Torah in an attempt to impress him. RYS said to his associates “He is an ilui. now find out if he is a mentsch”.
Joseph, look up the Maharal. See also קונרקס יביא עזרי under גדר יבדוק באחיה (on-line). I also saw in the name of both the Chazon Ish and Rav Ovadia that if she is a baalat teshuva her brothers donb’t count and that a girl who learned in a seminary is considered a bat talmid chacham.
Did I miss a second coming?
I saw his picture in the Wikipedia. Pretty cute. You can call him “Cap”.