Ex-CTLawyer

Golfer…………….
I have a sister in law whose nephew (no blood connection to me) was brought up in a Conservative Jewish household. He observes Shabbos, keeps kashrus according to the standards set by the United Synagogue of America, graduated JTS and is a Conservative pulpit rabbi.

He is not frum, but to call him non-observant is pejorative. He observed the law according to the rules of his movement. He is Jewish, not frum.
That’s why I disagree with the term.
If he observed no ritual/belief then he’d be non-observant

@KnPanel

It would not matter how many K-12 same sex Yeshivos are opened in OOT communities. Non-observant Jews will not send their children. The exception is in cities with terrible public schools which are majority minority (in the US that means Black and Hispanic).
Non-observant Jews who fled to suburbs after integration in the 1960s chose communities with excellent public school systems that prepare their children for top colleges and universities and careers in the secular world.
They have no interest in private Jewish education that is same sex and vastly inferior in terms of secular education.
They have no interest in a self imposed Ghetto…that’s why they live OOT.
This does not apply to the observant population.

Written by someone who lives OOT in a small suburban community, who moved from the deteriorating city he grew up in by choice. Who raised his family in a one frum shul town and drove the kids to yeshiva in the nearby city and sent them away for high school, mesifta and seminary…then to college and Law School.

95% of the Jews in my town are ‘non-orthodox’ they have no interest in private Jewish schools.

BTW>>>the description ‘non-observant’ is pejorative and offensive. Non-frum or non-orthodox Jews may observe the norms/rules of Judaism as laid out by their branch of Judaism (Conservative, Reform). It may not be what this community considers Torah Judaism, but they are Jews (unless following Reform Patrilinear determination). When the shoah arrived, they didn’t check to see if you were frum before requiring you to wear a Yellow star, live in a ghetto or worse.

Importance of Life Insurance….a different perspective

Sidestepping halachic viewpoints (and my Rav believes in life insurance).
Here in CT (where my family law practice is).
If a couple divorces and a spouse is ordered to pay alimony and/or child support, it is standard practice that the civil courts require that spouse to carry life insurance for the entire term of the alimony and/or child support so the ex-spouse and/or children don’t suffer economically if the paying spouse dies, AND the government doesn’t end up supporting them through social welfare programs.

I own both sizes………….
My 17″ is set up on a desk and never travels.
My 15″ is often in a case and goes into court with me. I find 17″ models to be cumbersome to tote around

Most people use laptops the way we used to use desktops. They spend their entire life on a desk or table plugged into an electrical outlet.

In our legal offices 90% of our employees use laptops, 17″ in the office and 15″ or smaller to take to clients, court, etc.

My mother always sent the ironing out. She’d do the washing and drying and every week a basket to be ironed would be dropped off at the home of our ironess.
Today, the only things that get ironed are my dress shirts (which I send out), pillow cases (not copper) and table linen.
Our youngest daughter always did that ironing, but now that she is newly married, we’ll have to do it ourselves.

@mentsch1
There were no states under the English King, just an assortment of colonies. Thus the states did not pay more taxes than the average British citizen. In fact political divisions don’t pay taxes, individuals (and now businesses do).
“Can anyone deny it?”
I just refuted it

They accumulate no more dust than other surfaces and yes they must be dusted.
The chair rails in my office are natural wood with a clear stain and need weekly dusting, the chair rails in our kitchen are painted with a high gloss paint and only need dusting about once each month.

We have crown moulding in the living room and it is dusted weekly with an extended swiffer, this is no different than dusting the surface where the walls meet the ceiling so that no cobwebs, etc. accumulate

@mammele
Mrs. CTL ordered a Roomba last June. She wanted it for the room where we feed our dogs. There is always kibble all over the floor.
The Roomba was great at swatting the kibble and sending it flying into the corners, but not in sucking it up.
The vacuum was more than $600…it went right back for a refund

My local hospital of choice operates 7 of these centers. All of my doctors/surgeons have sold their practices to this same hospital.
So, when I have an occurrence that needs immediate attention, or I don’t feel like waiting for an appointment with my internist, I head there. They are open 7 days each week from 8 am to 8 pm.
They have access to all of my medical records.
I pay a $20 co-pay to see my primary physician, and $25 to use urgent care.
Why wait until Monday to try to make a doctor’s appointment if you think you have a sinus infection? For $5 more I can book an appointment on line, not have to wait when I show up and start a Z-Pak treatment that day.

Moot Point…………….
Here in Southern Connecticut, all we saw was Cumulus Clouds….no evidence of an eclipse

@lesschumras
I never used the term Jim Crow. I am an attorney, I specifically referred to legal discrimination in public education which was found legal by the US Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson (which stood for more than 50 years).

@Huju
Most white southerners did not own slaves. The average soldier in the Civil War was supporting his state. This was on both sides. The idea of fighting for the country really evolved much later. Soldiers didn’t join up to the US Army or the CSA Army, they joined units such as the 1st Illinois or Lee’s Army of Virginia.

The statues erected in the late 19th and early 20th Century south were rallying spots for those practicing discrimination, much of it legal. Plessy v. Ferguson (separate but equal) was the law of the land until the 1950s and Brown v. Board of Education, These statues were not rallying points for slavery which was no longer legal.
I don’t agree that a statue on a town green commemorating local boys/men who answered the call and fought for their state and country is a bad thing. This is quite different than statues of Generals on horseback used to foster ill feeling towards African-Americans and other minorities.

I live in a town settled in the 1600s. On Memorial Day American Flags are placed on the graves of deceased service men and women. We don’t skip those who served in the local militia under a Royal Governor before the Revolutionary War.
There is no reason to erase history, better to use it as a teaching tool.

Remember, here in the north, we call it the Civil War. Some in assorted places call it the War Between the States (which reinforces my point about soldiers joining up to support a state, not a country), BUT in parts of the deep south, especially those areas who suffered the carpetbaggers of Reconstruction, it is known as the War of Northern Aggression.

@huju
Hanging behind my office desk as I type is a framed $1,000 Confederate States of America Bond bearing coupons for six percent interest. Issued in late 1864, the purchaser was only able to redeem 2 interest coupons ($30 each) before the war was lost and so was his investment.
I don’t think of this as a tribute to the racist south, but an interesting piece of American political and banking history.
As for the statues, I believe that states are entitled to have statues of their sons who donned uniforms and fought to protect their states. This is fine from a historical perspective, but when they become rallying points for a return to a system of discrimination, their misuse is the problem, not the statues themselves.

Proud to have voted for Clinton. Hope you’re all satisfied with the offensive buffoon in the White House. Who will he offend next?

The only thing I’d thank Trump for is his resignation and his permanent leaving the USA.
Her certainly has provided no service to the American people.
He has cost us untold millions in expenses
He and his family are the epitome of trash
A thrice married adulterer is no role model
I’d like to see the whole clan in prison, but don’t want the expense.

After they finish tearing down Confederate statues, let them start tearing down the Trump name from buildings, golf courses, etc.

@Lightbrite
Mrs. CTL is a designer/builder/realtor
I asked her your question…………..
This is true of Generation Xers
She has found that Millenials:
#1 are less apt to buy, they are swamped with student debt
#2 tend to entertain at restaurants, not their homes and don’t want the large entertaining spaces
#3 find security in compartmentalization>>>goodbye Great Room and breakfast bar leading from kitchen to family room. Hello formal dining room, a kitchen that is closed off so guests don’t see the mess and smell what’s cooking while visiting

The days of the McMansions are over, house size has been decreasing for a decade. Millenials don’t want to care for 2-5 acres of land and a 5 Bedroom 5 bath, 3 car garage home.

Mrs. CTL and I have 5 children, all are married. No child has more than 4 children (so far). Only the youngest who just married is living in a house with an open floor plan, and she didn’t choose it, we gave her the use of MIL’s home next door, as we moved MIL in with us this year for health reasons. She is the almost millenial, born in 1997. She is already asking about renovating the house, closing off the kitchen and creating a formal dining room.

@Joseph
I believe that able bodied adults should lose welfare benefits if they refuse work (including work assigned by the government).
Last year, the city welfare office in the largest city near me required able bodied adults who were collecting city welfare benefits to shovel snow at city schools, parks, etc. Nothing wrong with that.

@Joseph
You are attributing words to me that never were typed by me.
“CTL, yet you do mind the even smaller amount of government entitlement benefits collectively given to “black hat” Jewish families.”
My comment asking about the difference between Black Welfare Queens and Black Hat Welfare Queens was to show the bias, prejudice and hypocrisy of some posters.

I have no problem with the truly needy receiving government benefits that they legitimately qualify for. I don’t tolerate lying, cheating and fudging applications to get the benefits.

I do believe in workfare. Able bodied adults must perform public work in order to receive benefits.

@Nevillechaimberlin

Just because I said something made sense, does not mean I agreed with it. It was a radical proposal by a very Conservative talk show host who wanted to be mayor of NYC.
His point, knowing that this could never be an enforcable law, was that after 2 out of wedlock children a mother would receive no additional welfare benefits for more kids.

Sorry,
in America, most youngsters have to struggle to learn Chumash and Rashi in a language they do not understand>>>>>HEBREW. My first year of elementary yeshiva we had three books: Raishis Daas to learn the aleph beis, sfer B’reishis to learn Chumash, and a Shilo Siddur (because the print was large. More than 60 years later I still remember that the Shma was on page 59 and the Shemona Esrai began on page 64.
I did not encounter any Yiddish being used for instruction until I was in High School and my rebbeim were all born in pre-war Europe. It was not a language I ever heard used by my parents or grandparents. BUT, I was fluent in Hebrew and German (Oma taught me) and I got by.

@Joseph
I haven’t seen any thread where such a comment would have been appropriate for me to make.

Remember the Bob Grant proposal for mandatory sterilization of welfare moms after 2 out of wedlock children (1970 or so). It was extreme and unconstitutional but made sense

BTW>>>>what’s the difference between the black welfare queens you mention and black hat welfare kings besides prejudice?

The halachik difference is that one is a group of Jews.

@niceJewishboy
A reality check is NOT an attack.
Too many yungermen have terrible secular educations. They have been sold a bill of goods about short cuts to college degrees. Degrees that are meaningless in the real (secular) world.

I’m an employer in a sophisticated field (law) that required multiple degrees. I also teach law. I know the difference between a real degree and a scheme.
There are many holding degrees who lack good writing skills, they are not to be hired by me or my colleagues.

It is not just Yeshiva grads who have bad English grammar and composition skills, most college freshmen in the US require a remedial course.

These are two quite different questions…………………………..
excised

#2 Should we view Satmar anti-Israel Indoctrination as a concern.
Yes and No
Yes for those in the USA who register and vote and support anti-Israel funding. Whether we agree with the secular Zionist government or not, Israel is America’s only true ally in the middle east and neccessary to protect our interests and safety (the Mossad and Shin Bet supply invaluable information about situations worldwide)
No for those who live in EY and demonstrate against the government. They are viewed as a crackpot minority, they are too small in number to have any real effect except to make Jews a laughing stock in the world media. They have proven that they can’t get along with themselves (split into 2 groups hating and suing each other) why would we expect them to get along with other ‘normal’ Jews?