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I see the terms ‘assur’ and ‘mutar’ thrown around here. Why would one be obligated under halacha to kasher a sink??
Age of Sigmar.
I call bubba meisa.
I paint Warhammer miniatures. Great hobby and very relaxing.
Kollel life – fantasy.
I don’t get this – condemning an entire population to likely poverty on the basis on the flimsiest of arguments…?
1122334455, that’s disheartening. I grew up in Passaic/Clifton, and while it had its share of issues, it struck me as a relatively tolerant an accepting community. There were always various people of various ethnic backgrounds in the community, as far as I could tell.
I find it the absolute cruelest of ironies that Jews, especially Orthodox Jews, could be intolerant of those who are ‘different’, be it racially or ethnically….
Syag, I’m LOLing here – my brother had the same situation years ago and the laining was shared wholeheartedy.
Which shul did you go to for Shabbos davening?
thanks
“passaic-clifton is a really nice homey community. there are a lot of nice shuls and schools and stores. it is not as out of town as ppl make it sound. and squeak there are loads and loads of normal ppl there.”
Yes – I don’t understand the tone of some of the posts here. At 8-9mi from NYC, how can this place be ‘out of town’?!
Passaic/Clifton is really a great place to live. That doesn’t mean it’s totally without it’s flaws, but overall the quality of life is relatively high. It also gets a unfair label of being a ‘yeshivish’ town; in reality there’s a wide range of people residing there who get along rather well. As far as I remember the political acrimony that exists in Ramapo (Monsey) is of a far lower level in P/C.
I lived in Passaic/Clifton for 25 years, grew up there. It’s a great place to live, relatively diverse community. You won’t get as much house/property for your money though, be aware of that. Prices can range from lo – hi depending on the house and depending on what’s for sale. Not much difference between Passaic and Clifton as far as I can tell – just that a number of years ago Clifton’s frum community was pretty sparse – it’s exploded in last 10-15 yrs as Jews have pushed out further towards Rt 3.
P/C is more densely populated and far less spread out than Monsey/Ramapo area, which means that if you’re willing to walk 1 mile or so, you don’t have to constrain yourself to being right near a Sfard shul – pretty much all is walk-able. I used to walk from my house on one side of town near Clifton to the bus stop on Van Houten ave – took me 20 mins, max. Stores and malls/shopping are all 10-15 min drive max away – unlike Monsey area where it could take you nearly an hour of driving just to get to Target and back. I used to be able to make it as far out as Willowbrook Mall in 15 mins. K&K Kosher food store is on Main Ave 5 mins from everywhere in P/Clifton, Shoprite is 5-7 mins, Acme 5 mins, Amazing Savings 5 mins, Macy’s 15 mins, Target/Costco 5 mins.
What you will likely get is a far better commute. I live in Monsey area (Wesley Hills) as well and am sick and tired of the commute (I work in east Midtown) and would love to move further south closer to NYC as well. It could easily take 2+ hrs there and back, currently, plus is over $100/month more expensive. The commute from P/Clift as I recall to Manhattan (I did it for 5 years) is about 1-1 1/4 hr door to door, less going home, by bus. NYC is accessible by train as well, more quickly, on a transfer to Penn Station-NYC from Secaucus Station. Brooklyn may be a bit more on a drive, you can bus/train into the city and subway it to Bklyn, tho that will probably take longer than driving (depending on where in Bklyn). You can bypass NYC on a drive altogether via Goethals=Staten I Expwy=Verrazanno, though tolls on VZ are steep, and can be a little trafficky on Stat IExpwy in the AM going to Bklyn. There are definitely ppl driving to Bklyn each day, so carpooling is an option. Either way, your commute to Bklyn will definitely be better than from Monsey, hands down.
I don’t know if you’re married or not – but those extra 30-40 mins you save on commute (not to mention the $100+/month) are very, very precious, when you have a wife who works as well and has to fend for herself with the kids morning and nite while you shlep for 2+ hours to and from the house. It may seem like nothing on paper (“what’s 30-40 mins or so more on a commute?”) but it can gradually grind you down. I generally don’t see my kids from Sunday to Sunday, since they’re sleeping when I get home, and I usually leave my office no later than 5-5:30. My whole weekday life revolves around and is deeply affected by my commute.
Just my 2 cents.
jbaldy22 – touche.
Check out games by Ares Games and/or Fantasy Flight – both are leading companies in the “niche” board game market.
A favorite of mine is War of the Ring – strategy game based on Lord of the Rings – about 2-3 hrs. Eclipse (space strategy game) is another good one. There is a large web site devoted to board games out there (some Googling can get you there) check it out and see what speaks to you.
Board games in general CAN come with halachic ‘baggage’ when played on Shabbos – anything that might come to mind (borer, for example) should prob be addressed w your LOR (obviously).
Thx
What platform (PC, Wii, PS3/4, etc)?
Book of Job. Read it.
What precisely do you mean by “a Chazal” and by “challenge”?
“Then throw out the darn nintendo because its sso damaging. Kids should read and do creative things not sit like morons with a nintendo. These devices are creating zombie like dummies.”
The correlation you’re insinuating here is not necessarily true. Video games do not necessarily “create zombie like [sic] dummies”.
Sigh. Another baseless blanket statement. I’m curious, have you ever played any games?
Mr Savage shows his extreme ignorance about the place of Talmud in Halacha, but he does raise some very true, uncomfortable points.
I did respond (via Youtube comments), and he read my response in his 2nd discussion of MBP the next day (on Youtube). Thank you Mr Savage.
Anon1-
Various times.
Mirror –
My bad – I thought you were talking about the Monsey bus…
Anon1 – Monsey bus does that many times (curtain goes up while very near GSP)
In short, my view on the subject:
Bus minyanim – not ideal, should not be done
If you HAVE to:
Shacharis minyan is OK – b/c there are options for non-minyan and non-minyan, so WYSIWYG
Adhoc Mincha/Maariv: NOT ACCEPTABLE
Curiosity –
I would tend to agree, but not fully. Men do have an obligation to daven, and, if we’re talking about the bus that I think we’re talking about, they DO usually have separate minyan buses in the morning, so you do know what you’re getting yourself into in the morning, at least on the Place In Upstate NY Not Far From NYC to Manhattan commuter buses… 😉
However, I fully agree that the concept itself of bus minyanim is not an ideal one at all, it is quite a “b’diavad” one.
Apushutayid – “At least they “chap a minyan” on the bus”
That’s the point. Minyanim aren’t really supposed to be “chapped”. I can’t tell you how many times (virtually daily basis) I’ve seen impromptu minchas and maarivs “chapped” on the bus, disturbing everyone else around them, when mincha or maariv could easily have been davened properly in a shul or shtieble once getting home.
While we’re on the subject, why is it that mechitzos are put up for shacharis, but not for mincha & maariv? Food for thought.
Curiosity – I’M just curious – have you had experience with this bus?
Curiosity-
I don’t know if I’d go so far as to use the term ‘disgusting’.
A ‘Jewish’ bus is in theory a very nice idea, but in practice can go awry. When everyone around you is a ‘member of your club’, so to speak, you may think less about what bothers others around you.
LKY, there are many other communities that don’t have a ‘minyan’ bus – those people who commute get up early, daven, and then get on the bus and get on just fine.
Bus davening, especially on a daily basis, is not ideal at all. But too many people don’t want to get up early…
Mirror, I know the bus company of which you speak; I take that bus, too.
I’m a guy, and I agree 100% with everything you’re saying – in fact, I’ve seen the same things.
Buses are not made for tefilla since proper kavana and comportment, even at a minimum level, is virtually unattainable. I get up earlier to go daven, or daven at home. I do not daven on the bus at all.
Nor is having davening on the bus in general a good exercise in kavod ha’b’riyos. There are almost always other people on the bus who are not participating in a minyan that just want to quietly read, sleep, etc in preparation for the long workday. Bus minyanim tear that time away from the individual, although mitigated somewhat [at least for shacharis] by having separate ‘minyan’ buses. This is more true for the impromptu mincha or ma’ariv minyan than for shacharis, as I wrote above, though I have had the pleasure of having morning ‘minyan’ bus riders coming aboard the ‘non-minyan’ bus and holding a minyan there.
I saw it too, got the phone call also.
SCAM
I call troll.
Let’s be careful now. Sandy was, obviously, an “act of God” and as such messages may be taken (tho I am strongly opposed to equate Sandy or other such things with specifics – that’s the job of a Navi).
This terrible tragedy was perpetrated by a human being, acting with free will.
Be very, very careful.
Guys & girls – a terrible storm just thundered through us, destroying life and limb in a horrible way. Let’s think about just that…
Can we give this subject a rest?
For those here who are artists, BTW, Alice:Madness Returns is chock full of great art, especially atmospheric art. A bit dark in nature, but it’s clear that art style took a front seat to gameplay and plot…
QB, thanks. Yes, GT5 is a racing sim, only on PS3 tho.
Dragon Age is an excellent game, getting thru it on regular difficulty takes a lot of thought and strategizing. DA2 so far is ok, good story but the developers recycled a lot of the environments throughout the game and combat is a little simpler.
QB-
In the middle of right now:
Skyrim
Fallout 3
FO: New Vegas
Gran Turismo 5
Assassin Creed II
Dragon Age II
Alice: Madness Returns
BTW I am married, with children. Like I said, gaming is my hobby, it’s what I do to relax. I make time for it when I can, usually couple hrs/wk.
Blueprints, besalel-
Let’s save judgments until you’ve actually seen and experienced what modern games have to offer instead of jerking your knees in reaction to the phrase “video/computer games”.
I’m sure I speak for the other gamers here as well when I say emphatically that gaming in and of it self is not a mindless waste of time. Google Jane McGonigal and Steven Johnson for more info on that point – good, well designed games can be extraordinarily taxing mentally. I also would point out that while I am a gamer, that’s just my hobby. I make time for my hobby after other obligations and pursuits are met.
“Great way of sidestepping my point…
And you conviently ignored the rest of his post.”
I responded to this. Why was my post ignored??? Mods?
DerechHamelech:
“enlightendjew:
I’d like to see those people consent to surgery on their person or a loved one where none of the docs or nurses are wearing masks, gloves, gowns, etc.
You can meet these people yourself. Just walk into any shul that’s having a bris that morning. There you will see a man performing a minor surgery on an infant without masks, gloves, gowns, etc. In fact, the surgeon often has elongated thumb nails to assist in the surgery.”
Great way of sidestepping my point…
Middlepath, what platform would you be playing Skyrim on? You can get copies on Ebay for relatively cheap, for all plats (PC, ps3, 360 etc)
I’ve gotten a number of games off Ebay at around 50-70% off original price. Check Amazon also, they discount games often.
tx
I find combat in Skyrim to be kind of clunky and simplistic. It’s clear to me that bethesda didn’t (consciously) pour a lot of thought and redesign into the combat mechanics. Don’t get me wrong, I love Skyrim, but not as much for its combat as the possibilities of what you can accomplish, and it’s there that beth hits the nail on the head, time and time again. Combat in games like Dragon Age, Kingdoms of Amalur, or God of War (ok, GoW is not an RPG) is more exciting and complex, imho.
I am getting very tired of this. This is not sha’as sh’mad. This is not anti-semitism. This is not, as many popular Jewish media term it, an “attack on bris milah”.
What this IS is an attempt by the city’s Dept of Health to walk a fine line between being seen as trampling on religious sensitivities and being reasonably responsible in discharging their duties as protectors of public health, regarding a practice that few can deny goes against modern medical best practices.
This fight between Jewish groups and the DOH over DNA evidence, “incontrovertable proof”, misleading evidence, etc is irrelevant and itself misleading. I’d like to meet the person that flatly denies, in light of what modern medicine has uncovered, that putting an open mouth over a bleeding wound on a neonate is a perfectly sanitary thing to do, PERIOD. I’d like to see those people consent to surgery on their person or a loved one where none of the docs or nurses are wearing masks, gloves, gowns, etc.
The DOH views circumcision and it’s attendant rituals as a medical procedure, albeit one currently outside their regulatory purview. That being the case, they cannot idly sit by while a practice that they see goes against the safe practice of sanitized medicine is being performed under their very noses. On the other hand, they are rather keen on the fact that there are groups that view the procedure as almost sacrosanct; they therefore mandate not the procedure itself, but that parents are aware of the risks before they perform it.
Why is this a terrible thing?
Bottom line is, this fight is being waged by people who are seeking some thing, anything, to fight for, “for Hashem”. Nothing more, nothing less, at least that’s my read when I read the “official” literature on the subject, in the form of Kol Korehs and Aguda letters. The people involved view themselves as “standing up to those who would trample upon and ridicule our time-honored customs”, as fighters in “milchamot Hashem”, rehashing the Ortho-Reform battles of the 19th century. This isn’t the 19th century, at least in the USA. No one is banning anything, no one is attempting to seriously ban milah in this country.
The whole debate is being framed in the wrong way. Not once, not ONCE have I seen a detailed, reasoned, public discussion of the halachic issues on the subject. I have not seen any attempt to keep this debate private; now this is splashed over the public media for all Jews and non-Jews alike to see. All I see is hysteria and cries of anti-semitism and making mountains where molehills stand.
A serious reflection on what the DOH’s proposal (now mandate) really meant BEFORE jerking your knees in reaction would have been better. Now it’s too late.
Rashbak, I see someone’s seen the original AP…
😉
LOL, I can’t believe this thread. And here I thought I was the only frum gamer on the planet!
Games can be helpful and a force for good. Search for “jane mcgonigal” and “steven johnson”.
Repharim- I’ve been an elder scrolls fan since Oblivion. Played that a lot, on Skyrim now. I try not to sink too much time into it but boy, that game is incredible.
I am a gamer, but never dipped into wow. Maybe will try one of the free-to-plays one of these days…
AZ has yet to address this issue – if the money is escrowed into an FDIC account that I can’t touch, it’s not an issue of “losing .0025% interest” – it’s one of liquidity!
??
I’m getting a troll vibe (pun intended) here…
-42
Sigghhhhh. Godwin’s Law strikes again…
If the OP ain’t a troll-
KOL HAKAVOD
Repeat after me:
This is NOT sha’as sh’mad
This is NOT sha’as sh’mad
This is NOT sha’as sh’mad
This is NOT sha’as sh’mad
This is NOT sha’as sh’mad
Calm down
Calm down
Calm down
Calm down
AZ, why wasn’t this distributed then??