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Simcha, a mamzer may marry a gioret. He can also go to a country that allows slavery and buy a shifcha Kenanit. After she can no longer bear children he can free her so that he can marry her as she will then be a gioret. As for gays, it depends on whether they are strictly same-sex or can go either way.
Writersoul and Joseph, actually I once read an article by someone (albeit a Catholic) who admitted to being attached to this sin but added that he is celibate.
Both the Gemara (Shabbat 156a) and the Zohar (Parashat Pinchas) recognize pre-dispositions. According to Kabbala it even sometimes happens that a male neshama is reincarnated as a female and vice versa. However, hese are challenges to be channeled or overcome. Having said this, it should also be recalled that financial crimes are also toavot (Devarim 25,13-16) and many who commit them justify them and even brag about them. As these are aveirot ben adam l’chaveiro teshuva is much more difficult, as is well known.
Anyone who commits any aveira, Torah or rabbinic is disqualified (Choshen Mishpat 34,1-3) until he is punished by a bet din or does teshuva (ibid seif 29). This, in fact, was the basis for Rav Moshe disqualifying non-Orthodox weddings. However, a person must be disqualified by a bet din after testimony regarding him.which means two, not ten (ibid seif 25). It would seem though that according to Rav Moshe there would be an anan sahadei, which works like official testimony, where it is known that people are connected to certain non-Orthodox groups.
The distinction between someone who is mechalel Shabbat in public and in private only refers to treating him like a gentile (e.g. rendering his wine non-kosher).
Abba, Rav Yaakov Kaminetzky was once asked why the children of someone who learned (or more appropriately, studied) every day went OTD while the children of an ordinary baal bayit stayed frum. He said that the former bragged about cheatng in business whereas the latter was scrupulously honest. Rav Moshe balme it on the expression “shver tzu zein a Yid”. the kids don’t want another difficulty.
DY, your children are at risk everywhere. How many Jews were killed in the WTC attacks? How many in attacks in Europe? Not to mention intermarriage and cultural assimilation – which also affects the frum community.
Joseph, neither does someone who says lashon hara, cheats in business, steals from government programs, etc. I wonder how many kosher eidim are left.
KJ spy,
We have a mitzva to go to war if necessary in order to conquer EY (Ramban, Sefer HaMitzvot, Mitzvot that Rambam “forgot”). Once Bnei beraq was the border. When someone expressed doubt as to whether to live there the Chazon Ish told him that if Jews would not live there Tel Aviv would be the border.
In any case, the risk of being a victim in Judea and Samaria or any other part of EY is far less than in any American city. There is some risk but if people take risks for material parnassa how much more so for spiritual parnass.
1. According to Faranak Margolese (“Off the Derech”) the most common reason why people go OTD is because of negative religious figures. In fact, I personally know someone who went OTD (and baruch Hashem came back) because of the blatant contradiction between what his father preached and what he sold in his business.
2. Becoming BT does not change one’s basic personality. Each person becomes the type of frum Jew that parallels what he was in his secular life. For example, an academic type will be drawn to a yeshivish life-style whereas someone who is more emotional will be drawn to Chassidut.
Miamilawyer, “contains much allegory and the traditions, customs and law have value but are not absolute” ” is not necessarily non-Orthodox. it depends on how you define your terms (and you know that many laws start with definitions). How many are many? For example, Chazal say that “an eye for an eye” means monetary compensation (and prove that lex talionis is untenable). Traditions, customs and law are certainly not absolute in the sense that the same answer applies to all cases. There is lechatchila and b’diavad, shaat hadechak, hefsed meruba, kevod haberiot, etc.
As for “lo baShemayim hi”, that means that we follow human logic (using internal rules of deduction) rather than to come to conclusions rather than relying on miracles or nevua. By definition Chazal’s halachic and ethical statements are correct. This is even true where they contradict each other as there are several possible conclusions. We also have that in Mathematics. A quadratic equation can have two answers. A cubic equation three, a quartic equation four, etc.
Miamilawyer, you are a proof for the truth of Torah. As Mark Twain wrote in “Concerning the Jews” “The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?”
The fact that there are apparent contradictions in the written Torah does not mean that it was not written by Hashem c”v. It means that Hashem employed different literary styles for different reasons. If you excelled in Gemara you know that resolving difficulties is the lifeblood of Talmudic discourse. In fact, as Rabbi Gordimer has stated, the mefarshim deal with these issues. I am sure that in Miami there are good Tanach classes with rabbis who can deal with your issues. Try them.
Bachur, once a gentile judge asked how much the eruv would cost the taxpayers. When he was told that in fact the would pay the costs plus rent on the air space he told them to build two.
Karl, some say that you do.
How is this an issue in the election? Pence is a staunch supporter of Israel whose social values are very similar to those of Judaism. Hillary is an opponent of Jewish rights to all of EY, a proponent of the Obamanation and an incompetent, grossly negligent crook.
What do you mean by mixed kiddushim? Different types of fish?
Huju, actually Israeli demographers have predicted that in the next generation or two the majority of Israelis will be Haredi or Dati Leumi. As of 2010 the Central Bureau of Statistics report breakdown according to self-identification was 8% Haredi, 12% as religious, 13% as traditional-religious, 25% as traditional and 42% as secular. The figures for the religious increase as the age group becomes lower. Moreover, over 30% of school children are enrolled in religious schools. Ten years, however, is an exaggeration. BTW, I used to work in the actuarial field.
Ray,
That is where his reason was known. You only know that the doctor and rav are ehrlich and talmedei chachomim. You indeed do not need more in order to judge them favorably. However, you do need to know more in order to extrapolate to another situation. You should have asked them in a respectful manner. If they are truly ehrlich and talmedei chachomim they would have been happy to tell you. Not asking is intellectual laziness and kula shopping.
Health, the only way to get rid of her is for the House to impeach her and the Senate to remove her. Being that she is 83 and not in the best of health anyway they will probably let it ride.
Joseph, America still has registration so it can draft people at any time. The fact that it can make do with an all-volunteer army is davka due to the nuclear deterrent. Just as Russia can wipe America off the map America can wipe Russia off the map. This kept the two countries from a hot war that could have occurred twice (during the Berlin Blockade and the Cuban missile crisis). Moreover, America has a huge pool of citizens almost its own continent and is at peace with both its neighbors. Israel has approximately the size and population of NJ with enemies on most of its borders.
Akuperma, those newspapers cater to the non-observant public. BTW, when a restaurant in Raanana became shomer Shabbat one of the Meretz city councilors announced a boycott. He was immediately rebuked by his own party.Not to mention that there are two yeshivot gehohot in TA (one in the north and one in the south) which are doing great kiruv work. Not to mention Rosh Yehudi right off Dizengoff.
As for when Israel will be majority observant, it will not be in ten years unless you count those who make kidush and hamoetzi on leil Shabbat, have a formal family meal and then watch TV. However, it will not be long.
Chebbybin, why do you think that you can disagree with the Gemara? As for your doctor and rav you do not know why the doctor was allowed lechatchila (as opposed to being driven by a goy) or why the rav thought that he could hitch. See Shemirat Shabbat k’Hilkata 32,78 that a healthy person cannot eat the leftovers of food that was cooked for a sick person on Shabbat.
Member, he ia a daat yachid.
Charlie,
Don’t worry. The Chareidim are becoming more nationalistic and the RZs are becoming more oriented towards learning. I heard from Rav Yeshayahu Steinberger in the names of both Rav Kook and Rav Soloveichik that this is the meaning of Yehezkel’s statement that Yosef’s stick will unite with Yehuda’s stick. Yosef was fully involved in the general society (Mizrahi) and Yehuda established a state within a state in Goshen )Aguda).
As for your demographic question, First of all the UTJ, Shas and Yachad (which did not pass the threshold for representation) together received a total of 13,7% for a total of thirteen seats. Add to that the working Chareidim who voted for either Bayit Yehudi or Likud (the latter has a Chareidi faction) because they did not feel represented by any of the Chareidi parties. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics the Chareidi growth rate was 5% and the non-Chareidi Jewish growth rate 1.2%. Even if there is a 20% OTD rate (the high estimate, which does not take into account Chareidim who become RZ) that still means that the Chareidim are growing faster than the non-Chareidim.
I have heard of finding kulot called “doing somersaults in the air”.
@Duvidmeir, I heard it in Israeli Hebrew: ??? ??? ??????? ??????.Rabbi of Berlin, the driver does melachot d’Oraita.
Cherybim, we cannot learn halachot from a mmaaseh rav (Baba Batra 130b). You do not know the reason why the “chosuv rav” thought that it was permissible to him (nor why the doctor drove himself instead of calling an ambulance driven by a goy, which is the preferred method – and, in fact, the nurses in my community ride to and from the hospital in a clearly marked van driven by someone who is not halachically Jewish).
Rabbi of Berlin, you can also frame anything as uvda s’chol, immodest or moshav leitzim? Rav Yaakov Emden says this about petting a dog (Sheilot Yaavetz 17 at the end- http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=1408&st=&pgnum=41). If you cannot tell what is normative look around and see what frum people are doing. As for the difference between an escalator and a train, an escalator is a staircase that moves. Starting it probably does not involve any Torah prohibition and everyone can see that it is constantly running. Moreover, the shul is a private place and the gabbaim can put up a sign stating that it runs constantly on Shabbat and Yom Tov.
The racial angle is in the eyes of the statistician. A Washington Post study found that an equal number of blacks and whites were shot by police but cited the fact that there are many more whites than blacks. A Harvard study published in Commentary only looked at incidents that might have justified deadly force and found that blacks are actually less likely to be shot by police.
Iacisrmma, what about if there is an eruv?
Charlie, Rabbi Pruzansky makes a great deal of sense. Unlike those who do avoda zara to secular liberalism. Not to mention those who give all the reasons in the world why Crooked Hillary should be indicted and then recommend not indicting her.
Rav Moshe (IM YD 1:44) says that it is a zilzul of Shabbat and is prohibited even for a mitzva. Rav Ovadia (Yehaveh Da’at 6:16) concurs. Now it should definitely be prohibited a smart cards are used. An escalator that is constantly running, however, should be like a Shabbbat elevator. Maybe even easier as everyone sees that it is constantly running. these are different as the consensus is that no Torah prohibition is violated. Rav Shlomo Zalman reported even said that there is no prohibition at all (except for turning on incandescent lights) but the minhag is to be machmir. Moreover, riding on buses and trains is an egregiously weekday activity not in keeping with the sanctity of Shabbat. BTW, in Israel there is a motorized buggy called a kalnoa. For disabled or elderly people there is a Shabbat attachment that runs it on gramma. There is one man in my community who uses it and another whose Fillipino aide drives one without the attachment (so far as I know as it does not have the sign “mitkan Shabbat”).
CTL,
1. Why not require that kids go around with armed guards? It seems to me that “helicopter parenting” is getting way out of hand. The persecution of free-range parents by “child welfare” busybodies (where are they in real cases of abuse?) is the perfect example of a choking bureaucracy.
2. In both the US and Israel telephone service has been deregulated with great success.See the Cato Institutes’ paper “What Happens When Local Phone Service
Is Deregulated?” on-line. Crony capitalism only benefits the cronies.
3. Was CT a better state then or now?
Miamilawyer,
1. It cannot be known what percentage of American blacks are descendants of slave owners . As for Bnei Noach yichus is through the father that would make them Brtish.
2. According to many economists, the welfare state is responsible for entrenched black poverty as it encourages the breakup of families. Regarding the current situation, many observers blame identity politics. Libertarians have jumped on this bandwagon and blamed a general collectivist mentality. IMHO, this seems logical. If you look at the person across from you as another individual you relate to him differently than if you look at him as part of an enemy group. Thus, the generals did not allow a repeat of the first WW1 Xmas truce when Allied and German soldiers fraternized with each other.
CTL,
1. Are they schools or prisons?
2. My experience with central government workers is that they do not care about anything. They just want to collect salaries for a minimal effort. Of course, one can also say that they give equally bad service regardless of political affiliation. When people know you it is hard for them to be unresponsive. Conversely, if someone is a problem neighbor it is easier to deal with him as he wants them to remain responsive to him. In fact, one double settlement (there were two founding groups, one baalei-batish and one yeshivish so they made two separate settlements one right next to the other) united so that it could become a town and run its own municipal affairs.
3. You are assuming that there should be state-allocated franchises. I am in favor of free enterprise.
Health,
1. How many do you have? You have sounded at various times like Joseph and HaKatan.
2. So why didn’t you write that it was not a good idea to have a liberal President?
CTL, non-residents in general receive police and fire protection. Should there be a unified world police force to spread the cost “equitably”. Does it matter that non-residents spend money in the town (if your town is like my settlement the kids buy in the local mini-market during breaks). The fact of the matter is that central bureaucracies are more inefficient and less responsive to the citizens’ needs than local officials. I recommend the article “The Secret of Swiss Success Is Decentralization” at fee.org (I would type a link but I still do not know if the policy has been completely or only partially changed).
CTL, you praised local officials as being efficient and dedicated.(after full disclosure on your negia). In my experience on both sides of the desk the inefficiency and laziness that sometimes crosses the line of robbery of bureaucrats is inversely proportional to the level of government from local to national.Moreover, contrary to what you claim, even without these problems a central government cannot give the individual solutions that are necessary but play to the lowest common denominator.
Perhaps because of this Rambam only enumerates four jobs for the central government: national security, fighting crime, upholding Torah and meting out justice (although each province and locality also had its own system of battei din, as Rambam himself discusses at the beginning Hilchot Sanhedrin). Tzedaka is given over to local communities (and, in fact, Rav Cherlow wrote in the name of Rav Kook that this is because of the inability of a central government’s clerks to give each individual an appropriate solution).
CTL, you are, in fact, supporting the conservative view that services (those that should not be privatized) should be as local as possible. As for not being paid, one can also say that it creates conflicts of interest as officials must have business interests in order to live.
Moderator, please clarify the policy on posting links.
It is at our discretion. If a moderator is familiar with the content and context of a link, he or she may decide to allow it.
Additionally, if it contains other links it is less likely to be approved
See “Halachic Issues CommonlyEncountered During a Hotel Stay on Shabbat
and Yom Tov” Rabbi Joshua Flug (on-line) regarding the above issues. With the proliferation of motion detectors and surveillance cameras it will probably become necessary to adopt the lenient opinions insofar as public places and hotel rooms are concerned. Of course, in one’s own home one should be machmir.
147, there is also a positive mitzva of shevita. Doing something not in the spirit of Shabbat is violating this mitzva.
1. Nobody after Chazal, or perhaps the Geonim,can create a new halacha for all of Am Yisrael. However, the mara d’atra can create a takkana for his community. Moreover, obligatory minahim can spring up from the people. The classic examples are not eating kitniyot (which some Rishonim opposed) or gebruchts (which the Gra strongly opposed) during Pesach.
2. The Shela HaKadosh mentions that some had a minhag to only speak Hebrew on Shabbat. However, it never caught on. Perhaps because people’s conversational Hebrew was not good.
3. Regarding umbrellas, according to the Chatam Sofer (Responsa OC 72 – http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=14663&st=&pgnum=54) it is not even an isur d’rabbanan. The Biur Halacha (315,7 d”h tefach) says:
“????? ???? ???? ????? ?????? ????? ???? ???? ???? ??? ???? ???? ?? ?????? ????? ?????? ???? ?? ?????? ?? ???? ?? ??? ????? ????? ???? ??????? ??? ?????? ?? ??????? ?????? ??”? ?????? ???? ?? ???? ??????? ??? ??? ?????? ??? ????? ?????”.
The Chazon Ish says that it is tikkun man and avsha milta (which I do not understand as that generally refers to noise) and adds that even in our time there is the power to make decrees for all of Am Yisrael (which is also very puzzling as there has no been a Sanhedrin for over 1,500 years).
However, the universal minahg is not to use it on Shabbat or Yom Tov (interestingly, certain types of hats which almost definitely have the din of tents are allowed because of minhag – Mishna Berura 301,151-152).
DY, I do not understand what “chadash assur min haTorah” has to do with it. I also do not understand the problem with the rider’s body moving. This is also true of walking. As for the Shailat Yaakov, he is talking about a place where there is no eruv. The problem of possibly going outside the techum also might not apply today as the area of continuous houses is enormous.
According to some poskim if your weight influences the amount of electricity used it is prohibited. Certainly if it was started by or for a Jew (or even if the majority of the users are Jewish).
The Ben ish Hai allowed it, and an acquaintance of mine told me that in his youth in Ntanya the Sepharadim rode bicycles to shul on Shabbat. However, Rav Mordechai Eliahu, who was a great-nephew of his, said that he was talking about a certain type of bicycle that was driven by an Arab – and even on that he rescinded his heter. I also heard that Rav Chaim Zimmerman was very upset with the reason for prohibiting it (maybe the chain will break and one will come to fix it) because there is no power to make new gezerot. However, today it is prohibited either because of that reason or uvda d’chol or minhag Yisrael. Regarding a tricycle, Shemirat Shabbat k’Chilkata (16,17) explicitly states that it is permitted in the home or even outside where there is an eruv as it is a toy. However, he says that it is a good idea to remove the bell.
Time, wrong. He was a Michigan(d)er. I doubt if he had Jewish neighbors as at that time there were restrictive covenants that barred selling to Jews. He would certailny have lived i such a neighborhood as he even thought that there were too many Jews in baseball.
Gavra, I was told by someone who was there that when Rav Moshe went to Catskills he wore a Panama hat.
Health, maybe because we were weak in the will to fight.
Time (BTW, ‘truth” in Russian is “pravda”),you forgot gerontocracy – the rule of the elderly.
Mdd, the Sephardi ketuba says that he will not take another wife without her permission. In any case, everywhere it is mentioned in Tanach there is trouble in the family. Once an Arab bragged to an acquaintance of mine that he is allowed four wives. He replied that that means four mothers-in-law. the Arab sighed.
Nisht, the point is that he compared writing a song to inventing a machine.
Here is the passage that is relevant to this thread:
????? ????? ?????? ??? ???? ??? ?? ????? ???? ??????? ???????? ?????? ???? ??? ?????? ????? ??? ???? ????? ?? ?????????? ??? ?????? ???. ??”? ?? ???????? ?? ????? ??? ???? ??? ??? ?????
Charlie, the good kings were not tyrants. There were also enlightened monarchs among the other nations. However, they were few and far between. Moreover, even a non-monarch can be a tyrant. Rav Lior said that the form of government does not so much matter. A good person will be a good king or PM and a bad person will be a tyant.
The were also kollelim before WW2 but they were restricted to the most advanced learners. In Lithuania there were also “kibbutzim” (!) which functioned like extended retreats today.
Joseph, in Israel there is also Chardal (Chareidi Leumi).
Gavra, actually the perush is Rashbam not Rashi. he is correct that the diagonal of a five by five square is similar to that of a four by six rectangle (the former is the square root of 50 and the latter the square root of 52)). I do not understand how Tosafot made the mistake that the former is greater then the latter, especially as they know that the the area is greater. They are also very close regarding the diagonal of the four by six (the difference can be put down to a scribal error). Chazal definitely knew the Pythagorean theorem as in several places they say that the diagonal of a one by one square is 1.4.
In any case, this is not Halacha but Geometry.