HaLeiVi

Doing something, as in stopping their entry? Excellent question.

Some passages in the MN read like apologetic excuses. He writes about certain unpopular ideas, mentioned by a variety of Chachomim, that they are Daas Yachid although you don’t find any Amorah actually arguing the idea.

This shows us in which vein it is written.

So, it is an interesting Sefer. I’ve read parts of it but not all, I think. But it is not supposed to be the basis of our outlook of what the Torah is. Nor do the philosophical proofs help a non-philosophically oriented generation come to the same conclusion.

The tenets of our belief were actually not debated at the time, even if you work very hard to dig up a specific outcast opinion and twist it further than intended.

What we accepted was his great work, the Yad, which is Torah-based. We did not accept the Moreh which is philosophy-based. In fact, he was careful to separate the twoand he even contradicts himself at times. There are small exceptions to this and guess what: those areas in the Yad that stem from philosophy are also rejected.

There is something very sickly about this fascinating of Apikursus. There are some places that constantly lecture about the borderline of acceptable belief and beyond, and build towers in the sky of obscure, anomalous shitos — whether or not the Mechaber actually meant to finalize it — dug up from the Sheimos bin and stretched passed capacity. These are of course added onto each other and there you have it: a Mekor for a brand new system.

Halloween is the only Chagga I keep. It’s so much fun sharing ghost stories.

The best place to learn Torah is from someone who learns it.

So we just deduced that there is no issue of Gittin, bias, bullying, and fights.

With some more great logic we can out-reason Shidduchim, poverty, ignorance, disease, and perhaps aging.

What about the Ohr Hachayim Hakadosh needs ‘answering’? Rav Saadya Gaon’s point was about being robbed, to which the Ohr Hachayim Hakadosh agrees (as he writes on ועשית עמדי חסד ואמת). The Gemara also mentions the idea that a Ganav gives Hashem more work in order to arrange to repay the victim the amount allotted to him on Rosh Hashanah.

As for murder, the Gemara in Chagiga says that even the Malach can at times kill without it being decreed. (Yes, I’m aware of Rabbeinu Chananel there.)

The substance of all of creation is a constant, renewing command from HKBH. This is the underlying energy-matter of the universe.

Now, that is when we discuss יש itself. However, the term בריאה refers to inventing the concept of something, which is why it can refer to חושך even though in practice חושך wasn’t ‘built’ but rather left as the other side of the אור scale.

When we discuss an item we are discussing its form, its identifying qualities or personality. We don’t really pay attention to its makeup. Although my internal molecules change over within a given time it wouldn’t occur to you to consider me a ‘different’ person.

And so, the world was formed once and for all while the underlying substance does depend on a constant renewal.

My reference to electronics is that we are already used to the idea of character on a screen being referred to as an entity, all while we know good and well that its substance existence is constantly given forth by the local machine.

but what if you find the bum in your bedroom at 3:00 AM?

Then go to sleep somewhere else.

Any plan that includes intrusion of others is not on the table.

Seems pretty easy too get all worked up about an issue you don’t have, and be all judgemental about it.

It’s the other way around, not being married means that the girls use their heat-emitting blow dryers much more often.

Tevilas Ezra has nothing to do with Bias Shemesh. The Tuma is De’oraysa and lasts until Bias Shemesh. Ezra’s Takanah is besides that.

Although the strict Halachah seems to do away with the Takanah, many Geonim, Rishonim and some Acharonim have not taken it that way. The Shaalos Tshuvos Min Hashamayim even criticised the Yerushalmi on this.

Regardless of the Chiyuv or otherwise, it is widely considered a prerequisite to learning Toras Nistar.

apushatayid, indeed the modern mind had a hard time with the simanim. I’ve heard so many Drashos and lectures from inspirational speakers, who seemingly have a hard time believing that Chazal, and reinterpret the simanim as a mussar reminder or its a (once-a-year type of) Tefilla.

I think we’d get a lot further if, instead of changing things to match our world view, we would delve into understanding the big picture that Chazal are coming off.

We act to these Avaryanim just like we do to our multitudes of Shabbos texters and drug addicts: we try to be accepting, non-judgmental, loving etc.

RY, that would be like someone who wears a life jacket his whole life. But don’t mock him because I’m case of a flash flood our could save his life.

In other words, even discussions about anxiety can become illogical.

Squeak, and forever after you’ll keep Shabbos on Friday?

According to Tosafos Nida 16b, did Menashe have free will all his life?

I’ve used it on other networks but I don’t recall using it successfully on Optimum Wi-Fi. I even tried switching back and forth between my phone’s hotspot and Optimum. Through my phone it worked but not on Optimum.

I find their pop-ups, or toast notifications, very annoying. You can’t move it to a different location or get rid of it any faster than it decides to stick around. At times there are multiple notifications and I can’t access those items on the tray our even seer the time.

I wrote to them but, as TAG has pointed out, they don’t care about this free try-out product and haven’t updated it in years.

I used to use openDNS but for some reason Optimum does not allow a custom dns. And worse, they deny it.

Ubiquitin, you had that reaction to my mentioning how the Bal Hatanya explains their form of Kiyum Hamitzvos. That is because you’d take nothing less than the simple first-impression understanding. But you do this in the name of not wanting to take the Midrashim literally.

This was well illustrated when I brought up Teffilin Demarei Alma (insert ‘non-literal’ for the benefit of our 13th century friends here) to illustrate that we find Teffilin being something much more than what you wrap around, and that what we are doing is a fulfillment of a certain concept — a concept that even relates to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Your response to that was again to toss around literal or non-literal. Which means that the attitude towards such a Sugya, rather than to see what the Maharal or other Sefarim explain, is to say it’s not literal. But that doesn’t teach you what it is.

Now, as for the ‘Shomer Torah Umitzvos’ idea, which Torah and which Mitzvos? Does that just mean that he was Mishalech Lifnei Hashem? Well it already says that in the Pasuk. And, what does Afilu Eiruvei Tavshilin supposed to mean? Is this all really just an overly fancy way of telling us what we already know?

Can our conversations ever get past 13th century issues? It was a wonderful accomplishment of the Rambam to effectively dismiss the physical minded interpretations of the Torah and of Hashem. As we see, many of his writings reflect this battle. But, the battle was won. Let’s get on.

The Baal Hatrumos has a Tshuva about Paskening through trains we learn in Aggadah. He mentions how although the Gemara says that a Bris is on the eighth day so that the parents are happy (Mide’oraysa at that point there is D’mei Tahara), obviously the day doesn’t change when this is not the case.

Interestingly, we do find some examples of the Taamim being invoked. The Shallos Tshuvos Min Shamayim has an answer that women make the Brachah on Shofar and Lulav since the reason for these Mitzvos apply to them as well.

There are examples of Geonim Paskening by a Derabanan based on the original motivation of the Takanah. I recall this happening by Nesu’ei Ketanah.

This is from the king of ‘not literal’:

Halevai so you are saying the avos didnt keep the torah. They can meditate with sticks fun heint biz morgen, thats not wearing tefilin.

Keeping “secrets of the torah” is beautiful but meaningless (to us).

They either wore tefilin or didn’t, and sticks aren’t tefilin.

Hence, your issue is that you are actually extremely literal.

As I’ve written on the aforementioned thread, the Medrash was given to study not to dismiss. Yes, we all know by now that Aggados are very deep and aren’t necessarily meant to take at face value. This is step one. We see a strange Maamar and we understand that it is something deeper than what meets the eye.

That is what we are taught when we start out. There is, however, a level two. We go the next step and actually try to glean an understanding. Only a fool would insist on level one when faced with level two.

Using the same neutralizing ‘not literal’ spray on every Maamar Chazal doesn’t really get you far. The idea is to learn what it does mean. For this there are Sefarim — of many types with different approaches and to varying depths.

Are you implying that your comments were solely based on the title, and you didn’t read a thing?

I know. It’s called knee-jerk reactions. It’s when you announce sentiments we knew you had. When the words are not products of actual thought, but rather reflexive and predictable. But keep in mind that speech which isn’t conveying a new idea is, to the observer, nothing more than a bark. Guess if it’s annoying.