Avi K

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  • in reply to: Its impossible to make a living in Israel #1984568
    Avi K
    Participant

    CS, if you have a galut mentality then you are indeed in galut wherever you live. However, according to the chesed l’Avraham normal Jews receive an Eretz Yisraeli neshama the first night they sleep here.

    in reply to: Is English the new Yiddish? #1984284
    Avi K
    Participant

    Philosopher, there are two main groups the Baladim, who follow Mishneh Torah on everything, and Shamim, who follow the Shulchan Aruch. Within the former group is a subgroup called the Darda’im, who oppose the Zohar and later Kabbala. Some other Yemenites consider them to be apikorsim. Rav Ovadia, however, cleared them of the charge.

    in reply to: Is English the new Yiddish? #1983942
    Avi K
    Participant

    Philosopher, according to the Department of the Languages and Cultures of the Near and Middle East of SOAS University of London there is a sizeable minority of Persian speakers in Yemen as well as Bahrain, Oman, and the UAE. I think that this is probably due to the influence of Persian culture on the Ottoman Empire as well as immigration. It could also be that those Yemenite Jews to whom you spoke are actually children of marriages between Persian and Yemenite Jews.

    in reply to: Is English the new Yiddish? #1983652
    Avi K
    Participant

    Philosopher,
    1. Why can’t a Yemenite speak Persian or any other language? The Yemenites I have known, though, call their language Yemenite. In fact, each Arab country has its own dialect of spoken Arabic. Someone once told me that he had an aunt who was a professor of Arabic. After the Six-Day War, she tried to speak the literary Arabic she knew in the Old City market. Her interlocutor told her that he did not understand English.
    2. I would imagine that descendants of Persian Jews in Israel use the Israeli pronunciation as that is how they are used to speaking.
    3. Yemenites differentiate between ח and כ as well as ק and כּ. The ת is pronounced like “th” in English. This is probably the original pronunciation as this is how it is transliterated in English (e.g. Ruth). Most likely the Ashkenazim softened it to “s” and the Sephardim hardened it to “t”. BTW, originally the Ashkenazim pronounced צ like a hard “s”, as do some Eidot haMizrach. Two of the Baalei Tosafot are רבי אליעזר ממץ (in French it is pronounced Messe) and השר מקוצי (Coucy). This is obviously the original pronunciation as “stadium” in the Gemara is אצטדיון (the א was added because our ancestors could not pronounce a sheva nach at the beginning of a word). There are also some communities that pronounce ד (without a dagesh) like “the” in “breathe” – which is the only way to elongate it (SA OC 61:6).

    in reply to: Is English the new Yiddish? #1983319
    Avi K
    Participant

    Philosopher, this goes back at least to the time of Chazal (Megilla 24b). According to the Jewish Virtual Library, this pronunciation is used by Persian communities. Interestingly, Rabbi Hiyya was for Babylonia, which was part of the Persian Empire.

    in reply to: Is English the new Yiddish? #1983224
    Avi K
    Participant

    Philosopher, there are different ways to transliterate ח. Some transliterate it as “h”. Some write “Ḥet”. Some even write “x” as that is the pronunciation in the Greek and Cyrillic alphabets. See the Wikipedia article “Romanization of Hebrew”.

    in reply to: Its impossible to make a living in Israel #1983185
    Avi K
    Participant

    Participant, that is what the spies said.

    in reply to: Is English the new Yiddish? #1983183
    Avi K
    Participant

    Always, it is “BARA”. “Buru” means “they created”. This, of course, is heresy.

    in reply to: The future of the democracy of the U.S. government #1982097
    Avi K
    Participant

    CTL, Health Department, sales tax, etc. are also local. BTW, there was a case where a little girl in London was fined and shut down for illegally selling lemonade. I don’t know if that ever happened in the US. I do know that Louisiana has a licensing requirement for flower arrangers, which is now being challenged. Los Angelos County has a licensing requirement for yard sales.

    in reply to: The future of the democracy of the U.S. government #1981849
    Avi K
    Participant

    CTL,

    1. Did you read the decision? You can see it on Oyez. One basis was food coming from out of state. Another basis was that in general discrimination discourages blacks from travelling to certain places. You are going even further in raping the Constitution. According to your thesis, if a person got a property tax abatement Congress can regulate his yard sale.

    2. You are having another senior moment. It was the Ohio National Guard. I looked up Jeffrey Miler. He was cremated and the ashes placed in Ferncliff Cemetery. Getting there by public transportation involves a number of buses plus an eighteen-minute walk. Another possibility is a train plus a taxi.

    3. Lindsay coddled criminals and rioters at City College. It was on his watch that what was once “the proletarian Harvard” developed an inferior reputation because of open admissions. Most of those admitted were sorely disillusioned because they could not handle the academic demands. He only won re-election because the anti-Lindsay vote was split (he lost the Republican primary and ran on the Liberal party line. BTW, my father voted for the Democratic candidate and my mother voted for the GOP candidate. The year before my father voted for Nixon and my mother voted for Humphrey. In those days it was no big deal to disagree on politics.

    in reply to: Therapists”and Mesira #1981836
    Avi K
    Participant

    Ujm, sometimes the opposite is true. Secular law prohibits a professional to speak out because of professional confidence (an example would be an attorney) but Halacha requires him to do so.

    in reply to: The future of the democracy of the U.S. government #1981451
    Avi K
    Participant

    Today, liberal Republicans are called RINOs (Republicans In Name Only). I, BTW, would write the former NYC Mayor’s name L—-y. In my family his name was mud. He destroyed NYC.

    in reply to: The future of the democracy of the U.S. government #1981432
    Avi K
    Participant

    CTL,
    1. YWN is not general social media.
    2. They could be designated limited public forums. See “Restricting Speech in the Limited Public Forum” put out by the UMKC law school.
    3. You are correct that some FB groups are local but so are some restaurants. Yet they are subject to federal anti-discrimination laws if even one morsel came from out-of-state (Katzenbach v. McClung, 379 U.S. 294 (1964)). In any case, the public forum would be FB not the group.

    in reply to: Therapists”and Mesira #1981316
    Avi K
    Participant

    Are you kidding? It is an explicit halacha that it is permitted to report someone who is endangering the community even if it is only economically (CM 388,12 with Rema). See also seif 3 regarding someone who is compelled by the authorities to do so. Rav Moshe even permits being a tax auditor and turning over Jewish cheats as that is the person’s job (IM CM 92).

    For a fuller discussion see “Gray Matter IV, Beit Din, The Mesirah Dilemma – Sefaria” online.

    in reply to: The future of the democracy of the U.S. government #1981283
    Avi K
    Participant

    Correction: WMDs

    in reply to: The future of the democracy of the U.S. government #1981275
    Avi K
    Participant

    CTL,
    1. You are correct if you mean that the government cannot make it only a public forum for liberals. However, it makes no sense to say that if they create a public forum they cannot create it because of the First Amendment.
    2. What does paying have to do with it? Are you saying that they cannot prohibit the sending of WMOs as gifts? BTW, what about applying anti-discrimination legislation to purely local businesses like so out-of-the-way diner?

    in reply to: The future of the democracy of the U.S. government #1981027
    Avi K
    Participant

    CTL, why would it be a violation of the First Amendment and not a regulation of interstate commerce? If Facebook may not erase someone’s post Zuckerberg’s speech is not be affected. Beside’s Facebook is a public corporation so it is not included in the Hobby Lobby precedent. He can even post a disclaimer.
    The Congressional Research Service has an online article entitled “UPDATE: Sidewalks, Streets, and Tweets: Is Twitter a Public Forum?” On page 2 it states “The government can designate new public forums by making “an affirmative choice” to create a space
    that is open for public expression. The Supreme Court has recognized that the Internet in general, and social media in particular, has become a critical forum for the expression of protected speech. And the federal courts of appeals have held that the government can create public forums on the Internet.” See the PUTNAM PIT, INC.;  Geoffrey Davidian, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CITY OF COOKEVILLE, TENNESSEE;  Jim Shipley, Defendants-Appellees
    No. 98-6438 (Sixth Circuit).

    As for your polling place story, it sounds like a case in the Gemara (I can’t find exactly where right now) where someone who hadn’t come to a certain bet midrash in thirteen years suddenly showed up to clear up a subject of debate. Maybe you should put it in one of those hashgacha peratit books.

    in reply to: The future of the democracy of the U.S. government #1980814
    Avi K
    Participant

    CTL,

    1. That is exactly my point. They set the limits of discourse. If they do not want an opinion or argument to become known they simply erase it. Sometimes they even cancel people forever. I think that your use of the term “could not” is incorrect. Congress can pass a law declaring social media to be public forums. It just has not. Why would that be a greater threat to democracy than the “equal time” rule? I do think that that there might be strong grounds for an antitrust action when they act in concert, as they did with Parler.

    2. A person’s picture certainly changes. Is there a requirement for a picture to have been taken within a certain number of years?

    in reply to: The future of the democracy of the U.S. government #1980506
    Avi K
    Participant

    Apps/ATMs or check-cashing services that do not require ID. The former requires a bank account and presumably, an ID was presented to open it. The latter charge hefty fees which presumably reflect losses from bad checks. Banks and most check-cashing services do require some ID.

    in reply to: The future of the democracy of the U.S. government #1980507
    Avi K
    Participant

    In Israel, one must present one’s government-issued ID card (teudat zehut) before voting.

    in reply to: The future of the democracy of the U.S. government #1980454
    Avi K
    Participant

    Participant, that is correct. They can block and deplatform whomever they want.

    in reply to: The future of the democracy of the U.S. government #1980416
    Avi K
    Participant

    The biggest threat to democracy is Big Tech. As it stands now they are not subject to the First Amendment (Prager University vs. GOOGLE LLC, FKA Google, Inc.;
    YOUTUBE, LLC, decided by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals) so they can censor people as they wish. They have already done this to various GOP figures including former President Trump as well as to Yair Netanyahu. They have also interfered in other countries, among them Australia.

    in reply to: Ted Cruz – Hyporcite par excellence #1979372
    Avi K
    Participant

    RE, so? After the primaries, the losers almost always support the party’s choice. Trump, in fact, gave conservatives just about everything on their wish list.

    in reply to: Ted Cruz – Hyporcite par excellence #1979280
    Avi K
    Participant

    Ted Cruz is a righteous gentile. He exemplifies Noahide values and has been a consistent supporter of the Jewish people. What was he supposed to do in a snowstorm? He would just have been in the way. As for his father, CTL. you owe him a public apology. FYI, he was granted political asylum in 1961 following the expiration of his student visa. After arriving in the US with no knowledge of English he earned degrees in mathematics and chemical engineering from the University of Texas in four years. He later was transferred to Calgary by his employer, an oil company. BTW, ICE was not formed until 2002 with the establishment of the Homeland Security Agency. Shame on you! You should check your facts before you post, especially as you are having many senior moments.

    in reply to: Constitutional Rights? #1979107
    Avi K
    Participant

    Yserbius, that is the word in Modern Hebrew. However, in Mishnaic Hebrew the closest word is רשות. Sometimes it means “permission” although it can also mean “option”.

    CTL, you are twice wrong. First of all, it should be “are reserved” as “powers” is plural. Secondly, the Tenth Amendment says ““The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”. Tsk, tsk. You are correct, though, about the distortion of the Interstate Commerce Clause. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, for example, is blatantly unconstitutional as applied to local businesses. The Fair Housing Act and the Federal minimum wage are also examples. After the “switch in time that saved nine” (although that involved a state law) SCOTUS indeed was complicit but there was a turnaround with Lopez vs. United States 514 U.S. 549 (1995).

    in reply to: Gerbil advice #1979112
    Avi K
    Participant

    N0mesorah, before a word that starts with a vowel “a” becomes “an”.

    in reply to: ben shapiro #1979002
    Avi K
    Participant

    I just saw an interesting essay by Shais Rishon, also known by the pen name MaNishtana, who says that we will absorb horrible right-wing hashkafot by listening to Shapiro. Interesting.

    in reply to: ben shapiro #1979001
    Avi K
    Participant

    Always, please cite where Rashba bans secular knowledge. Both Rabbenu Bachya and the Gra (on the third perek in Pirkei Avot) say that one cannot be called a sage unless one knows the secular fields. Rambam, at the beginning of the Guide, says that it is a prerequisite to Torah knowledge.

    BTW, another Twersky, Rabbi Dr. Aaron Twersky, was the Dean of Hofstra Law School. Rav Hutner encouraged his talmidim to pursue advanced secular studies. Rav Aharon Soloveichik had a doctorate in law from NYU. Rav Prof. (Emeritus) Israel Kirzner is a well-known economist. Interestingly, his teacher in economics was Ludwig von mIses, who was an anti-religious Jew.

    in reply to: Constitutional Rights? #1978741
    Avi K
    Participant

    Always,
    1. Torah is democratic. The people must not approve of the form of government, as I previously posted, but of all of the leaders (Berachot 55a). They can even remove a king from office(Yerushalmi, Horiot 3,3).
    2. The interesting thing about that gemara is that Yossi ben Yoezer didn’t want to repeal more decrees because he did not want to be called Yosef Sharya (Yosef the Lenient). Some things never change.

    in reply to: Yiddish Language Control Board #1978742
    Avi K
    Participant

    Ujm, “Yid” is a pejorative. Archie Bunker used it. It is certainly not the language of Sepharadim or the Eidot haMizrach.

    Always is correct. When one of my Sephardic relatives married an Ashkenazi her parents refused to believe he was Jewish. Not only did his name sound Italian (actually it was Arabic) but he did not know a word of Yiddish. Golda Meir also said this about Moroccan Jewish protesters.

    in reply to: ben shapiro #1978743
    Avi K
    Participant

    Syag,

    1. No, I am not a lawyer. Maybe I should have been. In any case, HaKatan wrote

    “It’s very possible that even an “Orthodox” Jew – especially one who spends his time on areas of *thought* that are outside of Torah – might have an improper hashkafa.

    Therefore, you should not have your children (and possibly even yourself) listen to them because the children might absorb an improper hashkafa, and that could cause real spiritual damage R”L L”A.”

    Okay, so he didn’t mention Shapiro by name. However, it is clear about whom he is talking.

    2. I certainly do not hate him c”v. What is the difference between his view and his words?
    I definitely hate hotzaat shem ra. The idea that we must build thick walls and not listen to the view of anybody but a rav (and usually the rav of the person advancing the claim) exasperates me. It is contrary to Chazal, who say that we can even believe that goyim have wisdom. It is contrary to Rambam, who advocates accepting the truth from whomever says it. It is also contrary to the famous statement that nobody died from a difficulty.

    3. What is an “improper” hashkafa? Neither of you has defined it. Nor have you explained how listening to a political commentator, especially one who is an Orthodox Jew, can do this.

    4. I will admit that not everyone has a head for science. However, everyone should study it at some level. How else can one truly appreciate Hashem and His Creation. Rambam says that it is necessary to learn Torah (how can one understand the sugya about a round sukka without the Pythagorean Theorem – which was discovered by an idolator?). See on this Rambam, Hilkhot Yesodei ha-Torah 2:2. The Semag even counts studying astronomy as one of the Taryag (Aseh 75).

    in reply to: ben shapiro #1978386
    Avi K
    Participant

    Syag, so we should not do anything but learn Torah? Bury our heads in the sand and live by shnorring? What do you consider an “improper” hashkafa? Should we not study science because we might believe that the Universe is billions of years old or that dinosaurs existed? Should we not listen to Shapiro because we might think that liberals are wrong? Maybe it will spur someone to investigate the terutzim and have a deeper knowledge of Torah. A person might even c”v find out that there are different hashkafic possibilities within Torah.

    in reply to: President Biden the new Regan #1978387
    Avi K
    Participant

    Shtark, that is really funny. But don’t give up your day job. Look what is happening in the US on their watches. Look at how the anti-Israel crowd is gaining power. Not to mention that the whole progressive agenda is anathema to Torah.

    in reply to: Constitutional Rights? #1978360
    Avi K
    Participant

    Always, they should at least have advisors who understand business. I heard that some poskim say that the Antitrust Authority is considered an adam chashuv fo this. It would seem that there would at least be an issue of dina dmalchuta.

    in reply to: Yiddish Language Control Board #1978311
    Avi K
    Participant

    RE, why does it need an extension? There is not extension when they daven – and there it leads to apikorsut. For example, someone who says נשבה in keriat shema says that He was captured, c”v. As for “yaan Kel”, I think the reason is that the could not distinguish between mudgeshet and rofefet and did not want to appear to be saying “torture, Hashem”.

    in reply to: Constitutional Rights? #1978310
    Avi K
    Participant

    N0mesorah, wrong. The Declaration of Independence declares them to be Gd-given. The Bill of Rights was added because some wanted to strengthen the legal basis.

    in reply to: President Biden the new Regan #1978056
    Avi K
    Participant

    I would hardly call Biden pro-Jewish. He wants to go back to the disastrous Iran agreement. His whole leftist agenda (toeva and abortion “rights”, for example) is contrary to Jewish values. We can also expect him to appoint judges who will be antagonistic to freedom of speech and religion in these areas as well as anti-police. There is even the threat of packing the Supreme Court.

    in reply to: President Biden the new Regan #1978054
    Avi K
    Participant

    CTL, on the contrary, he saved the economy. FYI, JFK did the same thing. His Star Wars program pushed the former Soviet Union (of cursed memory) over the brink.

    in reply to: Yiddish Language Control Board #1978052
    Avi K
    Participant

    Can someone explain how Yaakov obtained a nun and became Yankel?

    in reply to: ben shapiro #1978014
    Avi K
    Participant

    HaKatan, I just listened to the Ben Shapiro Show. It was an excellent piece on why he wears a kippa followed by a discussion of the problem of attacks on Jews in the US. He is obviously a fine, proud, observant Jew. You are obligated to contact him and ask forgiveness for being motzi shem ra on him.

    in reply to: Constitutional Rights? #1978019
    Avi K
    Participant

    Addir, it is definitely the Torah view. These are all derived from the tzelem Elokim.

    Ubiquitin, free speech is also not absolute in American law. Neither is freedom of religion. See Reynolds vs. United States 98 U.S. 145 (1878). However, as general statements, they are certainly correct. According to the Avnei Nezer (YD 312, 48) the secular authorities only deal with sins against one’s fellow. So really the discussion is about the limits and how they are enforced. as a practical matter, it is almost impossible for even the Sanhedrin to do punish them, idol worshippers, etc. as the procedural rules are almost impossible to satisfy.

    Always, please quote your source for the one-year rule. Look again at Baba Batra. It says “important person”. Rav Moshe. among others says that he does not have to be a talmid chacham but anybody appointed by the public. Much has been written aboutthis. Go and learn.

    in reply to: ben shapiro #1977976
    Avi K
    Participant

    HaKatan, you are really very funny. I am not aware that Shapiro has made pronouncements regarding Torah. He is a political commentator and addresses a general audience. Are you claiming that there is one correct political hashkafa? I have already brought sources to prove that this is not true. I have already asked the O.P. how old his children are and have yet to be answered. Obviously, these discussions are not for five-year olds. Probably they would find them very boring anyway.

    BTW, how do you justify being in this venue and on the Internet in general? Aren’t you afraid that you might absorb incorrect hashkafot?

    in reply to: Visible vs Hidden police #1977500
    Avi K
    Participant

    Isn’t it better to deter before the fact? In fact, Rambam says that a doctor’s job is to prevent illness not cure it.

    in reply to: Israel is the safest country for Jews #1977499
    Avi K
    Participant

    N0mesorah, those German Jews who left before 1933 did so for economic reasons. Some came in the wake of the revocations of civil rights following the failed revolutions of 1848 (at the time Germany was a collection of independent kingdoms). Don’t forget, after WW1 there was a tremendous economic crisis and hyperinflation. People were carrying around money in wheelbarrows and prices changed constantly.

    in reply to: ben shapiro #1977158
    Avi K
    Participant

    N0 and HaKatan, I disagree with you. A rav can give his hashkafa on some Torah issue (and there is no one “right” hashkafa = all are divrei Elokim chaim). However, he cannot give an opinion, for example, the 1619 Project, unless he has studied the relevant secular fields.

    As for the topic at hand, The Netziv says *He’emek Devar Devarim 17:15) that the Torah leaves the political system to the people. Rav Chaim David haLevy , who was certainly a gadol as well, says that the Torah does not require any particular economic system
    (במוצאי שנת השמטה: המשטר החברתי התורתי מול הקפיטליזם והסוציאליזם”, קול סיני ה, תשכ”ו, עמ’ 251-245). but leaves it up to the people to decide how to achieve goals. Certainly, neither Halacha nor Haskafa can be referenced to decide decisions of central banks, for example

    Rambam says at he beginning of the Guide that one can and should learn how to think by
    studying secular fields. He himself learned from non-Jewish thinkers. Accept the truth from whomever says it (intro. to Shemoneh Perkaim). Both Rabbenu Bachaya and the Gra say on the third chapter of Pirkei Avot that a person cannot be considered a sage if he does not know secular fields .

    in reply to: ben shapiro #1976317
    Avi K
    Participant

    Correction: Rabbi Prof. (Emeritus) Israel Kirzner

    in reply to: ben shapiro #1976310
    Avi K
    Participant

    Ben, it depends on how old they are. He does sometimes quote words that might be considered improper that others use but he condemns them. I am now listening to such a broadcast and he bleeps out the bad words.

    HaKatan, I don’t think that anyone will ask him for a pesak halacha. I would hope that no one would ask a rav about something that is in Shapiro’s field of expertise – unless, of course, the rav is also an expert in that field. I would ask, for example, Rabbi Israel Kirzner a question about economics but in his role as an economist, not a rav.

    in reply to: Impact covid had on civility #1975941
    Avi K
    Participant

    Always, don’t you know that every Jew needs two shuls and why?

    in reply to: Gog Umagog #1975565
    Avi K
    Participant

    Rav Mordechai Eliahu said that the war already happened. Maybe WW2. The Gemara (Yoma 10a) does say that there will be a war between Persia and Rome. There is a machloket who will win.

    in reply to: Impact covid had on civility #1975259
    Avi K
    Participant

    If the people who held the pirate minyan do not want to abide by their shul’s rules they should leave and start their own shul. This is a hallowed Jewish tradition.

Viewing 50 posts - 201 through 250 (of 3,486 total)