DaMoshe

There is a kosher Chinese Restaurant not far from there, called Tokyo Hibachi. It’s located in Springfield. I don’t know if they’ll deliver, but it’s only about a 20 minute drive from Basking Ridge.
There’s also a place called Lin’s Kosher Kitchen, in Manville. Again, they probably won’t deliver, but not too far of a drive.

LU: R’ Ovadia zt”l held very strongly that Jews in EY should follow the rulings of the Bet Yosef – he held that the Mechaber was the authoritative posek for EY. He also paskened that although one is supposed to hear Parshas Zachor read in the style they use (so a litvak may not be yotzeh if he hears someone read it with chassidish pronunciation), anyone could hear it with a Sefardic pronunciation, as that is the “proper” way to read it.

As for switching to Ashkenaz, I did that a while ago. There were a few reasons for it. Mainly, as R’ Moshe zt”l wrote, there is no explanation for why the chassidim changed the text of davening, and it was a change to the text that had been used for centuries. Why would I want to use it?

I heard from R’ Mendel Kaplan’s grandson that R’ Mendel worked for a short time as a mashgiach in a slaughterhouse. The Mafia was involved there, and he was pressured to declare things as kosher when they weren’t. He refused to give in, and they didn’t press the issue. One day, a new thug was in the plant, and R’ Mendel declared a cow to be a treifah. The guy insisted that he declare it kosher, and R’ Mendel refused. A minute or two later, R’ Mendel went to use the restroom. When he returned, the carcass of the cow was gone. He asked where it was, and the thug told him not to worry about it. R’ Mendel quit the job, and announced that the slaughterhouse couldn’t be relied upon for kosher meat.

Technically, it probably could be. “State of the Union” is just a name. The Constitution says, “He shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” It doesn’t need to be the huge deal they make it out to be. The president can send an email out to Congress, and it would probably meet the requirement. It actually was done via letters for a long time – from Thomas Jefferson in 1801 until 1913, when Wilson gave a speech in front of Congress. Carter was the last president to give the update in writing, in 1981.

rebshidduch: Why are you so hung up on this guy? Do you really like him that much and want to date him?

I think that “modern” accepted definition of chareidi is not a response to haskalah, it’s a response to the Holocaust. As was noted, the Chazon Ish was the one who really started the Kollel system as it exists today, in response to the loss of so many leaders. I think that the kollel system is the defining characteristic of the modern chareidi movement.

Chassidus has also had a huge impact on the charedi world, with many chumros that chassidim followed being adopted by the chareidi world.

My Rav likes to say that chareidim are those who follow the Torah, and that’s it. He also says that “Modern Orthodox” means those who figure out how to view the modern world through the prism of the Torah. Therefore, he said, the biggest Modern Orthodox rabbonim were R’ Moshe Feinstein, R’ SZ Auerbach, R’ Elyashiv, Chacham Ovadia Yosef, etc. who took the new modern things we have, whether it’s electricity, medical advances, or anything else, and figured out how the halachos we have apply to them.

My 12th grade Rebbe actually told me this too! We used to make a cholent in the dorm for Friday night every week, and weren’t sure about doing it on Rosh Hashanah. We asked him, and he told us this, and said the malach needed to do his job, so we should make a cholent.

LU: Why did I say it?

Because many time$, Rabbi$ have made bad deci$ions about mole$ter$, ignoring the well-being of the ma$$e$ to help protect $pecific people.

In some cases, there was a different motivation. My mother told me that when she was looking into kindergartens for my older brother, there was a specific yeshiva she was looking into. She got anonymous phone calls telling her that there was a known molester there, and it was being covered up to protect the yeshiva. As most know, many details about it came out only a few years ago. The yeshiva world used their political influence to get the pervert a light sentence, without having to register as an offender.

In another community, a girl was molested by the person who was supposed to be the “therapist” (although he had no education in the area). The Rabbis who run the community ostracized her family, and blamed her. They protected the pervert again.

The fact is that they asked the question. I’m sure the Rav who handled it consulted with the Secret Service and anyone else needed to give a psak. We don’t know all the details, and most of us here aren’t Rabbonim, so who are we to speculate on it? Even if we do disagree, it doesn’t reflect on Jared and Ivanka, it reflects on the Rabbi who gave the psak! If they had decided for themselves, I can see where they’d be wrong, but they asked the question. Isn’t that what they’re supposed to do?

yytz: Rewriting halachah doesn’t always need to be allowing things which were forbidden. It can go the opposite way as well.

Chassidim have instituted things which have now reached into mainstream chareidi life, such as separate seating at weddings, dinners, and other events.

Shloimel, you take the book “Frumspeak: The First Dictionary of Yeshivish”, and smash the hat with it until it’s completely unwearable.

After that, you go to Hat Box and buy a new hat.

It’s a regular Modern Orthodox yeshiva. Few if any black hats. It’s a very frum yeshiva, that emphasizes a love of Torah and Judaism. A friend of mine sends his kids there, and they all have excellent middos.

R’ Teitz, who runs the JEC, is probably one of the biggest Talmidei Chachomim around, although he isn’t as widely known as many others.

If I had to choose a chief anti-semite, it would probably be Joseph.

I post on the CR far less than the OP.

Actually, the Pri Megadim (Eshel Avraham 167:38) says that you should not throw food even if it won’t get ruined.

Joseph: The Dati Leumi people are busy learning in the Beis Medrash.

Why is there a chiyuv to help these girls? Many Rabbonim have famously paskened that when it comes to children receiving a Jewish education, it is considered dinei nefashos. Indeed, some were even machalel Shabbos to deal with these issues.

If you saw someone drowning, would you say “It’s not my business!” and walk away? You’d be transgressing an issur d’Oraysa in doing so – Lo saamod al daam re’acha!

If a girl doesn’t have a school, it’s considered pikuach nefesh. Everyone who is able to help has an obligation to do so.

As for the Five Towns and high tuition, I can’t speak for all schools, but I can speak about the yeshiva I went to, Darchei Torah. Darchei’s tuition is not cheap. But if someone can’t afford it, they will work with the person to find out what they can afford. I personally know of families who not only paid no tuition at all, but had R’ Bender help them out. I remember when I was in the yeshiva, R’ Bender would meet with every boy before Pesach and find out if they needed a new suit, or a new hat for Yom Tov. If it was needed, he would pay for it.

Yes, tuition is high pretty much everywhere in the US. I just think about it the same way I think about other things. One day, I will be giving a din v’cheshbon, and they may ask me, “How much did you value your children’s Jewish education?” I will be able to answer, “I gave up vacations, a big house, a fancy car, and many other things, and made their education my top priority!” Money all comes from Hashem, and He gives us what we need.

yehudayona: My brother was there when he spoke about it, and he told me what was said.

Yes, he objected to the promises they made, not how they distribute the money. But he said taking money with false promises is pure stealing.

I saw another scam on the front page – Kupat Ha’Ir, who R’ Matisyahu Salomon said are thieves, had an ad.

Joseph, what does MO have to do with it?

IIRC, a bunch of Daati Leumi Rabbonim came out and opposed the parade.

Someone told me a great story about kibbudim.

This guy married a geyores. Her family was used to family being “part of the wedding”, like bridesmaids, groomsmen, etc. They didn’t understand how a Jewish wedding works, and they wanted to be participants.

The couple came up with a great idea. They told her family, “Did you ever see in movies how at a Jewish wedding, the bride and groom are lifted up in the air on their chairs? That’s something reserved for very close friends. We’d like to honor you with lifting the chairs!” Her family was thrilled with it!

147: I believe that the Yekkes give a speech at the chuppah for that reason.

At my wedding, I gave Krias HaKetubah as the 2nd “highest” honor. I’ve mentioned that I learned in Darchei Torah. I was in a smaller, half-day yeshiva while I was in college, which was also the time I got married. That Rosh Yeshiva was my mesader kiddushin, and R’ Bender shlita read the ketubah.

We almost had to switch things up – R’ Shteinman was in the US at the time I got married, and my father-in-law is close with him. There was a possibility that he was going to come to the wedding, and how can you not have him be the mesader kiddushin if he’s there? In the end he couldn’t make it, so things stayed as planned.

Because almost nobody says that Memorial Day shouldn’t be celebrated.