☕ DaasYochid ☕

The ones bottled in Mexico are approved/recommended by both the cRc and Star-K.

Do the heimish store owners also tell you that there’s no difference between a $6 shirt and a $40 shirt?

Or slash their tires and smash their windows, since apparently in Adar, you’re allowed to cause property damage.

Rema71123, what what?

I’ve been wearing the same style hat for the past decade or longer.

The CD is called “Together”, as is the song, which is the second track.

They don’t make money on generics.

Do you mean cassette tapes? I don’t think they make them any longer, but anyhow, that division was spun off and is now a French company called Emtec which makes computer data storage media.

Not according to Wikipedia.

I tried it once, but beer gives me a headache.

how they “look noticeably better”

Mostly shape. A well shaped hat vs. a cheap one makes the entire face look better.

When did style become more I important than substance?

They want both. Didn’t you buy a “new” (albeit relatively affordable) shaitel for your son’s chasunah? I’m sure there were other wardrobe/makeup/jewelry expenses as well, for you and others in your family as well. Wasn’t the “substance” the simcha, not appearance? The answer is that we care about both. Caring about one’s appearance doesn’t mean the person is shallow and lacking substance (although to an extreme, it does, a Borsalino is not extreme).

So why don’t they eat it on Yom Tov?

i dont think Rabbi Dovid Meisels was saying that one should only eat foods that our ancestors ate. i think that he was saying that the food served at melava malka should be like the food served st the shabbos meals.

I don’t think he’s pro sushi or pizza, but I do agree that that’s his main point.

DY: I have long been leery of those stats of OTD rates for several reasons

We’ve discussed this. I do believe the numbers, even if true, are misleading, but no doubt they’re higher than in the yeshivish community.

Interestingly, they were quoted by a modern Orthodox rav, so his agenda wasn’t to besmirch MO, but perhaps to garner attention to the problem.

it’s probably Mistaber if it’s true for the reason ZD said

Again, not if true in the communities which do speak English and have a secular education.

Who set those expectations, based on what criteria, how legitimate are they and what happens if they are not met now, or at some time in the future.

For the most part, it’s a matter of meeting basic expenses. If a bochur wants to learn for X amount of years, and the support promised doesn’t reasonably give him that opportunity, and there are other shidduchim to pursue, he will pursue those.

In my experience, most Torahdik families do not go overboard in their expectations. There are always exceptions, and those stories, true or exaggerated, get the most attention.

ZD, your force feeding cholent case is precisely what I’m talking about – it’s clearly not the cholent that’s the issue, it’s the abusive father.

Fair point about MO vs. Satmar, but the OTD rate among secularly educated “chareidim” is still far lower than among the “modern orthodox”. So you can’t dismiss the notion that keeping a more stringent form of Yiddishkeit is a form of being more committed to it (not exclusively, and not to the exclusion of other forms) and showing that it’s not just a burden which should be thrown off as much as possible.

I think you missed my halachic point on lifnei iver.

Nechomah: I would like to know where it says that she must buy paper towels for Pesach.

Come, now, you don’t think paper towels make Pesach preparations easier? We must go through more than a case of them every year.

ZD: DY now we are talking about semantics

There’s a world of difference between “assur” and, “It is appropriate to urge people not to…” which, as someone who learns halacha a bit, I can tell you is far from being merely semantics. I also do not think minhag is stronger than halacha.

Ive even seen people use “LIfnei Evir”

It’s a real shailah whether there’s lifnei iver on something you hold is assur and the other holds is muttar. To oversimplify, the Shaar Hamelech holds there is, and the Ksav Sofer and others hold there isn’t. It probably depends on whether lifnei iver is a general issur, or it’s a part of each individual issur, and we probably pasken that such a case is muttar. I’m sorry if halachic discussion makes you uncomfortable, but at least on my part, discussing lifnei iver, or cholov Yisroel, or not using an eiruv, or cholent on Motzaei Shabbos is not meant to condemn anyone who does or doesn’t do these things.

I care because I truly believe that its damaging to Yiddishkeit to make such chumras as Hamaser or this no Pizza at Melava malka is as damaging or worse than YCT. There are many people who even follow these rebbes who really shouldnt be following these chumras and at some point reach the point of Dayenu and just leave

What’s Hamaser? Anyhow, we’ve discussed this before, and I’ll reiterate that I strongly believe that chumras don’t send people off the derech, but the WAY they’re imposed can, and that’s a symptom of an abusive parent or teacher, the chumra not itself the cause. It is laughable to think that someone will go OTD because Rabbi Dovid Meisels thinks pizza shows contempt for Melave Malka.

OTOH, if you look at families which tend to rely on too many kulas, the kids can get a sense that being frum is a burden, ch”v, and I think that’s a much worse issue. I believe this is part of the reason we find a far higher rate of OTD r”l in self identified “modern” families. (This has more to do with attitude than any particular kula.) One can bury themselves in the sand and think it isnt happening, but it is.

DaMoshe: I like how he writes, “even if the pizza has a reliable hechsher certification.” Why is that an “even”? If it doesn’t have it, you shouldn’t be eating it any day of the week!

That is poorly worded, but I think that’s his way of stressing that he’s not referring to a kashrus issue, but a matter of how to treat Melava Malka.

My opinion on style is worth no less than a hat seller’s. It might be worth more, because I have no financial interest.

Why isn’t restarting an eitzah?

Anyhow, try blocking the whole video category. Also, put an extra layer of filtering on. I use OpenDNS on my router.

Wiktionary’s definition of boycott: To abstain, either as an individual or group, from using, buying, or dealing with someone or some organization as an expression of protest.

Google definition: withdraw from commercial or social relations with (a country, organization, or person) as a punishment or protest.

Dictionary .com definition: to combine in abstaining from, or preventing dealings with, as a means of intimidation or coercion: “to boycott a store.”

You are assuming that Borsalinos go along with luxury apartments and leased cars. They usually don’t.

I don’t know precisely what the cost of living in Lakewood is, but it starts at less than 50k, and anyhow, in the vast majority of cases, the girl’s father does not undertake to fully support the young couple regardless of income or expenses. It’s usually a set amount, and far, far less than the numbers you’re using.

Most brands of paper towels are cheaper than Bounty.

Goq, is there another yeshiva in the US with even close to as many shidduch age bochurim as BMG?

The rabbi is too busy for that

That’s his job.

By the way, ZD, I’m curious – where did you see this issur of eating pizza on Motzaei Shabbos?

Anyway, I have a young female relative in Shidduchim. She has been told that some bochurim are expecting 10 years of support. That’s like a half million dollars.

$50k per year? I’ve never heard that. Ten years is high, but not unheard of.

There are plenty of very nice bochurim who expect much, much less.