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DY,
1. Take an Aramaic course. Dina d’malchuta dina means that secular law is Halacha.
2. I was commenting on your use of the term “technical level”. Being that you brought it up, wouldy ou say that someone who did a melacha one minute after Shabbat comes in (ben hashemashot may be part of erev Shabbat or may be part of Shabbat) is mechallel Shabbat on a technical level?
1. How much one recovers from writing off losses due to Madoff depends on one’s tax bracket. However, it will never be even close to 100%.
2. DY, what do you mean “on a technical leveL”. If someone writes on Shabbat is he only mechallel Shbbat on a technical level?
See the article Donald Trump: Social-Justice Warrior” in National Review for Trump’s views on free speech. I would imagine that SCOTUS and the Congress would knock them down as courts have knocked down various and sundry laws that violate the Free Speech and Establishment clauses. The question is how he would react. Not to mention the fact that a least one general has implied that the armed forces would mutiny if he gave orders to kill terrorists’ families and the like. This, of course, would lead to a Constitutional crisis not seen since the Civil War.
EretzHaK, see Rav Bleich’s article ‘Capital Punishment in Noahide Law” in “contemporary Halachic Problems” vo. 2. There he discusses the issue of the jurisdiction of non-Jewish governments over Jews in criminal cases. In any event, according to Rav Schachter a democracy is a partnership between all citizens, Jews and gentiles so it would seem that all would agree that it has the power of mishpat hamelech. Please cite sources for the greater severity of punishment in harming a Jew (and note the Meiri’s well-known exception). In an ycase, according to Rav Schachter one who steals from a democratic government also steals from Jews. The should be obvious as all taxpayers are harmed.
As for the appropriate punishment, it depends on the crime. Someone who evades $1,000 in taxes should be fined although he probably is not worth the trouble and expense of trying him. For someone like Madoff or Shalom Weiss who ruined people’s lives a symbolic death penalty such as they received is totally appropriate.
The place of the battei din in all of this is educational due to the enormous chillulie Hashem created. In fact, various rabbanim in conjunction with figure such as Benjamin Branfman has been conducting yamei iyun on this subject.
Trump says so many different things that it is hard to know what he thinks. He rails against corporations leaving America but his name-brand clothes are made in China. He was endorsed by Duke (although he repudiated him) but is proud of his frum gioret daughter and Jewish grandchildren (kashia on Duke). Clinton, on the other hand, is a known enemy of Jewish rights to EY, a professional liar (she was fired from a staff position on the Watergate committee for unethical behavior) and may jsut be indicted (in Obama doesn’t pardon her just before he steps down).
Mlk,
1. A wise person sees what is coming. he should have davened BEFORE he started to drive. If he oculd not make it home in time from whatever emergency with which he dealyt (assumingthat it was an emergency) he should make arrangements to spendShabbat in the vicinity. If he could not he is now anoos and can daven an extra Amida after Maariv. Of course, if he is stopped completely there is no problem although he should put his car into neutral. Perhaps this is what the autot of the sefer meant.
2. How cany people habitually rush through the tefilla for various reasons?
There is a story about a Jew who was browsing in a store window when he felt a punch in his chest. When he did not see anyone he realized that he was at “Selach lanu”. The Gerrer Rebbe once welcomed someone back after the davening was over. He said to the puzzled man “You just returned from overseas”. He also said that Jews are better at business than gentiles because we have three times to think about it each day. Apparently the writer of this sefer has the same opinion of how most people daven.
Someone descended from a line of Jewish mothers is halachically Jewish. Thus, if the daughter of a daughter of a Jewish woman marries a man whose father’s father’s father was Jewish, and thus has a Jewish name, the children will be Jewish and will have a Jewish name. Of course, there are also names which are sometimes Jewish and sometimes non-Jewish German, such as Weiss. In addition, names were often changed by immigration clerks. I know someone who knew a man named Cohen who was a Yisrael. He came to America with a long Polish name and the clerk asked why he couldn’t have a simple Jewish name like “Cohen”. He did not want o start up so he agreed.
Truth (in Russian “Pravda” – they used to say that there is no pravda in “Izvestia” [news] as no izvestia in “Pravda”], as Casey Stengel said “You can look it up”.
Ubiquitin,
1. YW.
2. Profound!
3. Mida keneged mida.
4. TY.
5. Shev v’al taaseh.
Truth, I do not consider either Dr. Calderon, Shaked or Smotrich to be an authoritative interpreter of Rav Kook. I also do not consider myself to be their spokesman (although I might accept the job for the right salary). However, if they want to take inspiration from him that is fine. He himself said not to make “Kookistim”. That is to say, the tent is big. If what she meant is that Chareidim should get off the shnor and into the IDF and the job market she is right.
I am supporting Cruz because of his traditional values and strong support for Israel. Rubio is also good and according to the polls has a better chance to beat Clinton, who will most likely be the Democratic candidate. If I were Rubio I would make a deal with Cruz to nominate him for an important judicial post. Given his legal acumen this makes eminent sense and with his youth he would have an impact for the next two generations.
The MacDonald’s in the center of Yerushalayim has a hechsher.
Ubiquitin,
1. Not at all. Their yichus in unclear. The Ridbaz (Responsa, 4:219) accepted one of their number as a Jew but that was almost five hundred years ago. Since then there is no way of knowing whether or not they intermarried.
2. I thought that that was obvious from my statement “I do not know if anyone has even asked before you.” IMHO it would not be better to ask a clear-cut gentile to be on the safe side. However, if you are in Israel or plan to come and have a burning desire to have such a problem on Shabbat and davka ask one of them you should ask your LOR as I posted.
Charlie, what about destroying e-mails, using a non-secure server for sensitive correspondence and accessory to the murder of American diplomats? While it i s not a crime you can throw in professional liar from way back. Democrat Jerry Zeifman says that she engaged in a variety of unethical and illegal practices as a young staffer on the Watergate committee. In the end he fired her and refused to give her a letter of recommendation. He also said that he regrets not filing a complaint against her with the appropriate bar association.
Ubiquitin,
1. It was definitely true regarding the Ethiopians. I do not know what the procedure will be regarding the Kaifeng community but it would seem to me that it should be the same as for the Ethiopians.
2. I do not know if anyone has even asked before you. If you have a strong desire to sell him chametz (assuming that you are expert in the procedure) I suggest that you ask your LOR. Regarding Shabbat, you cannot even ask a certified gentile to do a melacha d’Oraita except under extreme circumstances (e.g. you forgot to turn on the heat and are freezing). Even a shevut requires a tzorech mitzva, hefsed meruba or choleh sheain bo sakkana. You can learn some of the basic halachot of “amira l’akum” in Orech Chaim 307.
Ubiquitin, if there is evidence of their Jewishness but not proof positive they are safek Jewish safek goyim. Therefor, they must undergo giur without a beracha (this was done with the Ethipians). On the other hamd, they could not violate the Halacha. As for Shabbat, being that for gentiles the night follows the day they could do melachot on erev Shabbat and motza’ei Shabbat. Another possibility (for men) is wearing tziztiot in a reshut harabbim. If they are not obligated it is carrying, if they are it is not.
Charlie, then you admit that the choice might be between a neveila and a tereifa? Unless Bloomberg, who is at least a fiscal conservative, runs as an independent.
Akuperma,
1. Who says that men are not allowed to wear shorts other than during davening?
2. If someone can get out of Shabbat participating is better as it provides exercise that the body needs. For this reason Rav Kook encouraged sports in general while condemning Shabbat games.
True, Joseph. In fact, Shavei Israel has brought back many of them and recently brought several descendants of the Kaifeng community to Israel. Of course, they must undergo giur l’chumra as they do not have proof of their lineage.
Yehudayona, I knew smeone (he has since left this world) who was in ortugal for a professional conference. He said that there are signs that many people are descended from Anoosim (.g. people who make a big show of eating pork on Yom Kippur). Given the hostility towards “New Xtians” it davka seems very liekly that they are halchically Jewish as they would marry among themselves.
Joseph, Rambam says at the end of Hilchot Melachim that when Mashiach comes the entire world will return to Hashem. Thus, if Francis is halachically Jewish he will unddergo a symbolic conversion and be returned to EY. If not he will become Ben Noach and remain in Europe.
Simcha, do you say Kabbalat Shabbat? Anyway, misheberachs are nothing new.
Time, Rav Ovadia said that without the IDF the yeshivot would not exist. I consider him to be much more of an authority on Judaism than Ruth Blau. I certainly consider Rav Kook and his son Rav Tzvi Yehuda to be more authoritative and they both said that nationalism and military prowess are integral parts of Judaism. The Tanach, in fact, praises military prowess in several places.The fact that they also exist among gentiles does not make a difference. There are gentiles who say “Thank Gd” and even a grace after meals and a prayer before going to sleep. Does that mean that we should not?
There are many villages in South America as well as the western US and, of course, spain and Portugal, whose inhabitants are almost certainly descendants of Anoosim. Baruch Hashem, Many are returning to Judaism although of course, they require giur l’chumra. There is an organization called “Shavei Yisrael” that works to identify and bring back descendant of Jews.
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So we see that all these stuff about “safek mamzerim” does not hold water – and see what Ulla said to Rav Yehuda regarding this (Kiddushin 71b). Unfortunately, some people have nothing to do but throw up smokescreens.
American Yerushalmi, first you have to persuade them that they should not worry about the extremist in their camp. This is probably much more difficult as Rav Elaishiv (!) was stoned for reaching an agreement with the government on moving graves.
On the contrary, his support for a generous welfare state is anti-Tora. Firsat of all, as I have posted before, the highest form of tzedaka is to create jobs, which is done best by limited government and a free enterprise system. Secondly, his program would bankrupt America and we do not impose financial burdens upon the public (????? ???????) even in matters involving grave danger (Gittin 45a).
Regarding gedolei Tora in Israel (Rav Hutner was very much opposed to all these schemes) supporting welfare, they only support it for avereichim. They feel that that is like working.
We do have unity. We are all arguers. LOL In fact, if our arguments are l’shem Shemayim they will be established.
I do not know if it is considered a sport but chess develops the mind. Many bachurim in Russia who played chess when they needed to relax from learning became gedolei Tora.
Regarding OP’s choices, football is a barbaric sport (the goal is to knock down people) as is NHL hockey (college and European hockey have a different atmosphere). Baseball is very strategic and is more brain than brawn. Basketball is not so good for someone who is not very tall.
CTlawyer, the Free Dictionary defines “sovereignty” as:
1. Supremacy of authority or rule as exercised by a sovereign or sovereign state.
2. Royal rank, authority, or power.
3. Complete independence and self-government.
4. A territory existing as an independent state.
Thus, it would seem that Indian reservations are indeed sovereign (and, in fact, Native Americans were not considered citizens until passage of the 1924 Indian Citizenship Act). States in the US are also sovereign even though in some respects they are subject to Federal law. It would seem to me that military bases and diplomatic compounds are extraterritorial. However, if the child is not subject to US law it would not be a citizen. This includes children of diplomatic personnel so an American military compound or diplomatic mission might be considered US territory for this purpose even though being the child of an American is not generally sufficient (which it might well be).
CTlawyer,
1. If military law applies on the base and even the postal address is a military address then how can it be said to be under the sovereignty of the country in which it is found? If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck it must be a duck.
2. What standing could there be under restrictive American standards? Anyway, you can correct me if I am wrong but to the best of my knowledge there is no law that states that someone who is not a natural born citizen may not appear on the ballot. If he wins he cannot serve. Thus, it would appear that there can be no case unless Cruz wins the election in Nov. Even then, it would seem that the only one with standing to challenge his election would be his opponent. After the hue and cry over Bush v. Gore SCOTUS might very well not want to get involved.
TY for your clarifications on the status of an embassy or consulate. However, IMHO, if (Article 22 section 1) “The premises of the mission shall be inviolable. The agents of the receiving State may not enter them, except with the consent of the head of the mission” there is certainly a limitation on the sovereignty of the host country. However, I am relieved to know that I am not still in Eretz Yisrael (I am writing these lines in the American Cultural Center library in Yerushalayim).
CTlawyer, regarding your class, this one statement would have to be a pro-rated part of the $600 per credit. Considering all of my posts on Halacha I think that my Comparative Law lessons put me ahead.
As for military bases The Free Dictionary’s legal dictionary states:
“… land used as a military base is considered a form of territory. These areas are inhabited almost exclusively by military personnel. They are governed largely by military laws, and not by the political structures in place for commonwealths and territories. The United States has military bases at various locations around the world, including Okinawa, Japan, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.”
Joseph, yes they are. That is why Castro could not touch Guantanamo. Also embassies and consulates. As for Cruz (there were also questions about Romney Sr. and McCain, who was born in the Panama Canal Zone and some thought that C.A. Arthur had been born in Canada as his parents bounced back and forth), the question is how to interpret the statement “natural born citizen”. Cruz’ was born to an American mother so he has citizenship from birth and most Constitutional scholars think thatt his is sufficient. There is now a suit on the matter but probably it will not be decided unless Cruz is elected as American courts do not rule on hypothetical matters (which is why they did not rule on Romney Sr. or McCain).
MDG, you did not read it correctly. The SA and MB are talking about going to someone’s house and bowing (as a salutation) before davening Shacharit. The second opinion is that it is prohibited unless he already said birchot hashachar.
Joseph, what is “tarbeh” and what is “sicha”? My understanding is that the latter is chatting.
Bat Masterson wore a homburg AND a frock.
Joseph, please cite your sources. What about “Hey you”?
I don’t go out with a tent on Shabbat.