Avi K

Nechoma, my grandmother (and grandfather) were from Smyrna, Turkey (now Izmir).

Ujm, millions? Ha! In Israel, many Chareidim, especially Lithuanians, can’t even put together a complete sentence in Yiddish. I once saw an older Russian immigrant try to speak to a Lithuanian Chareidi in Yiddish. The latter was completely tongue-tied.

There is no doubt that local languages influenced how Jews pronounce Hebrew. We know that the Ephraimites had a different pronunciation. It stands to reason that each of the other tribes also had somewhat different pronunciations just as people from different places pronounce English differently.
From masechet Haggiga we know that Jews from Haifa and Beit Shean did not differentiate between alef and ayin. Being that Beruria knew that Rabbi Yosi haGalili was from the Galilee as soon as he opened his mouth (Eruvin 53b) it seems that they spoke differently than Judeans.
It is also clear that the Ashkenazim changed their pronunciation at some point. For example, one of the Baalei Tosafot is רבי אליעזר ממץ. In French it is pronounced “Messe”. Another is the שר מקוצי (Coucy). We see from the word אצטדיון (stadium) that this was the original pronunciation of the tzaddi (the alef was due to the fact that they could not pronounce a sheva nach at the beginning of the word – many Arabs also say things like “ibseder” for “beseder”).

Wolf, I know people who said “Sir” and “Madame” to their kids sarcastically.

Robert, in NYC they say “Hey Mac”. The response is “hay is for horses”.

Eliezer, not only Americans. I have noticed that British interviewers also address interviewees by their first names even if they have titles such as Doctor, Professor, or Rabbi (Rabbi Sacks zatzal was addressed by an interviewer as “Jonathan”).

Rightwriter, untested? Are you serious? It has been approved by all regulatory agencies after requisite testing. The technology itself has been around for thirty years. Rav Elimelech Firer, who is an expert on Halacha and Medicine, discussed the issue in a special interview. You can google “הרב פירר מפריך את השמועות: “הדבר הנכון הוא ליטול את החיסון”.

On Fifties TV shows children address their fathers as “sir”. I was stunned as I did not nor did anyone I know. In the South it is common. Similarly, formal letters are often addressed “Dear Sir”.

It is an absolute halachic obligation to be vaccinated unless someone has a specific medical condition that precludes vaccination. You can read “Halachic Aspects of Vaccination” by
Rabbi Dr. Edward Reichman M.D. online.

Society can certainly protect itself by restricting certain venues to those who have been vaccinated or recovered. In the U.S. compulsory vaccination was upheld by the Supreme Court in Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905).

This is a discussion in the Gemara and Rishonim. You can read it in the Wikishiva. Google כתב עברי (עתיק).

Anti-Semitism and philo-Semitism can be two sides of the same coin. For example, saying that Jews are good lawyers can be positive if one respects legal acumen. Similarly, if someone admires the ability to make money saying that about us is positive. I personally would very much like to know which bank is mine.

Charlie, what about racists in one way but not another? Woodrow Wilson, the darling of progressives, introduced Jim Crow into the previously integrated Federal civil service and even had the chutzpa to tell black leaders that it was good for them. On the other hand, as President of Princeton, he hired the university’s first Jewish professors. As POTUS, he appointed the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice (Louis Brandeis) over virulent and blatantly anti-Semitic opposition.

Tell the truth. Would you have done otherwise? When my area was threatened with major snowstorms I went to friends in an area where it never snows.

Better to just faint than to get COVID-19. Besides, who told him to drink two shots of whiskey. I got both Pfizer shots. After the first my should ached a bit for a couple of days. After the second, nothing. In fact, only a minuscule percentage had any side effects.

Rav Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg went to public school at first and later went to a yeshiva full-time. Back then that was what there was.

CTL, I must partially correct you. It is true that SCOTUS ruled that public access channels are not public forums (Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck) and presumably this would also apply to social media. However, if a non-state body acts “under color of law” it is also subject to the Constitution. Thus, in Terry v. Adams, 345 U.S. 461 (1953), the Court ruled that not only may a political party not bar blacks (see Smith v. Allwright, 321 U.S. 649, and United States v. Classic 313 U.S. 299 (1941)) but not even an organized party faction may do so. It is not inconceivable that social media will become such an integral part of the process that they too will be subjected to constitutional constraints.

יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֶיךָ ה’ אֱלֹהֵינוּ וֵאֱלֹהֵי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ, שֶׁיִּהְיֶה לִי עֵסֶק זֶה לִרְפוּאָה, כִּי רוֹפֵא חִנָּם אַתָּה

Jackk, what we are having here is a parler (French for “to speak”). Actually, that is what is done on parlors. In fact, that is the root of the word.

Once someone who was writing a halacha book on tefillin for baalei battim asked Rav Eliahsiv if something (I don’t remember what) is a chatzitza. When RE responded that it is not he argued the point. finally RE said “If you want to be machmir be machmir”. The person wrote that RE said that it is good to be machmir.

Someone once asked Rav Mordechai Eliahu about organizing a vacation trip to chutz laAretz. RME said that it is not allowed. He advertised that the trip was with the advice of RME.

Common, I think that you mean Cornish hens. If you write it with a small “c” you re saying that they are similar to corn.

Dor, no. Have you? Getting back to pets, Rav Eliezer Melamed says is very much in favor of giving them to children as they learn responsibility and mercy. He adds that they are very good for lonely people, especially the elderly. Pet therapy, in fact, is becoming very common.

There is a famous picture of Rav Eliahu Lopian feeding the yeshiva’s cat. He explained that if it did its job and got rid of the mice it would have nothing to eat otherwise.

Apparently dog ownership was common among our ancestors as the Torah tells us to give them the meat of treif animals. The Maharal says (חידושי אגדות הוריות יג ע”א ד”ב האוכל) that the dog is a בעל נפש and is called a כלב because he is כולו לב. The Ben Ish Hai in Bnei Yehoyada praises his loyalty. Chazal also praise his characteristic of gratitude.

The cure might be worse than the disease. Destroying people’s livelihoods is akin to killing them. There are also mental health issues and rises in domestic violence. The way to go is the Swedish way coupled with scaled protections for at-risk people depending on degree of risk or non-risk. For example, people with type O blood at much less at risk and paradoxically a new Israeli report shows that asthma sufferers are less at risk (they put it down to a lower concentration of ACE receptors, which transmit the virus to the rest of the body).

For that matter there are many overlaps. What about a biracial person? What about a Jew from Latin America? The principal of a mostly-Latino JHS in NYC is a Chabadnik who was born in Chile and lived in other Latin American countries. Parents and pupils are constantly amazed when he speaks to them in fluent Spanish. For that matter, are Sephardic Jews Hispanic? My grandmother was born in Turkey. She called her Ladino language Spanish and could converse with Puerto Ricans.

Crazykanoiy, are you kidding? Canada is the home of enforced political correctness.

Charlie,

First of all, why is it a chiddush for you that people are complex? Anyway, maybe gays are pro-Zionist because they know what happens to gays in Moslem countries.

In fact, I will one-up you. The Israeli Minister of Internal Security, Amir Ohana, is publicly gay and lives with another man. He is also very far to the right, railed against anti-Hareidi articles in the press and has constantly harshly criticized the Supreme Court and even said that he would disobey the judges if he thought that a decision would harm national security.

Dor,
1. I do not think that he has done any of the four avodot to himself.
2. Adultery is only with a married woman. Moreover, if she is not Jewish the minute she walks out she is considered divorced. As for gilui arayot, for a ben Noach there are only six. He certainly has not been with a man or a prohibited (to a ben Noach) relative.
3. Using bad language is not birkat Hashem. He would have to say something along the lines of “Yossi should whack Yossi”).
4. His COVID policies, if wrong are at most gramma.
5. You can consider whatever you like to be stealing. That doesn’t mean that the Halacha does.

Reb Eliezer, that statement of the Akeidas is obviously lashon guzma. This is very common. For example, Chazal say that embarrassing someone in public is like killing him but no one suggests that a person who does it is chayav skila.

Yytz, a ben Noach can be executed for violating any of his mitzvot. The king can also execute anyone who violates one of his decrees. Rambam (Hilchot Melachim 2:8) says even house arrest or making an illegal turn. He can certainly have people locked up. What about Kamala Harris? She was severely reprimanded by a judge for her behavior as a prosecutor.

While Trump’s personal life is certainly not a model technically he has not violated any of the sheva mitzvot presuming that he avoided taxes and did not evade them. The great Judge Learned Hand (yes, that was really his name) said that there is not even a patriotic duty to refrain from tax avoidance. Being nasty and aggressive might even be an advantage in dealing with rogue and semi-rogue regimes.

As has been mentioned, in a complex world the choice is often between bad and worse. It is almost never black and white. While it is, of course, no comparison, many concentration camp officers were polite and cultured. One even addressed older prisoners by the formal German “Sie”. Oskar Schindler, on the other hand, was a crook and unfaithful to his wife. That’s the way it goes sometimes.