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Avi KParticipant
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 exampleRambam 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 .Avi KParticipantCorrection: Rabbi Prof. (Emeritus) Israel Kirzner
Avi KParticipantBen, 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.
Avi KParticipantAlways, don’t you know that every Jew needs two shuls and why?
Avi KParticipantRav 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.
Avi KParticipantIf 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.
Avi KParticipantA language is a dialect with an army and navy (aphorism of unclear origin). BTW, Rav Aryeh Levin once rejected a boy for the Etz Chaim yeshiva, of which he was the mashgiach. He later re-tested him thinking that because the boy came from a Hungarian background he didn’t understand Rav Aryeh’s Lithuanian speech.
May 13, 2021 2:59 pm at 2:59 pm in reply to: why should i take the the vacccine if i had the virus already ? #1974234Avi KParticipantSam, who says that a person must have that intent in order to be cured? It certainly is not necessary that the doctor thinks that as we even listen to idolatrous doctors (SA OC, 618:1). The Taz says (YD 336:1) that no one is on that level. The Netziv says (Heemek Devar Bamidbar 6:11 and 17:3) says that a person who acts in a manner inappropriate to his level is called a sinner. In fact, several Amoraim went to bloodletters. See also Rambam in his commentary on Pesachim Ch. 4 d”h shisha devarim asa Hizkiyahu.
As for the O.P.’s question, the shot is needed as a booster. It increases the chances of not getting it again. It is also not certain how long the recovered person’s immunity lasts.
Avi KParticipantAkuperma, the highest level of tzedaka is to give someone a productive job. This is best accomplished by the free enterprise system as is seen in all times and places. It also works against discrimination without compulsion as Ludwig von Mises (“Omnipotent Government”) and Milton Friedman (“Capitalism and Freedom”) have shown.
April 26, 2021 8:30 am at 8:30 am in reply to: According to the Torah, was Chauvin Allowed to Kill Floyd? #1968005Avi KParticipantHealth, if someone did not think that his life was in danger and he killed someone would it matter that his life really was in danger? In any case, from the record that definitely does not seem to be the case. Floyd was handcuffed at the time.
April 25, 2021 9:42 pm at 9:42 pm in reply to: According to the Torah, was Chauvin Allowed to Kill Floyd? #1967894Avi KParticipantJohnklets, only a duly constituted court may impose the death penalty. See my post #1967386.
Health, by not claiming in at his trial he effectively admitted that it was not.
Avi KParticipantMod, why did you reverse my last two posts?
an unfortunately irreversible error-29
Not true. I fixed it -25
April 23, 2021 1:06 pm at 1:06 pm in reply to: According to the Torah, was Chauvin Allowed to Kill Floyd? #1967438Avi KParticipantLittle, a goy does have a neshama. It is just different than a Jew’s neshama. For that matter, a Jew who lives in Eretz Yisrael has a different neshama than one who lives in galut.
April 23, 2021 7:41 am at 7:41 am in reply to: According to the Torah, was Chauvin Allowed to Kill Floyd? #1967386Avi KParticipant1. It is ridiculous to call someone a rodef after thirteen years.
2. Chauvin did not claim that his life was in danger.
3. There are those who want to claim that anyone may kill a ben Noach who violated one of the sheva mitzvot, as Floyd did many times. However, this goes against many Rishonim (see דרך המלך: מענה הלכתי ורעיוני לספר תורת המלך and איסור הריגת גוי ורציחת מחבל כפות, both online) who make it clear that only a duly constituted court may do this).Avi KParticipantIn the O.P.’s case, however, there might be nafka minas. Is her friend’s budget such that getting these items for free would cause her to buy something else that she would not have bought? Is business such that the items would have been sold anyway?
In any case, if it is an issue of gezel it does not matter who owns the store. Even if it is something else that only applies to Jews (absent chillul Hashem) I see no reason why it should matter if the owner is frum. It is not, for example, allowed to charge a non-frum Jew interest on a loan.
Avi KParticipantHere is a new wrinkle. As my father used to say, you learn something new every day.
Question: Reuven has an electronics store that offers affordable prices. There’s another store in town that charges a little more for some of the same products. Is Reuven allowed to go into that store and inform customers that they can purchase the products they are interested in from his store for a cheaper price?
HaRav Chaim Weg
Answer: The halacha is that one is allowed to compete with another local business, even if he is adversely affecting his bottom line. The Gemara says that the reason for this is because “zeh osek b’soch shelo v’zeh osek b’soch shelo.” He will operate in his store and he will operate in his store.
It seems that one is only permitted to compete with an existing business if he operates within his own store, but not if he operates in the competing store.
There is also another relevant sugya in halacha. The Gemara discusses a case where someone has already set up nets to catch fish and rules that another individual is not allowed to encroach on his territory and put down nets in the same area. Rashi explains that since the first fisherman has already set his sights on those particular fish and is planning on catching them, they are already considered to be set aside for him, and no one else is allowed to “take them away” from him.
The Chasam Sofer says that when a customer is already in a store, the same reasoning would apply. This customer is already in the sights of that store owner and is “in his net”, so to speak; therefore, it would be forbidden for a competitor to take away that business.Avi KParticipantThe word “sinister” comes from the Latin word for “left” (spelled the same). On the other hand, Ehud’s left-handedness saved Am Yisrael.
Avi KParticipantCS, can you please rewrite your post in English?
Avi KParticipantDY,
1. The mitzva to buy from a Jew only applies if the non-Jew does not sell for much less (I think one-sixth) and/or the quality is much lower. In any case, the customer was already there. In any case, I fail to see the connection. If it is gezel it is prohibited no matter who is the owner. If not then it is permitted no matter who is the owner. If the owner is poor (very doubtful) there might be an issue of עני המהפך בחררהץ. This indeed only applies to a Jew (please bring sources if you want to say only a frum Jew – and then we can argue over who is considered frum). However, as I previously posted, there is also an issue of chillul Hashem if the store owner is not Jewish or not frum.
2. That was my conclusion.Avi KParticipantUjm, my sources are in Choshen Mishpat.
Avi KParticipantUjm,
1. What is the difference? Stealing from anyone is prohibited by the Torah (SA 359:1 and see Be’er haGola 348:5). Please cite your sources. Actually,if the owner is non-frum/non-Jewish it might be worse as it might be a chillul Hashem.
2. Yes. It is a question. It would depend on whether people commonly change their minds and put items back on the shelf before paying. In most places that is the case so there was no kinyan because there was no completed intent to acquire. Probably the store owner does not care as someone else will buy it. However, where this is not common putting an item in one’s cart might be a kinyan.Rational,
1. That was a method of the people of Sodom. Each one would steal less than a peruta’s worth.
2. True.
3. Finding someone a productive job is the highest form of tzedaka so there is a mitzva to help someone’s business.Avi KParticipantChazal say (Kiddushin 82a) that someone who does not teach his son a trade teaches him to steal.
Avi KParticipantThe question is, and therefore it would not matter who owned the store (and it really bugs me when people emphasize “frum-owned” as if non0frum and non-Jewish people are hefker), did she make a kinyan by putting them in her cart. If she did then it might be theft (although presumably, someone else would then buy them so in the end there was no loss). If not, it is analogous to giving someone a lift and thus saving the person the cost of public transportation.
Avi KParticipantNechoma, 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.
Avi KParticipantUjm, nonsense. Sephardic Jews never spoke Yiddish. Even among Yiddish speakers, there were different dialects. Sometimes one was unintelligible to another. Rav Arye Levin re-tested a boy from a Hungarian background he rejected for the yeshiva because he thought that maybe the kid did not understand his Lithuanian accent. The international language ofJews, at least so far as writing was concerned, was always Hebrew. Jews typically were also conversant in several European languages because of their business connections. Rabbi Menashe ben Yisrael, for example, was fluent in ten languages. My grandmother spoke English, Spanish/Ladino (she could converse with Puerto Ricans and called her language Spanish), French, Greek, and Turkish and also knew at least some Italian.
April 9, 2021 11:06 am at 11:06 am in reply to: An Observation on the Way Some Jews Pronounce Words #1963715Avi KParticipantThere 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”).Avi KParticipantOn the other hand, if a person is a Spanish speaker he might mean “there is” or “there are”.
Avi KParticipantWolf, 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”.
Avi KParticipantI know someone whose wife sent a check to some tzedaka organization. She received a computerized acknowledgment addressed to הרב. She said that she was insulted that they didn’t write הרב הגאון. On the other hand, some say that a gaon is someone who never heard of Rashi or Tosafot. There is also ה”ה (ha’adon hanichbad) Some say that there is also ה”ה”ה”ה
(הבל הבלים הכל הבל).Avi KParticipantEliezer, 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”).
Avi KParticipantYt, in order to call Trump you have to get his phone number.
Avi KParticipantRightwriter, 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”.
Avi KParticipantUjm, a dayelet is a stewardess in Hebrew.
Avi KParticipantOn 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”.
Avi KParticipantThat book is super machmir. This is very common as those who write the books are generally scared of being condemned and even banned. Rav Yehuda Henkin has another view called “UNDERSTANDING TZNIUT: Modern Controversies in the Jewish Community”. There is also “Halichos Bas Yisrael: A Woman’s Guide to Jewish Observance” by Rabbi Yitzchak Yaacov Fuchs. Find a derech that is comfortable for you.
Avi KParticipantIt 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).
Avi KParticipantRE, that is not what Rabbenu Tam says (Bechorot 2b d”h she’ma). He says that it is a”z b’shituf (associating another being with Hashem) and that that is allowed for non-Jews. This is also what the Rema says. This is also the opinion of the Schach (YD 151:1 d”h nahagu lehakel). The Gemara (Chullin 13b) says what you say about pagans in chutz laAretz.
Avi KParticipantThis is a discussion in the Gemara and Rishonim. You can read it in the Wikishiva. Google כתב עברי (עתיק).
Avi KParticipantCTL, I was being facetious. Perhaps you can buy a sense of humor on Amazon. you can definitely buy a guide to developing one.
Avi KParticipantAnti-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.
Avi KParticipantRightwqriter, No one is releasing names. They are being turned over to local authorities for private attempts to convince them. However, the lists may not be made public or used in any other way.
Hewalth, that is true of every vaccine before it comes out (although all must go through approval protocols). The present vaccines have been approved by all of the leading regulatory agencies. COVID-19 is a clear and present danger. אין ספק מוציא מודאי
Avi KParticipantCharlie, 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.
February 24, 2021 8:18 am at 8:18 am in reply to: DOES YWN MAKE MONEY FROM PROMOTING THE VACCINES?? #1951651Avi KParticipantTristate Jew, do you make money by opposing them?
Avi KParticipantTell 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.
Avi KParticipantSyag, the vaccine gives you six months.
Avi KParticipantBetter 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.
Avi KParticipantI reread the OP. Actually, it says “a few” shots. How many is a few?
Avi KParticipantRav Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg went to public school at first and later went to a yeshiva full-time. Back then that was what there was.
January 31, 2021 5:21 am at 5:21 am in reply to: United States – No Unity after an Insurrection #1943900Avi KParticipantG, are you agreeing or disagreeing with me?
January 29, 2021 8:46 am at 8:46 am in reply to: United States – No Unity after an Insurrection #1943588Avi KParticipantCTL, 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.
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