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<Moisha’s should adopt the system used by Aldi in the USA and many markets in Europe. All shopping carts are chained and you insert a quarter to release the cart. People return the carts to the lane and retrieve the coin.
I was in France this summer and the standard was a Euro coin. People in NY might not bother returning the cart for 25 cents, but probably would for a dollar@Klugeryid
We have a huge MacIntosh apple tree, and two smaller trees, one that is McCoun and one Winesap. They are about 75-80 years old. Our home was built in 1803 as a farmhouse and the neighborhood carved out of the land.
There is still a berry patch with raspberry and blackberry bushes in the rear of the property. Sometimes we get the fruit, sometimes the deer eats them.@Joseph
If it is just myself and Mrs. CTL, no. She is not very fond of beef. In the summer I order a couple of half cows and cut them down myself and re grill lots of rib and other steaks for the family and chashuva guests such as your family.
What is expensive is the fact that I introduced your daughter to lollipop lamb rib chops two summers ago.@interjection
Everyone has different eating habits.
There is no typical FRUM family.
You write of the typical Israeli breakfast which is quite different than the American.I start the day with a cup of coffee and a toasted bread item with margarine (not fond of butter) cost less than $1, Mrs. CTL has a yogurt and a small glass of juice which costs about $2.00. Our grandchildren are apt to have a bowl of cold cereal with milk or a toasted waffle and juice. They grab a piece of fresh fruit to eat on the way to school. Eggs for breakfast tends to be a Sunday morning thing in our family
I assume we eat more meat than you do for lunch and suppers. In season we grow our own vegetables. Right now the apple tree by our swimming pool is yielding a bountiful harvest for eating, baking and canning apple sauce (for Chanuka latkes).
We figure $100 per adult per week for groceries. That means food only, No paper goods, cleaning supplies or other things you might pick up at the supermarket while shopping. We figure about $75 per child under Bar/Bat Mitzvah age when they spend vacations and the summer with us. This includes non-alcoholic beverages.
We buy no prepared foods and cook from scratch. We also live in a country like setting that affords us a large garden where we grow fruits and vegetables. We do can/freeze/pickle our harvest.
Sorry for the typos in my last post. Grandfather’s Optometry practice was on the Grand Concourse at the NE corner of Kingsbridge Rd. Right across from Poe Cottage in the Park. They lived diagonally across the park in the Poe Raven Apartments on the sw corner of Valentine and 192. Robert Hall was in the building on the Concourse to the ear of the apartment building. That area of the Bronx was a great place until they opened Co-Op city and the whites left. My grandmother stayed until 1978 when we moved her to Florida. Then the family sold the building, happy to get out.
Gadol
I absolutely remember Jahn’s ice cream parlor, but on Kingsbridge between Fordham and 192. I was born in New Haven, but my parents kept an apartment in Valentine until 1978 to make caring for my grandmother easier. We all took turns spending a night each week there until we finally moved her to Florida and sold the building. My grandfather had his optometry office on the Vincourse and my uncle had a tv store in Kingsbridge. Of course my fist bank account was at Dollar Savings Bank. So long ago@Benephraim
I remember Goffin wel, having been born and raised in New Haven…but he never went by the name Shimshon in his home town.
My Mother, and older siblings were from the Bronx. I was born after the family moved to New Haven in 1952. The family lived diagonally across from the Schiff Center on Valentine between 192 and Fordham. My siblings were all born at Royal Hospital on the Grand Concourse. Last week I took my some of my grandchildren for a ride thru the Bronx showing them locations where the family members had lived and worked. So sad to see what has happened to the Beautiful Bronx.This is NOT Trump’s tariff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I make no secret of my disdain for Trump, but he is not to blame for this.
These new tariff’s are the result of a finding that European Governments illegally subsidized Airbus giving it an unfair trade advantage over Boeing. The court found in Boeing’s favor and ordered the US institute XXX dollars of tariffs on goods from these offending countries to make up the lost export business by Boeing.
There is another case pending with Airbus accusing the USA of the same action to support Boeing. If Airbus wins, next year the host countries will institute tariff’s on US goods to make up Airbus losses.
Consumers don’t but commercial airplanes, but they will pay the cost of government interference in airplane sales.
Yaakov Doe
I have tried single malts and do not like them
This misnagid doesn’t need to try a chassidic trafition
I tend to have lemon sorbet or fruit between fish and meat courses@RabbiGreenspan
Just should be ashamed of yourself casting such aspersions right after the Yomim Noraim.I can have alcohol anywhere I please that is legal. I just don’t waste the calories on something I don’t enjoy.
On the rare occasion that I drink hard liquor it is Canadian Club.As for serving guests, we have a well stocked bar, but my relatives and guests consume almost no scotch.
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As for your attempts to figure out my income, nice try but no cigar. I own and pay taxes on more than one house in CT. Thus, the 10K tax limitation is an issue. We also pay property tax on cars and have state income tax in CT. All deductions above 10K are gone. I am just talking about residential non-income property. Taxes on income property are deducted fully from income when figuring net income subject to tax.
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As my father Z”L always said: don’t complain about paying income tax, you’ve got to make it to pay it.
I simply explained how the Trumpian tax scheme has cut my available dollars for Tzedaka.BTW>>>I don’t have any single malt laying around, but there is a case of Johnnie Walker Blue sitting in a corner of my office gathering dust. It was a gift from a grateful client after winning custody of his children from his ex-in-laws who prevented his visitation for six years. No one in the family wants it, I figure I’ll re-gift it come the winter holiday season. Should I save you a bottle?
Rabbigreenspan
I don’t drink or buy Scotch. In fact, beyond wine for kiddush I drink next to no alcohol.
I did NOT say I was making 550-825 per hour. I said I bill those amounts. All the costs of running my law firm come out of revenues billed: salaries for employees, rent, utilities, insurance, employee benefits, employee education, licensing and professional fees. All the free initial consultaions conducted where no business is generated. The payroll for pro bono cases and tzedaka.
Akuperma
The state legislature looks at the target amount of revenue to be raised when setting rates.
A pack of cigarettes is about &10 so $1 in additional sin tax raises X dollars in taxes. Connecticut lawyers bill an average rate of $275 per hour so a lower percentage tax brings in the target revenue. In my case I bill about twice that rate for office work and triple for trial work. So my monthly tax remittances will be far above the state average until I retire in the not too distant future.@Akuperma
Wrong again………………………
Effective October 1, 2019 Legal services rendered in the State of Connecticut are subject to 6.35% sales tax. That is on top of income, purchases of supplies and services, licensing and property tax on all furniture, fixtures, office equipment in our offices.I don’t care high high the tariffs are raised on Single Malt Scotch. I didn’t buy it before and I won’t be buying it now.
I believe that sin taxes: alcohol, tobacco are a good thing. If a high price reduces drinking and smoking I approve.@Millhouse
It may seem a simple solution to you, BUT in many of the US jurisdictions from which they fly, merely offering a singles sex section or asking the question violates equal rights in a public accommodation@Joseph
Only time will tell if Senator Sanders will still be a candidate come the Democratic National Convention in summer 2020. If he is, mine is one vote that will not be cast for him (and yes I expect to be a delegate, as in the past).BTW, your use of the word comrade is inappropriate. Senator Sanders is and admits to being a socialist, not a communist, they are quite different things.
It’s October 4th and I got my annual flu shot this morning
@Joseph
You may need to buy a new crystal ball
Last May I said ask me in a year when many of the then 23 will have dropped out of the race and you replied that Bernie will still be running.After his heart procedure and cancellation of scheduled events, who knows it he will still be in the race.
That said, I didn’t vote for him in 2016 and won’t be voting for him in the 2020 Democratic primary in CT, or as a delegate to the CT State Democratic Party Convention.@flatbusher
The prime reason for getting a flu shot in the beginning of autumn is that flu season begins and you may be exposed to those to are early to have flu.
Secondary reason is some years there is a run on the serum as the season progresses and it may be unavailable when you decide you want a flu shot.
I typically have my flu shot the first week of October. Two years ago the flu affected great numbers of people and the strain was a bit different than what was expected. In January my doctor suggested a second flu shot of the new serum that had been produced for the prevalent strain. I got the second shot, no flu. Three attorneys in my office all in their 40s laughed at the idea of a second shot, all three got the flu.@Klugeryid
I wasn’t talking about small town CT. I said I had driven in Saturday night so as to visit the family cemeteries on Sunday. I was in my CT registered car with the flashing blue lights and siren and plates that say Vol Fire and EMT.
I don’t have a NY registered car.
If I was ticketed in an emergency run to the ER. I’d deal with the ticket in court. I am admitted to practice in NY.
I read the post very carefully, as I read contracts. So much for all your words about R”H being around the corner, you were quick to sling insults and barbs.@Klugeryid
any sane person……
I resent your implication that I am insane.
You know I live full time in small town CT.
We are a town of volunteers. I and my adult children have all been EMT certified and have volunteered in our town’s EMS. The males all belong to the volunteer fire companies. As such our vehicles do have the flashing blue lights and available sirens.
I have made many a hospital run over the years transporting neighbors and family. I would decide whether to call a private service as you suggest, 911 or self transport based on the situation.BTW, if I was busy attending to a stricken person while waiting for EMT or ambulance the last thing i want to deal with is an inconsiderate trespasser parked in my driveway for his convenience.
@Meno
Our CT home is more than 45 Miles from a wedding hall. However, we own a couple of houses in Brooklyn that had been in the family. Too many neighbors thought they could take advantage of our mostly not being in residence to park in our driveway. One of the family would arrive in Brooklyn for a Shabbos or simcha and find our driveway occupied. So, the gates went up, along with warning signs not to block the driveway by parking in front of the curb cut on the street.
I am in Brooklyn now, having driven in last night so I could make the cemetery rounds this morning. Glad to be able to have just hit the remote and open the gates, as there was no parking on the block. As long as I am paying the taxes and maintaining the property its use is restricted to my family and invited guests. That stranger lingering in the driveway is just a inconsiderate trespasser.BTW>>>>in an emergency every second counts, imagine getting into your car in the garage to rush a family member to the ER and find someone parked in your driveway for their convenience…sheer chutzpah.
We have gates on our driveways. No stranger can pull in and park/stand there.
Probate Court in Connecticut, filing adoption and name change papers for a client. Court was suspended when the news came over the Judicial Marshal’s radio and the building ordered evacuated and closed.
The judge handed the baby to me and asked that Mrs. CTL and I assume temporary guardianship until government might return to normal. The adoptive parents were heartbroken, but after 10 days we were able to complete the adoption.No,
I get my flu shot the first week of October. My insurance company won’t pay if less than 365 days since last year’s flu shot.Some people replace them as soon as new models come out, others don’t.
I need a smartphone for business purposes. I avoided getting one as long as possible.
This month will be six years since the iPhone 5S came out. It cost me $100 from Verizon and a year’s extension of my contract.
On 09/20 I will have been using it SIX years. I see no reason to replace it. I don’t need more storage capacity. I have no music on it. I take pictures for business purposes and as soon as I send them to my computer and know they are saved there, I delete them from the phone.
I have never broken a phone so I can’t speak to repair vs. replacement.My kids laugh at me for using an older model. There is a drawer in the office with their discarded iPhones: 6s, 6Splus, 7, 8 10, etc, etc. Maybe the grandchildren will use them someday. Mrs. CTL still uses a flip phone. She keeps it in the car for emergency use only, never brings it into the house.
Has your 21 year old learned a trade, finished the required education to get a professional or tradesman’s license; prepared to work and earn enough of a living to support a wife/children without parental or government welfare?
If the answer is no, he is not prepared for marriage@Lakewhut
My disdain for Trump is no secret, but this comment is not just about him.
“Huju he’s a Wharton graduate. So don’t play the uneducated card if you don’t have a similar one”
I am a Wharton graduate, as are two of my children. My father did not buy my way in, and I did not buy my children’s admission.
Similar to Legacy student George W Bush at Yale, legacy and donor admittees receive what are called Gentlemen’s ‘C’s and a diploma. They cut many classes and professors are not allowed to give them failing grades.
Donald Trump did his early college days at Fordham as a commuter and then daddy bought his way into Wharton as a transfer student. He did not gain admission through his high school transcript, SAT and Achievement test scores.Students such as Trump and GW Bush cheapen the value of an Ivy League diploma and are resented by other students who earned their own admission. Compare this to the current scandal of buying your way into college with fake sports achievements. There are trials going on right now to convict parents and coaches,
@The Little I Know
I am also licensed in NY and do some work there, generally in Westchester County and upstate, not the city or Long Island,
I know about the Get Law. Any Civil Divorce I handle that involves Jewish clients has as part of the agreement that a Get will be obtained within X amount of time and be paid for by Y party. This agreement removes the impediment to remarriage and has satisfied the judges I have appeared before (I use this in CT also). I had a husband who refused to make the appointment for the Get as agreed in the Civil Divorce (I represented the wife) I hauled him back before the divorce judge on a contempt motion. The judge told him that if the terms of the divorce were not complied with the now ex-husband would be held in contempt, fined and jailed. The judge did not consider this a religious issue which could violate First Amendment rights, but a contract issue. The Get was just one required step for which there had been an offer, acceptance and consideration making the contract biinding on the parties. The appointment for a Get was made within 48 hours and one issued in 10 days.The Get Beis Din which you refer to is the type I use most often. The sofer is the Dayan, his driver is often on of the three, or they are the aforementioned Rebbis from the local Chabad Day School. Again, because the Civil Divorce has already been granted they don’t have to deal with settlement, custody, counseling to save the marriage. They just make sure there is a kosher divorce and that the parties are free to remarry and that any future offspring will mt be momzerim.
BTW, as I have posted before over the years, I will not handle a divorce for a Jewish client unless they agree in advance to a get. It does not matter whether they are frum or reform, that’s my standard. These are not considered forced gittim (I asked the shailah decades ago) because the person seeking to engage my services is free to hire any other licensed attorney in the jurisdiction.
That said less than 5% of my divorce cases involve Jewish clients and I prefer it that way.
@akuperman
” the process of the “Get” and the government’s divorce is quick, easy and not expensive. ”
I know you are an American who lives in Israel. I assume your comment about the government’s divorce is referring to America.
Every jurisdiction in the USA has different rules and timetables for divorce. I am licensed and practice family law in 4 states, mostly in CT.
In CT, a divorce decree cannot be granted less than 90 days after filing a suit for divorce. The couple must have gone through counseling prior to the divorce being granted. Parenting/Co-parenting classes are also required if there are minor children involved.
I have seen many a couple get before a judge after the 90 day wait and be asked if they had been to room XXX and had there counseling approved as well as a certificate for the court approve parenting classes. This comes as a shock to many, as they thought if they presented an agreement it was just rubber stamped and the divorce decree issued.
Furthermore, in CT, a judge has the right to reserve decision in any civil case for up to 120 days after the conclusion of the trial. I have seen judges use the threat of a delay to try to get clients to settle. This happened to one of my clients last year. He had offered his wife an equal share of everything after an 8 year marriage, they had no children. The wife wanted more and wouldn’t settle. They ended up with a 4 day trial. After the sides rested, the judge again asked the parties to try to settle. The wife said no. The judge reminded her he could hold judgement for up to 120 days. In fact, he held judgement for 112 days.The longest civil divorce I handled was in Florida. The wife wanted to financially decimate the disabled husband. He had a multi-million dollar settlement from an accident and had not been expected to live more than a couple of years. Apparently he didn’t die fast enough for the wife’s liking so she sued for divorce. The case took more than 5 years. and more than $400,000 in legal fees were racked up. there were no children and all real property was owned by a family trust. It was just about stocks, bonds, cash and pensions. The wife died within 3 months after the divorce ended. It is 9 years later and the disabled husband is still alive.
The easiest way to procure a rabbi who will facilitate the Get and not try to change your mind is to already have completed a civil divorce, custody and alimony arrangements (if need be) and no no longer be living under the same roof.
Rabbis generally accept those circumstances as a fait accompli. As a family law attorney who has handled divorces for many decades I am speaking form my clients’ experiences. I and a number of Jewish divorce attorneys keep a file of Rabbis who can move things along.
Locally, I use a Chabad rabbi (multi generation family in the community). He has one quick phone call with both divorcing parties, arranges a convenient date and brings in a scribe from NY and supplies the eidim from his school staff.
From start to finish can be as quick as ten days,
Some clients don’t deal with a Rabbi, instead they call a Beis Din directly.Unlike years ago, now one must make sure the Get is issued by an authority recognized by the Rabbanut in Israel if there is a chance of either remarriage there or additional children that may be born who might want to marry in Israel in the future.
Take the cash.
I and clients have been burnt when we have points banked and the airline, hotel company, car rental company either go out of business or merge and the points either become worthless or worth less.@DovidBT
I have no idea……I’ve never given it thought and haven’t seen a movie in many years@Lucy
Thank you.
My eldest brother is a prolific author, more than 40 books published.I have written only three over the years, all out of print: A Euro-Traditional Kosher Cookbook (1978), and 2 Family Law Textbooks in 1984, One to Massachusetts and the other to Connecticut standards. Since most states have adopted a common code and procedure and states don’t test this way on their bar exams anymore there never was a need to update these.
Mrs. CTL is currently writing a book that deals with our lives, family, careers and adventures. There is an editor and publisher interested, but the final decision to publish will be hers.
I might contemplate another book after I fully retire in a few years, I don’t know that it would sell, but I’d like future generations of our family to know how we arrived on these shores 150 years ago and managed to both prosper and stay frum while integrating into American life.@Gadolhadorah
The government has to be cautious who they place children with. There is a great liability if bad things happen.
When Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, there were thousands of youth (American Citizens) shipped to the mainland to attend school while PR rebuilt.
They had to first be assigned to licensed foster parents, unless a close family relationship could be proven (sibling, aunt, uncle, grandparent). CT DCF set up a rush licensing course for secondary relatives (Cousins, etc) that took 7 days of classes, home visits and background checks. Normally, the licensing process takes a minimum of 6 months.
Government can act fast if it wants to do so.@CoffeeAddict
It’s no secret that Joseph’s daughter loves spending the summer in our home, with all my progeny
BUT, I don’t take adoption lightly.
Our youngest daughter was adopted in China. The experience was trying, painful and expensive, but worth it.American government officials at many levels don’t understand US adoption/citizenship laws.
When she wanted to get a drivers license, CT Motor Vehicle Dept insisted on a copy of her Green Card and Naturalization papers.
BUT, the law is that a child adopted abroad by American citizens is instantly a US Citizen. She did not have to be naturalized. She has a birth certificate issued by the State Of CT Probate Court at the time her name was legally changed from the birth Chinese name to the name of our choosing.
I had to climb through 6 layers of management at DMV and finally to their chief Counsel and provide him a copy of the State Department directives that declare this instant citizenship. For years DMV had been turning away adoptees and not issuing licenses. Now there is a procedure manual in every CT DMV branch clarifying this.
When she wanted a US passport to travel to EY, it was denied. Why? The passport office insisted on a valid Green Card. Something she never had or needed. It took a call from our Congressman to straighten this out.
Even registering to vote was an issue because her CT Birth Certificate lists China as place of Birth.
This is not unusual, there are many children born abroad who are US Citizens. Getting a US Birth Certificate is common.
Educating Civil Servants in the law is hardWhile many of you are making light of this.
Adoption is a serious matter.
I speak from personal experience as an adoptive parent and professional experience as a Family Law attorney who has handled many adoptions in Probate and/or Surrogate’s Court.As mentioned above I have no problem with the old system of sponsoring immigrants and guaranteeing they will not end up as public charges.
Immediately after WWII, my zaidy Z”L sponsored more than a hundred survivors, bringing them from the DP camps and providing jobs in his clothing factories. In 1956, my father Z”L sponsored a dozen Jewish families who escaped the Hungarian uprising.A legal adoption involves home studies by licensed professionals and proper documentation and court approvals, both in the country where the adoption takes place and where the adopted person settles with the new parents. One mistake can cause a lifetime of grief and aggravation.
It is neither cheap or quick.Lakewhut
The OP did not ask if there was gun control, he asked for an opinion which I gave. I NEVER posted that there is not gun control.
Personally, I would like much more gun control. I believe in the 2nd Amendment and that any member of a well regulated (by the government) has the right to bear arms, just as law enforcement and the military. I am not in favor of private citizens owning guns. We don’t have to hunt for food, we go to the store and buy it.Police can and do respond in a timely manner. In Dayton it was less than 30 seconds, but the large load clip and assault style firearm is faster than that. No average citizen needs bump stocks, large load clips of that type of gun. Congress banned them before and should do it again.
Being anti-gun is not a Democrat idea. I belong to Citizens Against Gun Violence. We have as many Rs as Ds as members here in CT.
I would not feel any safer knowing you had a gun, I’d actually feel less safe.Will gun control stop all mass shootings?
Will making heroin illegal stop its abuse?The quick answer is no, BUT
Gun control will reduce the number of mass shootings. We saw that during the years we had an assault type weapon ban in place
Heroin is already illegal, so your question is flawed.
However, there are some people who might not try the illegal drug because of fear of the consequences of conviction of breaking the law.Why ask this only of Democrats/Libs.
I know both Republicans and Conservatives in favor of Gun Control (I live within a 20 minute ride of Sandy Hook).
I don’t personally know a single adult advocating that heroin be made legalGo Google the lyrics to ‘Do you love me?’ from Fiddler on the Roof.
It really deals with this question well@Coffee Addict
After Tisha B’Av we are entitled to levity and joy.
I closed the office for the day.
My family is all here at the compound. 85 degrees, sunny. The swimming pool is refreshing.
Just grilled a load of rib steaks, asparagus and native sweet corn for supper.
Tonight’s entertainment was a sons/nephews vs. sons-in law/nieces’ husbands basketball game. Aftler Maariv we shall set off legal fireworks.Who needs to fight traffic to the Catskills or pay through the nose for camp. All the under 18 grandchildren, nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews have been here since school ended in June. The single 18-23 year olds will be here for bein hazmanim or until college/grad school starts. Mrs. CTL and my siblings are also here to enjoy and supervise. No worries about predators in camp counselor clothing. If at all possible family supervision is best, be it leisure, learning or business.
Jumping to conclusions is the only exercise many CR readers get
“A Cake has to have some flour”
Really??????? Talk to me come Pesach when I make flourless cheesecakes and chocolate cakes
What about a cake of soap?
@DovidBT
In my hometown of New Haven there is a Chabad Shul that serves the 100 or so Chabad families in the neighborhood and bochrim from the Yeshivah Gedolah. They chain the parking lot. Their are several area Chabad shuls that serve the greater Jewish community and they do not chain the lots.
The Chabad shul two blocks from our home in Florida chains the parking lot. There is a lot at the public middle school two blocks the other direction from the shul. Non-frum attendees park there. When my mother was niftara, the price of her adjoining home to ours demanded a hefty premium because it was less than a 5 minute walk to the shul. No one wants much of a walk in Florida summer heat.@Whitecar
I don’t often agree with Joseph, BUT I shall take up the first part of his post.
I was President of an OU synagogue that had an open parking lot 7 days a week. The Rabbi did not object, as long as he had a minyan of shomer Shabbos members, the rest could do as they wished. They made up the bulk of membership and paid the bills. He was not a YU type, but from a major Brooklyn Yeshiva and an honoree of the Agudah at their annual dinner in NY during my presidency.
His father, was Rav at another OU afilliated synagogue in CT and they also had an open parking lot.Here in the country, most Jews do not live within walking distance of shul and many drive. Even the area Chabad shuls don’t chain the parking lots. My local shul is an OU member. We chain our lot, but most of the members drive and park at the church next door. The church members use our lot for overflow parking on Sundays which are not Yuntif.
I can not speak to the OO comment as I have no direct knowledge of that.
@AbbaS
Your logic is faulty
The law says the children must be provided an education. It doesn’t say the state has to pay for it if you don’t follow their rules.
NO vaccine, home school at your own expense. The school systems don’t have to provide homebound teachers@Coffeeaddict
People such as my family, who ate out regularly would new places not in the neighborhood. If we didn’t care for it, no big deal, we’d try someplace else next time.
My grandparents who lived in Brooklyn and the Bronx had cars since the 1920s, so driving to Queens or Manhattan to dine was not unusual. No one had to schlep on the subway or bus.@Redleg
I am old enough to be on Medicare. My 50th High School reunion is closing in.