GotAGoodPoint

No pets at the moment (we’ve had chickens and goldfish – and plenty mice but wouldn’t exactly call theose pets…)
At the moment we just have a bunch of vilde chayos.
No, just cute ‘kids’.
(i was just kidding)

zushy- yes being oiver a lav d’oiraisa can warrant malkos, but when something is muter mideoiraisa and midarabonon they assered it (eg. arayos) they cannot put a chiyuv missa but can make malkos – it’s called makkos mardus.

I dont have the time or koach to address each point, but one thing that keeps coming up that needs addressing –
learning ‘only’ 8 blatt or wa’ever, as if it’s too little.
I am not condoning this and there is certainly room for improvement in that area, Rav Shach spoke about it a lot and so did other Roshei Yeshiva
BUT
the way the baalei batim and others look at the ‘problem’ they are not seeing the issue with the same view as Rav Shach and the others.
A bochur or Yunerman who learns only 1 daf over two weeks is not stuttering, he is not checking the Artscroll for the translation (or transliteration) of every word, and he is not wasting time either.
He is carefully being madayek every word, contempalting every sevoro, and getting clarity in umpteen shitos, delving into the Rashi, the Tosafos, the Rashba, the Ritvo, the Ketzos, the Nesivos, the Shmayste, Rev Akiva Eiger, R’ Boruch Ber, Reb Chaim and the Brisker Rov etc. etc. (do you really want me to write another 20 names?)
He comes out with chiddushim based on nuance in the Rambam, he comes up with three tirutzim to the Ran’s kasha, and with a different Halachic ramification to each answer. He gets the the root of the sugya and does not just ‘read it superficially’.
At the end of the day (or zman) they are specialists, in the sugya that they learnt. No one would have any qualms about a professor who spent 20 years analyzing a specific enzyme or a strain of cancer.
No one complains that the doctors dont know mathematics, and no one expects a skin doctor to be knowledgable about heart diseases. Todays doctors all specialize in their specific fields, and so do the yungerleit. It is oftten more beneficial to be more focused on less subjects, and to get more of an encyclopedic knowledge of one subject, than to be a jack-of-all-trades and master-of-none.
It’s a decision that only the ones involved (aforementioned Roshei Yeshiva) who could decide how much bekius versus how much iyun.
Even the most basic learner knows a fantastic array of subjects, from Shtoros to Eidim, to Gittin and Kiddushin, to Kinyonim, Shevuos, Nedarim, etc. etc. etc. etc.
So yes, he might be clueless about the milky spoon, but he is not ignorant.
Also, his years of learning give him the keilim to know how to go about asking a shaila, looking it up, what to ask, and the ability to get into the sugya. They can apprecaite what is a machlokes, and the whose who, how to dissect a nosei and how to be machria.

All the above is true, but BESIDES all that, is the main fact. Learning Torah is the highest mitzva and should be done at every available minute, second and moment.
This is not a machlokes haposkim or even depending on Hashkofos – this is universally accepted.

The only room for discussion is the definition of ‘available’.

A working man who has a day off is 100% obligated to spend that day learning. If his responiblities do not require him to work, he is not potur from Talmud Torah just because he is not a learning person. He might not be capable of learning gemora, or not for 12 hours straight. But he has to learn. kitzur Shulchan Oruch, Chumash rashi, Shanyim Mikra, sifrei mussar, nach, ein yakov etc. etc. He could use english seforim, listen to shiurim, the choice is his, but he must learn.

Of course, at the point when health (mental of physical) does not allow, one may pause. If family obligations, or other issues do not allow, one is not expected to learn, but the rule learn, everything else are the exceptions to the rule.

Even is ones mental capabilities only allow for repeating the same posuk countless times, one is doing the mitzva – the greatest mitzva – with every word.

If someone dedicated his life to bringing korbonos in the Beis Hamikdash, he is the ‘PA’ of Hashem, every would understand that he is doing something amazing with his life. Learning torah, even if one retains nothing whatsoever, is better than bringing korbonos.
Chazal are full of what Torah does for the neshomo, how much it supports the world, how much shefa it brings to all the oilomois.

OK, i’d better stop here or i’ll go on forever….

Just treat him like a human or better still, ignore him. He’ll soon enough discover that he’s become a human again. These things happen!

Even if an oines can daven after sof zman tefilla, (and too many people have stretched the definition of oines….) one can NOT say Birkas Krias Shema. In other words, that means that after Yishtabach, one must skip straight to Shemone Esrey. Quite a guilt-ridden experience….. certainly not one worth repeating!

commonsaychel: you got me wondering how you got to meet so many probation and correction officers…. funnily, I don’t think I’ve met that many probation/correction officers, even counting all the non-jewish ones…..

Sorry I couldn’t reply until today – we just, just finished, and I could not type or do any melocho before saying Havdolo

Skydiving for sport may possibly be osur, the stats are between 1 fatality for every 100,000 jumps to one in 500 K. Need to ask a shaila if that is considered a risk.
However there is a big mekor in the gemoro and poskim to allow a much higher danger wehn done for parnosso.
ויעוין בנודע ביהודה (מהדורא תנינא יו”ד סימן י) שנשאל האם מותר ליהודי להתעסק בציד חיות. והשיב’ הציד לשם שעשוע יש בו [נוסף לשאר האיסורים] איסור מצד מה שנאמר בתורה ‘ונשמרתם מאד לנפשותיכם’ (דברים ד טו). ומי לנו גדול ובקי בצידה יותר מעשו שהכתוב מעיד עליו ‘ויהי עשו איש יודע ציד איש שדה’ (בראשית כה כז) ובכל זאת אמר על עצמו ‘הנה אנכי הולך למות’ (שם לב), ופירש הרמב”ן שהכוונה הפשוטה במלים אלו היא שעשו סיכן עצמו כל יום בין גדודי חיות. ומעתה, איך יכניס עצמו איש יהודי למקום גדודי חיות רעות.
אלא שצייד עני העוסק בצידה למחייתו התירה התורה, כמו שמותר לסוחרים לעבור אורחות ימים בגלל הפרנסה. והתורה אמרה ‘ואליו הוא נושא את נפשו’ (דברים כד טו). ואמרו חז”ל בבבא מציעא דף קיב ע”א מפני מה זה עלה בכבש ונתלה באילן ומסר את עצמו למיתה, לא על שכרו?. אבל מי שאין עיקר כוונתו למחייתו, ומתאוות לבו הוא הולך למקום גדודי חיות, עובר על ‘ונשמרתם מאד לנפשותיכם’.
So even bull-fighting might be permitted if done strictly as a career, not as a sport.
וכעין זה מבואר גם בשו”ת אגרות משה (חו”מ ח”א סימן קד) שדן האם מותר להתפרנס ממשחק זריקת הכדורים, וכתב שם להתיר מסוגין דאמרינן ואליו הוא נושא את נפשו, מפני מה עלה זה בכבש ונתלה באילן ומסר את עצמו למיתה, לא על שכרו? וכתב לפרש דאיירי בסכנה רחוקה, והותרה לצורך פרנסה. והוסיף, שבזה מותר לא רק לסכן את עצמו, אלא גם לסכן אחרים. שהרי גם להרוג את עצמו אסור משום ‘לא תרצח’, וכמו שהותר בו כך גם הותר באחרים, ובתנאי שהם יודעים שהם בסכנה והסכימו לזה.
So skydiving, deep-sea-diving and mercenary are all fine honest professions, but personally, I prefer to live off lottery wins

Golden Middle Way. You are amazing! You should have much nachas from your kids, now, AND when they grow up. May you somehow manage to ALSO have spiritual, inspirational Yomim Tovim. Wishing you much koach at every single stage.
I love you! xxxxxxxxx

One year we were running so late that we missed the first Alos and only drank the fourth before the Second Alos! (Which is a problem of drinking wine before Shacharis but I guess the Mitzva of 4 Kosos is very chomur so it’s better to be err on that side and be soimech on the second shita – I hope!)
Any way i think the main halacha is like the second Alos.
I must admit that we made a Tenai and ate Afikoman before chatzos and then had Shulach Orech after Chatzos.

yes, i would like to challenge it, because there are rayos that the original takono was also specifically i poder to have 4 cups of wine, like the gemoro says אַרְבַּע כָּסֵי תִּיקְּנוּ רַבָּנַן דֶּרֶךְ חֵירוּת, כֹּל חַד וְחַד נַעֲבֵיד בֵּיהּ מִצְוָה
but i do not have the sefer מה נשתנה on my version of Otzar Hachochma (16) or could you just send me a PDF – i’ll give you an adress that i never use

edited, sorry

Shlomo 2:
the 4 cups are much more than just kiddush, bentching and Hallel, and this manifests itself in many way: Kiddush, you can do on Bread (um, matza) but not on Leil Pesach. Birkas Hamazon is btter with a kos, but it is not an absolute obligation. Any kos shel brocho can be drunken by a third party (like we do in the nine days. etc) but daled kosos must be drunk by everyone. There is no obligation to sell ones clothes for Kol Shel Kiddush but yes for 4 cups. The lists go on and on, so if it was simply 4 things that ended up, there would be none of this. Chazal specifially wanted us t drink 4 cups.

AAQ – not sure what you are getting at? The shaila is quite complex and needs serious research in the Halochos of Tinok Shenishba. Perhaps you know the halochos cold, or maybe you are OK with passing an opinion without too much thought, but to any balanced Posek, this is a comlex question – until what stage does the Kula of Tinok Shenishba apply? How far can one go and still be considered a Yid for all intents and purposes just because they were born into an ignorant family/community/culture.
The way i see it, that is the shaila we have with regard to Zelensky, is he a Yid who nebbech never knew anything, after 70 years of Soviet rule. Or, has he crossed a red line and is now Halachically defined as a mumar.
Any comments?

Why not give to 20 differnet fundraisers (as long as they are all legit) If you have $180 give each one $9 and if you can afford $18000 give each one 900

You cay say waht you enjoy about a particular siddur, but to point out waht you dont like is probably loshon Hora, even if it is not fundamentally bad or wrong, since you are mentioning it in a derogatory way, i believe it’s LH.
Again, don’t trust me, as your own O.R.

Can’t imagine anybosy should care about what somebody else likes (in Ivrit they say – על טעם וריח אין להתווכח) but personally i prefer the Aliyos Eliyohu Siddur bby far. Also the Mosuk midvash (very different style to choice #1)

I feel home because I have Torah. Sure, I want moshiach to come so we can have the beis hamikdash and have the world acknowledge Hashem, but in the meantime, I can serve Him just fine until that time comes, bemhayroh veyameinu amen.

Avira – You may feel that it’s fine to carry on serving Hashem from where you are, and i’m not going to encourage you to came to EY. I can’t say with certainty that i would live here if it entailed mesirus nefesh. But i CAN say with certainty that the gedolim (and poshute Yidden) thoughout the ages did NOT agree with the sentiment you express, ie that it’s perfectly fine to sit out Golus in a goyshe Medina doing Avodas Hashem. They literally risked their lives to come and live in EY.
Whether it was the mitzva of Yishuv EY, or the Mitzvos Hateluyos bo’Oretz, or the Kedusha of EY – i don’t know, probably all of the above, but the fact is that the Gaon, The Chafetz Chaim, the Maharil Diskin and hundreds, or thousands of Yidden left everything behind, their shtelles, their seforim, their families, their parosso and travelled for months, in the boiling sun, thought rain and snow, on rickety boats – all to come and live in EY.
BUt you suggest that serving Hashem in America or Europe is perfectly fine, it’s ideal.
I’m controlling myself from all the sarcastic, comments my fingers are itching to bang out, but to say that you ‘can serve Him just fine until that time comes’, sounds somewhat erroneous.

To all of you smart fellows that had to say the obvious – i was playing along, very interesting to see what Eishes Chayil’s imagination could produce. If you aren’t interested in this thread, you can ignore it but if you blow her (or his? ….) cover, then we are not likely to glean any information.
[Even someone’s imagination is very telling about their background, it gives a glimpse into their world.]