daniela

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  • in reply to: Ta'arovet Hametz kadma l' Pesach #936223
    daniela
    Participant

    I use extra-virgin olive oil and peel most fruits and vegetables year-round and I never craved peels or corn oil (which by the way is not very healthy). Back to Pesach, as I am sure your Rabbis taught you, Askhenazim are forbidden to eat kitniyot but may eat food cooked and served in keilim used for kitniyot, in fact, even a grain of rice that should fall in the Askhenazi’s dish is no concern at all (if it’s not dissolved but is still recognizable as a seed, he has to put aside and avoid eating it). In the old world, Askhenazim have been eating in Sefaradi homes for centuries during Pesach, and Sefardim have been eating kitniyot in Askhenazi homes during Pesach for centuries as well. Please explain us why refraining from ***kitniyot*** makes a kitchen more “Askhenazi-friendly”.

    in reply to: Ta'arovet Hametz kadma l' Pesach #936220
    daniela
    Participant

    Your approach is corroborated by the Shulchan Aruch and “R'” Ovadia Yosef? Did I read that right?

    Rabbi Abadi’s sons have a website on the internet and it has Q&A forum which also discusses at length Pesach food issues for Sefaradim in USA. May I point out that nowhere do they advocate that Askhenazim with an established family minhag in regards to avoiding soy, peanuts, corn etc, should eat them. Some examples (no links, but click on an answer and replace the number) 37603 about popcorn “please follow your Rabbi when it comes to corn, soy and peanuts for Ashkenaz”; 52383 about corn pasta “ok for Sephardim. for Ashkenazim follow your Rabbi” and anyone can search the forums for more.

    Gavra-at-work I am afraid I haven’t got a mehadrin proofreader, but please feel free to correct any residual mistakes, you have our enthusiastic permission and thanks. 😉 And, yes, he told me that post of mine was very badly written. Apologies.

    in reply to: Nurse Refused To Initiate CPR, What Is Your Opinion? #938772
    daniela
    Participant

    “Yes, in some cases where a pt. is suffering the Rov will permit a DNR -in some cases not. The pt’s. desire is Not given that much consideration. Every case has to be judged up individually! That’s why there are Rabbonim that deal specifically with End of Life issues. It’s Not for your LOR to decide these questions!”

    Health – I agree – but the point is, a Rabbi and posek may allow a DNR when it is halachically permissible, but will hardly ever approve a DNR unless the patient has made clear his/her wish and intention not to be resuscitated. I have no idea if the patient (I assume a nonjew) signed a DNR when entering the facility, and (if she did) whether that was what she wanted to be done or if she was factually coerced (ie lack of similar facilities with a different policy). This seems to me a relevant point.

    If she wanted to be left alone and die peacefully, I can respect that (also, it’s usually less of a problem halachically, because once we start life-support aggressive measures, by the time doctors realize they are futile, they are already in place and respirators outside Jewish hospitals don’t usually have the 24 hours button); but if so, why call emergency services? Why divert essential services who might have been needed elsewhere? Why give grief to the human being who answered the telephone and what did he do to deserve having to stand by impotently while someone was dying, he will keep dreaming and daydreaming this for years, possibly for the rest of his life. The nurse should have held her hand in silence or saying whatever she felt was fitting to the circumstance. Regardless of religion or lack thereof, it seems to me it’s totally disrespectful to stay needlessly on the phone while another human being is dying.

    If it was not what the old lady wanted, then it’s not murder, but it surely is despicable. I don’t care to divide the responsibility among the nurse, the facility administration, the government, the voters – it’s despicable. May those people care for each others, and may we and our loved ones never meet them when we are unwell or “simply” very old.

    PS Of course I fully realize an employee, if caught, jeopardizes and sometimes loses their job by not “following protocol”. There are many nurses who are unafraid of breach of protocol in regards to (at best) increasing certain drugs’ dosage against medical orders, and as a side effect hastening death.

    in reply to: Ta'arovet Hametz kadma l' Pesach #936206
    daniela
    Participant

    Oh my. It is no doubt a terrible, terrible mortification of the flesh to subsist for eight full days upon meat, fish, milk and cheese, fancy exotic fruits and nuts, fancy vegetables, mandelbrot and all sort of sweets, expensive chocolate (no soy lecitin for us) and of course, wine and grappa and slivovitz and cachaca to wash it down, that one should instead crave some canned beans or some cheap corn syrup candy.

    It is none of my concern whether your approach is legitimate (yours – whose? Rabbi Abadi’s? I don’t recall him being in favour of forced draft, for example, much less do I recall Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, quite the contrary; so it’s really rebdoniel’s words, not the words of the Sefaradi Gedolim), please follow whatever derech you want, but as long as you come here and spread misinformation, I will point out your words are misinformation – disinformazia – and a very dangerous mixture of truth and falsehood.

    in reply to: Jews Resisting the Zionist Draft #940121
    daniela
    Participant

    “You cannot build a society of moochers and expect it to work. Plus, neither the Lakewood Mashgiach, nor yourself, have the right or ability to determine what is a legitimate theological premise and what isn’t.”

    *This* is what it really is all about, isn’t it. Not the quinoa and not the corn derivatives. Otherwise you would enjoy not only quinoa and corn, but all kitniyot (aren’t you sefardi? so you are permitted to eat kitniyot, right?) and let everyone else follow their own Rabbi. But the very existance of observant Jews upsets you, and you start with quinoa – and aim at unlearned people, those more likely to be on the internet – and then it turns out chometz gamur is no problem. You don’t even say so in an open manner like the Reforms do, but claiming this is the “halacha”. That’s why some people want all of our children to go in the people’s army, despite the army brass having clearly stated they don’t need or want more people, much less people who request special accommodation.

    Avi K you don’t think those people would become jobniks in the IDF at the taxpayer’s expense, at a much higher stipend and even the coffee machine, where they would station all day long, would be paid by the state; would that be better? Why so? And why it’s so difficult to get rid of conscription and move to a volunteer army as all other modern countries, and then no yeshiva or kollel would have to worry about those people being drafted if they are not registered?

    in reply to: Ta'arovet Hametz kadma l' Pesach #936203
    daniela
    Participant

    Hmmmmm.

    I knew since the beginning where this was going to lead, because normal people don’t have a problem with other people’s stringencies, maybe they don’t take those upon themselves, maybe they even think they are misguided, but do not ridicule those who do, much less on Pesach when we are taught we have to be stricter than usual, because of our habit to eating chometz year-round. Still it is fascinating to watch it unfold.

    It started with quinoa, a seed from the Americas which was unknown in past centuries.

    It continued with corn and corn derivatives, which also come from the Americas, but many have an established minhag to avoid.

    So far it is a discussion on certain seeds and whether or not we should equate them to kitniyot. Of course some communities eat and enjoy kitniyot, that is the real ones, on Pesach, and they may also enjoy the new seeds as long as they’re chometz-free and grain-free. So essentially you are telling the vast majority of Askhenazim that they are wrong in abstaining from the new seeds (I wonder why do people get annoyed if Askhenazi scholars forbid, say, corn for their own Askhenazi followers, scream about Askhenazim supposedly imposing stringencies on Sefardi Jews, and yet, they feel qualified to teach everyone?)

    Wait a few days. Now you are telling us R”L that mamash chometz gamur is fine and dandy to eat on Pesach, you actually give us a number, you claim it’s batel shlishi. And you are stating that saying differently is R”L a sin and people have to beg forgiveness on Yom Kippur. There is more to it. You even suggest that chometz created during the holiday – not only the chometz which came to be despite our best efforts, but also the chometz someone may have created due to laziness and negligence and ignorance – is similarly nullified and that “the original version of the Gemora” is different. You continue with telling us that someone unknown has falsified R”L the Rabbis’ words (must be some chumrah-loving Askhenazi; I wonder how he succeeded in having his supposed modifications accepted unchallengedly by everyone else). So, according to your statement, we are basically following in the footsteps of a mistake or deliberate falsification.

    Did I understand correctly? If I misunderstood, I apologize, but you may want to clarify, because that’s what is written in your post above.

    Perhaps you also believe the parts about karet are falsified? Or you don’t believe in it altogether? Or do you believe it does not apply to you?

    By the way I happen to be a newly-Askhenazite (since 15+years). I do not miss kitniyot and certainly do not miss checking kitniyot. You check kitniyot according to Sefardi minhag, right? Or you don’t care?

    PS You may want to address those people you respect and hold by as RABBI XY, not as R’ (R’=Reb=Mr – why do you use a Yiddish expression in referring to Sefardites?) and not as plain and simple “XY”.

    in reply to: Portable Matza Oven #935711
    daniela
    Participant

    Thank you a lot, you and your family should have countless blessing from your baking on Erev Pesach. It is an unforgettable experience, it’s very moving and it’s unfortunate that we are so ignorant it’s unfeasible. I recall being told that 18 minutes is really a spiritual number and a fence against the strict prohibition, that we don’t get chometz gamur at 18 minutes, but that we have to go by the 18min and be careful and as you wrote, in 7-8 minutes (and a lot of sweat) it’s finished, if there are enough people one can do a little bit quicker (6 min or so, if I recall right). As for the salt, I remember asking as a child, it’s clear that old-style salt is wet and thus we never use in Pesach cookies (those we make with flour and egg / oil / honey etc) but modern salt, what is wrong with it, and could we not put it in the oven so we make sure it’s dry? Even non-shmura flour (fit for Pesach) may have a little bit of humidity and we are not concerned. I was told this too is a spiritual concept, and I was told something about not using salt and water to bake (which we may imagine is ok to do in a similar way it is possible to add fruit juice or egg or wine etc. to matza – my grandfather was Sefardi) lest it quickens the process. I can’t remember the details, years later I asked Rabbis and I was told we don’t use salt, not even if it’s completely dried, to bake Pesach cookies; and in regards to matzot and salt, my husband has never heard about it, he was not told is forbidden nor is permissible. Sadly there is no one left to ask, from either families. Thank you again.

    in reply to: Jews Resisting the Zionist Draft #940104
    daniela
    Participant

    Indeed I have already hired in the past few minutes a mothertongue english proofreader who is Jewish, but he will do the job for free.

    US English, is that good enough or would you have preferred the Queen’s English? Now perhaps we can return to the discussion, and may I add he did not wish to serve in Vietnam and did not.

    in reply to: Jews Resisting the Zionist Draft #940100
    daniela
    Participant

    Thank you for twisting my words into their exact opposite, thus enhancing the need for a professional English teacher to proofread each one of my posts. I’ll make sure to hire one at the next available opportunity. In the meantime please notice that I meant to say that what happens to us in this world of falsities is partially, but not completely, determined by our moral choices, and it is not at all determined by our preferences e.g. if we have chocolate or vanilla icecream, or whether we choose to be a lawyer, a plumber, or a soldier (all of them honest jobs and all of them necessary to every society). As for our enemies, they already made their (im)moral choice and have decided they are out to murder us G-d forbid, the only doubt is whether they will be successful or whether they will fail, and it is Torah, mitzvot and chessed who determine the outcome, not the IDF budget. Draft the haredim, harass those who do serve in the army (see story in today’s front page of this very website), and watch the country crumple. Mightier enemies did.

    in reply to: So he's ready to turn himself in? #935562
    daniela
    Participant

    crselection I read on a secular newspaper he is stating that he was someplace with the lady and heard shots and assumed some of his enemies (he has a long criminal record) were shooting at him, which is the alleged reason he jumped in the car and drove off, speeding like crazy. After the accident, feeling shaken by the accident and by the alleged shooting, and claiming not having realized that people had died, he says he was in shock and left. Also he does not forget adding his condolences to the record. It is a well-fabricated excuse that won’t hold too much water but he definitely played it well, he is clearly seasoned and savy about how the system works.

    in reply to: So he's ready to turn himself in? #935559
    daniela
    Participant

    Truthsharer, of course you are trying to make a point, you are seeking to suggest the two cases are not different. Let me help you with the differences.

    An accident may happen to anyone, and — may it never happen to us or our loved ones, neither as victims nor as drivers — in an accident it is unfortunately possible to hurt another human being. Sometimes severely (especially if we are driving a vehicle much heavier than the other vehicle, or if they are walking or biking). There is always negligence involved in every accident, we are supposed to be driving in such a way that even if someone else makes a mistake or is reckless, we still are able to stop and avoid the accident. Unfortunately, no one of us drives like that, especially not in NYC and any other city, also because if one did, everyone else honks. Thus, a terrible accident R”L may happen to any of us.

    That a person recklessly plays with firearms and kills someone, goes to prison, after serving a few years he still drives recklessly and under the influence and gets a citation, a few days later he is again driving someone else’s car (could not he ask the lady to drive?), drives at twice the speed limit in a busy area, a terrible accident happens (and he fled the scene), is not something that might happen to a normal, decent person, whether jewish or not.

    in reply to: Internet in Lakewood #934776
    daniela
    Participant

    1. I don’t recall about an obligation to reside in Lakewood. Sure, if we move to a community we have to conform to the accepted custom, but this does not mean we all must or should move to Lakewood.

    2. You now got us very curious, and I imagine other readers too. What are those websites your family asks you to look up for them on your smartphone? are they simultaneously calling you on the cellphone? Why do you think they may be filtered out by a filter? (perhaps you can describe loosely if they are unsuitable to post.) Most of all why do they go through the hassle and expense, and waste your valuable time and their own valuable time, instead of looking up whatever they feel like? Also why should you lose respect for your parents? Ask a question along with all information, if it is permissible you will help, if not permissible you tell them “sorry but I can not help with this”, exactly like if they asked you to be mechalel shabbat, which is much worse than the internet.

    in reply to: Jews Resisting the Zionist Draft #940086
    daniela
    Participant

    If someone suffers or if someone does not suffer, it is not according to our decisions, much less according to the arabs decision. For unfathomable reasons suffering exists, even though we also have a few very understandable reasons that are enumerated and we should try to improve. It is written on Rosh Hashana and sealed on Yom Kippur. What we can decide is whether our suffering will come at the hands of the antisemites or if R”L it will come to happen at the hands of (misguided, sick, evil) fellow Jews. We can also decide if we should be pushed to do aveirot by a fellow Jew and push them to do aveirot, or if we should run away from such situations. I try my hardest to help if I can and if I can’t help I am at least careful not to damage, and I try my hardest not to put stumbling blocks. In the Medinat this is not always easy to achieve.

    in reply to: So he's ready to turn himself in? #935551
    daniela
    Participant

    I am not an attorney but I am under the impression the US criminal law system allows a lot of discretionality (many say too much discretionality) which also includes considerations on whether the defendant is socially dangerous. I agree that the recent driving violation is likely to remain a separate trial, but won’t make the job of his attorney any easier. I have to say that US law rewards hits-and-run: had he waited for police, they would have very likely found him DUI (as the limits are very low), now it’s no longer possible to prove.

    in reply to: So he's ready to turn himself in? #935549
    daniela
    Participant

    I fully realize motor vehicle accidents happen and I also fully realize that even gross negligence is not murder. I also fully realize criminals and even murderers are entitled to legal counsel, in fact I remarked I don’t blame him for seeking legal counsel before police arrest him: it can make a big difference and, as akuperma wrote, being experienced of how criminal law works, he is aware of that. However I wonder what happened to the girl you mention (I don’t remember the story) after the terrible accident (may none of us and our loved ones ever get involved), I would think she is now married with children and drives carefully, or perhaps was so shocked she gave up driving altogether. On the contrary that person has already been negligent with a gun and killed someone, was driving under the influence a few days ago, his own mother told reporters she does not want anything to do with. You can’t compare two completely different incidents, especially not in order to make a (questionable) statement of principle.

    in reply to: So he's ready to turn himself in? #935541
    daniela
    Participant

    I don’t blame this bad person for seeking legal counsel before arrest. I do blame NYPD for this disgusting mockery, with this person able to talk to the media (and say blatant falsities such as that he was shot at – and, the public is very hungry for such blood libels in NYC and elsewhere), able to negotiate with police a deadline for arrest, and so on and so forth. Had the victims been a different ethnicity, this would not have even dreamed about.

    in reply to: Jews Resisting the Zionist Draft #940082
    daniela
    Participant

    You think some women have brains? Thank you so very much, I would never have known otherwise. Does that hold also for those of us who dare contradict you?

    in reply to: Portable Matza Oven #935709
    daniela
    Participant

    Thank you a lot twisted pretzel I am very honored to talk to someone who actually did. How do you do in regards to water? Or are you able to obtain water which has a minhag to be used for matza, and have it resting before you use? And may I ask why do you say 18 minutes, I thought there is no chometz earlier than 18 minutes if we mix Pesach flour and water in a clean manner, but if it is not clean (say, what falls on the floor, maybe there is dirt? maybe salt?) then it may be quicker, do I have this wrong? Thank you again.

    in reply to: Portable Matza Oven #935705
    daniela
    Participant

    Thank you a lot twisted pretzel. May I ask you when is it the latest one may batel the wet flour before it becomes chometz. Also, this is a big help as it guarantees we won’t own or benefit in any way, but still there is a problem as it may contaminate. I think if there is no wooden fire, the easiest is throwing in the toilet, pouring bleach or similar, and flushing, then washing everything we used with nonedible detergent, all this well before 18 minutes. One can do very quickly, of course one at a time.

    We are not doing, this is just discussion for its own sake. Thank you a lot.

    in reply to: Jews Resisting the Zionist Draft #940076
    daniela
    Participant

    She is a Talmudist? Oh I see, actually, compared to that lady, maybe I am a Talmudist too.

    in reply to: Jews Resisting the Zionist Draft #940073
    daniela
    Participant

    GAW so you are of the opinion that many or most Zionist Israelis consider Torah study a waste of time, even worthless than the empty and unreliable Arab promises? I did not believe things were *that* bad, but you may be right.

    in reply to: Jews Resisting the Zionist Draft #940071
    daniela
    Participant

    Palestinian workers come to work in Israel using Israeli buses, pass through Israeli security checks (which are a disproportionate money blackhole, and, if there was hardly any traffic, many of them could be closed, with great savings for taxpayers) which guarantee our security and theirs, use Israeli roads built and maintained by Israeli taxpayers, if they have R”L a work accident or a traffic accident while traveling to work they get Israeli ambulances to carry them for treatment in Israeli first-aid and hospitals and the bill isn’t sent to the PA, they drink from the same faucet everyone else does…. and this is no problem. Why should it be a problem with Haredim?

    in reply to: Jews Resisting the Zionist Draft #940068
    daniela
    Participant

    I think the focus should not be on the number or percentage of victims in the last 60 years versus those before a significant Zionist presence was established, but rather on the next 20-30 years.

    GAW If the Medinat Israel can collect taxes and fees from Israeli and very zionist citizens, employers, corporations, and then trasfer them to the Palestinian Authority e.g. as work taxes towards retirement, even in front of huge and again HUGE debt of such PA + its open involvement into and promotion of terrorist activity and anti-israeli activity, I do not see why this should not be possible for Haredim.

    in reply to: Jews Resisting the Zionist Draft #940052
    daniela
    Participant

    What is your point? I thought this was about the laws of the State of Israel, not about the UK. In the UK there are laws and social benefits and you should not be concerned about citizens and non-citizen residents cashing benefits they are entitled to. As for any antisemitism or other social tensions that may arise, you are in the safe haven aren’t you? Why worry?

    If you are arguing that as Esav has no respect for Torah study which they see as a waste of time and some would like to altogether destroy (eg Italy in the past centuries where Talmud was forbidden to print and study) without realizing the blessings it brings upon them as well, and you are telling us this is how the Zionist feel and there’s no difference, I find it interesting to hear it from a committed Zionist, and I find even more interesting that you still consider yourself a committed Zionist.

    You still have not elucidated what do you mean with “chillul Hashem”. Receiving benefits one is entitled to is in your opinion a chillul Hashem? Refusing such benefits (like the antizionist do) is in your opinion a chillul Hashem? It sounds like you are under the misplaced belief that R”L studying Torah is the chillul Hashem. You should have a refua shleima.

    in reply to: Portable Matza Oven #935703
    daniela
    Participant

    If you bake matza on erev Pesach, your main problem is not the oven, it is the leftovers and everything. You have to get rid of all the wet flour residues, as well as any doubtful that you think are in the oven already but might not be going to cook properly, well before the 18th minute; and “getting rid” in our house (not in a matzo bakery) must be carefully thought out and arranged, also it does take some time. I don’t know how many people are working on it – this is a very important variable. I would advise to practice before Pesach baking matza with the oven or appliance you plan to use. Of course, the hotter the better.

    in reply to: Jews Resisting the Zionist Draft #940044
    daniela
    Participant

    I would hardly trust, be it some Arab among the Levantine and Hashemite contacts of De Haan, or be it Ataturk. The problem is that we are now wary of trusting fellow Jews, as well as their promises (eg brainwashing of Tamani, Maghrebi, Mizrachi children, european orphans etc)

    in reply to: Jews Resisting the Zionist Draft #940039
    daniela
    Participant

    Oh! Now Israel, the jewish motherland (fatherland?), the safe haven of persecuted jews, is compared to hostile countries such as Egypt, Turkey, Syria? By a committed zionist, no less?

    The open internet is not the proper place to discuss how citizens (not necessarily jewish) adjust to such legislation. Suffice to say it’s done not very differently than Jewish Israeli citizens who do not wish to be doing military service, and who wish to work, rather than being full-time Bnei Torah.

    PS In the middle-eastern democracy, non Jews with a similar plan for their life do not have any problem. Strange democracy, are some people more equal?

    in reply to: Jews Resisting the Zionist Draft #940020
    daniela
    Participant

    ROFL! No one made a tumult about Bnei Torah when there were few of those and when they were barely visible! May I point out to the attention of mdd, Bobby Fischer, and whoever else feels like you, we can have ghettoes among the antisemites; if *that* is the purpose of the Medinat, then the Medinat is unnecessary.

    rebdoniel, I agree with you. If the country, despite being welcoming of all sort of lifestyles, can’t accept haredim, then things have to change. Someone is a committed Zionist? they should sign allegiance and have citizenship and serve in the military and in the wars declared by the Knesset and the government those citizens will choose. Everyone else – those who are children or grandchildren of citizens – those who by chance were born in Israel – those who emigrated decades ago – enough demanding from those people and creating trouble if they come to Israel for their relatives’ wedding, enough using these names for padding the statistics of the Medinat, which, despite the dubious “converts” and other “lost tribes”, is not necessarily a country with the same demographic majority as it was in the 60s, and of course, enough with demanding money from abroad, enough with pushing upon us Israeli suboptimal financial investments, enough with requesting we buy “Made in Israel” second-choice goods at outrageous prices, and enough with sending us all sort of drug-users and wierdos and dishonest people who show up, flash their passport and demand, let us at least check if they are jewish or are only registered by the State of Israel as such. As for the Israeli Jews who are uninterested in an allegiance oath, be them Bnei Torah or workers or professionals or anything else, I agree, they should all leave, along with their blessings, and bring their blessings elsewhere. Problem solved. Only one little question, may I wonder what will be done with the other non-zionist citizens of the Medinat? deport them after revoking their citizenship? There are huge lots more than 400 non-zionist Arabs and among them, many are much less silent and quiet than Bnei Torah. Will you guys make a tumult about that?

    in reply to: Jews Resisting the Zionist Draft #940015
    daniela
    Participant

    mdd, what makes you so angry? We are not Israeli citizens and we do not want to be. You want so badly to draft charedim, go ahead, I believe the country will collapse, but, whatever suits you. As for how to do if we should be drafted, and the USA does not draft since 1972 (the last ones were not sent to combat and not even overseas), we are not asking you for advice.

    in reply to: Jews Resisting the Zionist Draft #940012
    daniela
    Participant

    Where did you learn that xian clergy in Europe did not receive automatical exemption from combat? Roncalli was both a military priest and some sort of medic, because he wanted extra money to send to his very poor family. The job of military priest was effortless and well-paid and clergy fought for it (once positions were filled, the rest was dismissed). Garibaldi famously made by mistake a Jew from Naples into a military priest, you did not hear that one?

    in reply to: Jews Resisting the Zionist Draft #940006
    daniela
    Participant

    Chillul Hashem in the eyes of whom? I am becoming really curious. Are the goyim supposed to hate Jews who do not serve in the military? Such hatred does not seem to be arousen in regard to other minorities who refuse military service and that are viewed with sympathy. I don’t recall protests about Baha’i for example, not by israeli nonjews and not by zionists. And are we talking about Israel, or other countries? In most other countries there is not even the shadow of a problem, as military draft does not exist and/or conscience objection is an option.

    in reply to: Jews Resisting the Zionist Draft #940003
    daniela
    Participant

    None in this family is called Joe and I am not sure what or who you are talking about. The US exempted people from the Vietnam war for much, much less than being a pacifist or holding religious beliefs of any sort: for example one could be exempted for college, for work permits abroad e.g. in Canada (or one could do that in reverse, move to Canada AWOL and get a regular work permit, these people had no problem when later returning to USA), for being married with children. You don’t have a problem with, say, the Israeli taxpayer supporting xian clergy and even paying their huge overdue water bills, no problem with the Baha’i and their closed garden in Haifa, neither serve in the military, but the loathed charedim are dishonest parasites? To tell you the truth, I think the Israeli charedim are naive. They should leave the country, preferably renouncing citizenship, then all the problems of the Medinat will be removed. Or maybe not, but you will have to seek for new excuses.

    in reply to: Jews Resisting the Zionist Draft #940000
    daniela
    Participant

    All sort of religious minorities routinely did and do, among the last people to get in trouble for that in a Western country let me mention Mohammed Ali, that was a LONG time ago. J witnesses – you can ask them something useful, next time they show up with their propaganda material – say that even countries that formally have a strict draft e.g. in Africa, and even under difficult circumstances (wars), usually attempt to intimidate people, but then quietly dismiss. People don’t like to have unmotivated people in their armies, such ideas have the potential to spread. Their only concern is to keep it hush, lest too many people avoid military service, hence the problems e.g. in South Korea where recently some objectors have been jailed (j witnesses object to civil service as well).

    May I mention that also in Israel, religious minorities routinely are exempted and no one bats an eyelash? Hmmmmm.

    in reply to: Jews Resisting the Zionist Draft #939998
    daniela
    Participant

    Distorted fantasies? Joe?

    The Jews did not have any political power, so, obviously, bribed, arranged false paperwork, moved to other countries.

    The near totality of countries allow conscience objection. I can think of Korea as an exception, and of course, Israel. There may be more, but among modern western countries, conscience objection is not questioned.

    in reply to: Jews Resisting the Zionist Draft #939991
    daniela
    Participant

    mdd, in the past i.e. since Napoleon made it popular to have draftees instead of professional soldiers and throughout WW1 and beyond, Jews defied those laws, and the penalty was immediate death.

    in reply to: Why things are so complicated. #934524
    daniela
    Participant

    I think you should consult with both a rabbi and a good lawyer, telling them all the details (including the extreme stress, insomnia etc) and then act according to their advice. No one here knows the details nor your arrangements and no one can tell whether you owe money or not, and you can’t assume that either. If you will be told that you owe money according to halacha and to secular law, I am sure you will do, but don’t rush to conclusions before their time.

    in reply to: Why I am still frum #969927
    daniela
    Participant

    Snowbunny I am so sorry for how you are being treated, and I think you should not argue with those people, and instead pack and leave that place, use the money for your own expenses (accommodation etc), make flight arrangements, and of course ASAP make sure your rabbi in the states, and those who naively donated, become aware of what goes on. I wish you much success in life in all your endeavours, and that very soon you can build a family and be overwhelmed with the happiness you deserve. Those sick and evil people, ignore them and cut them off your life forever.

    Zahavasdad I agree with you completely on what you write, but not on it being surprising. I hate to write, but the BT business is a huge business, especially in EY. Beware beware beware, when it’s “only” hurt feelings and some money loss, one should move on with life, and realize it could have been much worse.

    in reply to: Is Quinoa Considered Chometz? #934109
    daniela
    Participant

    The status of oil is different from the status of seeds. This also happens with kitniyot (such as sunflower seeds).

    in reply to: Is Quinoa Considered Chometz? #934107
    daniela
    Participant

    Thank you takahmamash, please post recipes, we always need some non-chometz ideas for the last few days before Pesach 🙂

    With the wide availability and affordable price of olive oil, I think the interest for certifying peanut oil for Pesach has faded. Do you use it for something in particular, whose taste is diminished by sostitution? As I am sure the question shows, I am not used to cooking with peanut oil.

    in reply to: Is Quinoa Considered Chometz? #934104
    daniela
    Participant

    Truthsharer it’s not my place to teach so I’ll be silent, but your comments in regards to respected poskim – many banned corn – and entire movements in Orthodox Judaism (may I mention gebrochts?) and your attempt to make unlearned readers think respected poskim are R”L adding to the Torah and stating “it’s not how halacha works”, disturb me.

    I am sure you realize that for generations, Pesach was a great sacrifice for people. Vegetables that don’t have a thick skin are very difficult to clean, if one is living in a hut. Milk and dairy require a pesachdig dairy pot, and many did not even have one. Koshering year-round pots was impossible. Even obviously permissible food, such as nuts, were not always available or affordable as produce availability greatly varied from year to year.

    Our ancestors did not save on Yom Tov expenses but still could only afford what they could (and many things were not out there for sale, not for any money), they cleaned (can you imagine cleaning for Pesach without the modern detergents, without disposable cloths, without a faucet inside the home), they baked matza (can you imagine?) and yet, those who so were told, refrained from potatoes.

    If you eat quinoa and corn, good for you and enjoy them on Pesach as well as year-round. If you are sefaradi and eat kitniyot, enjoy your KLP rice and beans (if you actually had to check it like sefaradim had to do until a few decades ago, it would become much less tasty). If you can’t fathom other people’s respect for their ancestors and if you can’t fathom other people’s feeling that rushing it (again, how long it took for a consensus on cocoa and coffee?) in order to cook a quinoa dish is unneeded, given that we already have all sort of products available for Pesach, we live in a modern house where eating vegetables is a hassle but for most vegetables is fully doable, we have KLP bottles of all sort of drinks (not just water) and a faucet whose water we don’t need to be afraid a piece of bread fell, or was thrown, into (differently from a well, if I may say), if you can’t fathom any of that, it seems to me the problem is not kitniyot and is not quinoa and it’s not chumrot either.

    Finally, quinoa is a dull food and I wonder how many among us find it tasty and have a desire for it year-round. Sure, it’s definitely edible, I don’t mind it at all and sometimes I buy and cook, but it’s not something one would make an effort and sustain expense to acquire and cook for the king if the king came to dinner, is it. One is forced to wonder whether people are crazy about quinoa and have asked their Rabbi if it is permissible and have greatly rejoiced when told is it, or if people don’t really care for quinoa and are only eating it on Pesach to make a point.

    in reply to: Is Quinoa Considered Chometz? #934102
    daniela
    Participant

    Sam2 thank you a lot. Actually I heard they also prepared and ate acorn bread all over Europe in bad times and during famines, but that it’s very bitter and the tannines have unpleasant side-effect. Naturally this put me off when I first heard about the native americans acorn bread, but I was told that tannin content varies and is typically lower in american species than in european ones, and most important this is why the acorns must be soaked for weeks in a bucket, sort of like olives. Then they are ground and the flour can be used. I have never eaten, but I am told that it’s not disgusting and not bitter at all, but not very good either. I don’t think I would be very interested in acorn bread year-round and much less on Pesach, but the question is interesting. I think that if anyone was eating acorn bread on Pesach, the situation must have been bad and likely, bad enough that kitniyot were allowed for everyone.

    With quinoa I see various problems. First, we need to avoid grain seeds, and that is bad enough but I think by checking carefully is solved. The second and to me much more worrisome is that we have no clue if we have dust which contains chometz and/or grain flour (even worse, because we’d create chometz during Pesach while cooking the quinoa) and the Sefaradi method to check it, is a problem, because with rice or lentils etc. the three checks are good to ensure we only pick the rice seeds and leave any dust behind, but how to do that with tiny quinoa seeds? We have to take a handful and no matter how careful we are, I don’t think this is a reliable check. This problem I think can be overcome only by certified quinoa that has been nowhere near grain or chometz, and it should be certified by someone very trustworthy. At this point for Sefaradim it’s fair enough, but it seems to me it’s not trivially permissible to Askhenazim arguing that it’s new; exactly because it’s new, most people don’t have a minhag of eating it and need to rely on authoritative opinions, but it takes time and it takes consensus. May be we can also consider how long it took from cocoa and coffee becoming known, to them being considered KLP.

    in reply to: Torah – Where Do You Start? #933759
    daniela
    Participant

    You ask us? Ask him. Ask what he would like to learn and what brought him to the decision to put aside some of his precious time and study, then teach him what he mentions, and then you will go from there.

    in reply to: Is Quinoa Considered Chometz? #934090
    daniela
    Participant

    “It’s because corn means grain”

    Sam2, interesting, I never heard, I wish to ask you, do you know opinions about the status of acorn? (The seed of the oak)

    I would think that is a sort of nut, not a seed, although of course no one in my family ever ate, and also, preparation for Pesach is impossible unless strictly supervised (I know some native americans eat the acorns, but they soak them for weeks). Thank you

    in reply to: Is Quinoa Considered Chometz? #934089
    daniela
    Participant

    Yehudayona but it can’t be all there is to it, for example string beans are kitniyot forbidden to some, even though they are obviously not usable to prepare bread-like foods, and they are forbidden even if we have them picked before any seed is visible in the pod.

    Also, could you think of bread made of coriander flour? Cumin flour? Differently from corn they were known and permitted, yet some have the minhag to avoid them.

    in reply to: Possible Sleeping Disorder? #936343
    daniela
    Participant

    snowbunny, I am so sorry about all you are going through. You are now vulnerable and weak, it is very sad someone is bullying you, I know you are seeking for someone to talk to, as it is apparent in this very coffeeroom, and that you seek someone who is observant and do not feel connected with your not-as-religious-as-you-wished family in USA, in fact it seems to me you don’t even feel connected with MO and are seeking to become more yeshivish and blend into a community which is very different from the lifestyle you grew up in. I am also aware the community you wish to join does not necessarily appear always welcoming to newcomers.

    However please I beg you, you will no doubt do very soon if that is your wish, but please, be very careful at this time, you now need support, you need money, and most of all, you need reliable people who take responsibility for what they do, and who don’t disappear – or worse, R”L, hurt you – when you need them most.

    It is my opinion you should take a break from seminary and talk in person to your family, your rabbi, your former teachers, your doctors in USA. You need to straighten out your life, medical problems included, and if/when you decide to return in seminary (or anything else you may want to do in life, I would tell you the same if you were going to college) it always needs to be done from strength and never from weakness, lest evil and sick people take advantage of you, and I am sorry to say these people exist even in Eretz Israel.

    It is unfortunate that some frustrated people are taking out on you their problems, and I wish them a refua shleima, but your note will not help, what will help is those closest to you being aware, and then you and your parents talking to your rabbi, who I am sure helped you with phone calls and letters, and have him check into what is going on, and then he will call the rabbis who run your seminary and will call those who generously donate (those people trust me would be pretty mad, if they knew some fools use their money to make you miserable, they are giving generously because they want to do a mitzva) and things will be straightened out when you return to that seminary or to any other seminary.

    Equally important, other girls (next year’s) will NOT have to suffer, THANKS to you.

    Please at this time don’t talk to new people no matter how well-intentioned, please don’t ask advice from people who don’t know you yet, please talk instead to those who are aware what a long way you have come and what tremendous difficulties you overcame, and who have been supportive of you throughout your troubles, when you needed support even more than you need right now. They will help.

    in reply to: Would you marry…? #941003
    daniela
    Participant

    Snowbunny I think there is a misunderstanding and DY referred to the story posted by MorahRach. I remember thinking something very similar (I did not post, but my feelings were the same). Your post must have been still in moderation at the time DY was writing.

    in reply to: Problem with Alcoholic Relative #933505
    daniela
    Participant

    Aren’t we running a little bit too fast to conclusions? We have a Yid and his family – it’s Shushan Purim in Yerushalayim – his parents are pouring him whisky and other liquor (did we not all do the same? Unless of course they are too young for that, but the young man is 30). We also learn he habitually likes drinks (he is not a Muslim, thank G-d). On a public forum on the internet this person is painted as an alcoholic (!!) an undiagnosed mental health patient (!!!) and from there we proceed to insinuate he may be dangerously violent (!!!!)

    Excuse me, may I ask how would we all feel if it were us? If a similar post had been written in regard to ourselves and we came across it and recognized that it is meant to describe us? What about the sheer terror that *someone else* recognizes us, or rather, the distorted picture which is being painted, and that unfortunately, human beings have a weakness to promptly believe?

    Please, enough. If the young man was totally drunk on Shushan Purim, kol ha kavod, it is a mitzva. If (IF) he drinks too much every day, none of us can help and thus we have no business discussing it.

    I think it’s time for this discussion to be closed and for us all to try and be a little more careful before hitting the keyboard.

    in reply to: Is Quinoa Considered Chometz? #934073
    daniela
    Participant

    As it is incorrect, and not remarked as incorrect by moderators, that eating chometz on Pesach makes someone chayav misa, there are other posts that are similarly incorrect, and not remarked as incorrect by moderators, but still completely incorrect, and not to be trusted.

    Noted.

    in reply to: Pesach Done Affordably #932815
    daniela
    Participant

    The Shulchan Aruch if I am not mistaken says to make yourself a rabbi (as opposed to picking leniencies from here and there) and I don’t recall it saying imposing anyone’s opinions, even legitimate opinions, upon others. Much less does it suggest R”L to despise those who hold different than your hypotetical rabbi (aka Rabbi Google) and mock them as “frummer than”.

    I checked with OU. They don’t consider regular US salt pesahdig, because the iodization process involves corn, they don’t advise it and certainly don’t certify it. They told me it’s really kitniyot and not chometz gamur, but obviously, Askhenazim don’t eat kitniyot and most include corn among kitniyot. Pure sea salt is obviously acceptable for Pesach, but in the US is mainly available as the coarser “kosher salt”, of course one can buy finely ground sea salt (non-iodized), but one has to be aware of the issue and to look for non-iodized salt.

    Some sorts of sugar may also have corn starch or traces of it.

    If you eat corn, enjoy. But many people don’t, and don’t eat corn derivatives. If you think you are qualified to pasken for yourself, it is none of my business, but please don’t try to be “helpful” with leniencies which are not necessarily acceptable. Our rabbis are perfectly capable of telling us leniencies and they don’t enjoy making us miserable for Passover, as you seem to insinuate. Shops also are there to make a living as well as to offer us products that lighten our workload and that allow us to enjoy a variety of foods. If you think that checking quinoa – for those who eat it – is easy and fun, it is obvious you do not know how to check it properly, it is obvious you are assuming that you only have to check for wheat kernels, please ask your Sefaradi grandmother to check for you a handful of quinoa, and watch her. Besides, your comments on price-gouging do not deserve a reply.

    It is also interesting you rely on the OU when you find it convenient, but then you appear to be following Sefaradi minhag, and as I am sure you know, Sefaradim can not rely on the OU, as there are OU certified products which are not acceptable for Sefaradim. Please check with your Sefaradi posek and/or with OU themselves.

    in reply to: Problem with Alcoholic Relative #933486
    daniela
    Participant

    Exactly, you need support, you don’t need to burden yourself with someone else’s issues. Meet with his family and enjoy, if he keeps being unpleasant to you I think you should try to avoid confrontations but later talk to his parents and tell them to please ask him not to swear in front of you or treat you rudely.

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