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Avira: Yes the mishna in Avos tells us שכר הליכה. The chiddush that the widow is telling us is that there is extra reward for walking the extra mile to a further shul, even if one could have gone to a nearer one and done the same מצוה.
Further, even if one is exempt from going further than a Mil, one is certainly performing a מצוה if one makes the effort to go.Sam: Part of the reason why women don’t attend Shul on weekdays, is that the עזרת נשים usually doubles as a כולל. Even at שחרית, often men are davening there. Ben Gurion Airport has a synagogue with a section for women, but I have seen women prevented form entering because a man was there.
ujm: שלחן ערוך או”ח קו,א says נשים חייבות בתפלה. There is some discussion about whether they need to say שמונה עשרה etc. See M.B. that the consensus is that they should at least try, but all admit that they are not required to daven ערבית, הלל, ומוסף. So for what the do say, all the conditions apply, since nowhere does שולחן ערוך say “This detail is for men only”.
Of course those with small children are exempt: עוסק במצוה פטור מן המצוה applies to everyone.
Avira: The topic under discussion is “Women davening with a minyan”, not “Where does davening with a minyan come in relation to tznius, chesed, leshon hora, etc.”
I admit there is a problem of women gathering and mixing with men on Shabbos after Musaph. There are ways to avoid this, and a wise frum woman will. if necessary, they should avoid Friday nights and Musaph, since they are not required to daven then at all.Women are certainly rewarded for davening in shul. See Sota 22a, where it is related that a certain widow would walk every day all the way to the synagogue of Rabbi Yochanan, although there was a shul in her neighbourhood. When Rabbi Yochanan queried her behaviour, she replied that she gets reward for the steps taken. Rabbi Yochanan accepted this point, and states in B.M. 107a, that the further the shul is from one’s house the more reward. Accordingly Magen Avraham (90,22) states that if there are two synagogues in one’s town, one should attend the further one. This important information we know only from that woman who attended shul every day.
Menachem: I refer to your rebbe’s statement that he was not forbidding anybody to sleep in the Sukka, just defending minhag Chabad that they don’t. However, you did not translate the whole of it. He goes to great lengths and says “Let him sleep well. ‘You shall lie down and your sleep will be pleasant’ [Prov 3,24]. He should have good dreams. Nobody should disturb him” He is obviously mocking those that sleep in the Sukka.
You complain that some “hate” Lubavitch. Unfortunately, Lubavitch has brought this problem on itself. The Gerrer Rebbe and the Chofets Chaim had great regard for each other, treating each other as equals. Similarly the Chazon Ish, Steipler, and his son; vis-à-vis the other Chasidic Rebbes of their time. I can see from this thread that Lubavitch is different: The greatest Tzaddik and Talmid Chochom is not comparable with a simple Chabadsker. After all, their leader is the Divine Messiah. Who said “No one enters the Kingdom of Heaven but through me”?The Lubavitcher Rebbe was unique in that many of his followers were praying to him, and he knew that. That is idolatry.
I don’t know where it is written, but it is said that there are 36 Tzaddikim in each generation. There is also the idea that צדיק גוזר והקב” ה מקיים. So why should we believe that there is only one צדיק in each generation, and he (or she?) must be none other than the current Lubavitcher Rebbe? For example, why did the חפץ חיים not qualify?
Menachem: When Lubavitchers pray, you do not know what they are thinking (unless you are also a prophet הגם מנחם בנביאים) any more than I do. I go by what one of them said about himself and the fact that so many of them keep a picture of their Rebbe in their prayer book.
Menachem: I am not lying when I write that some Lubavitchers pray to their rebbe. They have a picture of him in their prayer book. One I know said that he had a problem in that when he prays he can’t help thinking that he is praying to the Rebbe
Querty123: If after 7 hours learning you need to relax by watching an hour of (mens’) sport on TV, that’s probably not not too bad. Just 2 possible problems:
1. Scantily clad women cheering the players and in the advertisements;
2. If your TV is available to other members of your household who may be less limited in their viewing.
Another thing: If you wish to be successful in raising the level of your learning, you need to limit your time in the coffee room.
I shall now take my own advice and sign offWhat I am learning from this thread is that the Lubavitcher Rebbe never said explicitly that he was a god, or “clothed in a human body” or Moshiach. On the other hand, he never said explicitly and publicly that he was not. He spoke esoterically and people could interpret his words one way or the other. He knew that some of his followers were praying to him and practically all of them thought that he was Moshiach. At one point he sent a directive that the chasidim should not say that he was Moshiach. Our local Chabad rabbi said “I won’t say that the Rebbe is Moshiach, but I still think that he is”.
Menachem, I stand corrected on one point. Rambam does indeed hold that every prophet needs to provide a sign in order that we accept him. Multiple times even (Y.H. 10,2) and every single sign has to come true. I was thinking according to Rashi Deuteronomy 18,21 that a sign is not required except on the rare occasion when the prophet is challenged. Rambam is also quite clear that a prophet, with all the signs in the world cannot change a halacha.
It is reported that the Rebbe made predictions and performed miracles. Rambam writes (Yesodei hatorah 8) that signs are irrelevant, and Israel did not believe in Moses our Rabbi as a result of the signs that he performed. This Sabbath we will read in Deuteronomy 13,2: If there arise among thee a prophet … and he gives thee a sign or a wonder. And the sign or wonder comes about saying ‘let us go after other gods ….’. Do not listen to that prophet. So if a Rebbe lets his followers believe that he is a god, then they need to find another Rebbe.
Assuming that the last Lubavitcher Rebbe and his father in law were prophets or seers, why was it important for him to reveal that fact? Did he have a special message from God for the Jewish People? Tzaddikim tend to hide their light under a bushel. 8Samuel was punished for saying that he was the seer.
A prophet would not know every single thing; only what God wanted to reveal to him. During his lifetime Lubavitchers believed that their Rebbe knew absolutely everything, and in full detail.
Let me clarify what I meant when I wrote that the Litvish Yeshivish rabbis regarded kiruv as bittul Tora. (By the way, they still do for those well into full-time learning.) Yes, the Chazon Ish encouraged activities like Arachim. One needs to realise that the problem then in Israel was that thousands of observant Oriental Jews were immigrating, and the secular Zionists were hell-bent on getting them to abandon Jewish practice and belief. It was a matter of pikuach nefesh. Also, if the Israel were to become almost completely secular that would impact terribly on the continuance of Tora in our land. As for Telshe and Novarodok, I do not know, but I do know that the general attitude then among observant Jews was that learning a trade was more important than going to Yeshiva. I suspect that those bachurim were persuading them to go to Yeshiva.
Qwerty is right. Lubavitch were the first in Kiruv. The attitude of the Litvish Yeshiva world at the time was that “Perhaps my learning achieves more than getting extra people to keep Shabbos”. They changed their minds later, but they approved of it only for those who, for one reason or another, could not continue with full-time learning.
However, the Kiruv by Lubavitch is motivated by their belief that Moshiach will come only when Chabad has spread throughout the Jewish world. To that end, they would expend the same resources to convert an otherwise frum person to Lubavitch, as to make a non observant Jew keep Shabbos. Moreover, once a Baal Teshva decides to be frum but not Chabad, the Lubavitch Kiruv people terminate their interest in him.“מורא רבך כמורא שמים”
That means that you are required to have vast fear of G-d, and fear of your Rebbe should approach it.
Unfortunately, for many simple, and some not so simple Chasidim fear of G-d is hardly mentioned: just fear of their Rebbe.
Many Lubavitch Chasidim have a picture of the Rebbe in their siddur.
An acquaintance of mine converted to Lubavitch. He related that he had told the Rebbe that when davening he cannot help himself thinking that he is davening to the Rebbe. The Rebbe replied that he must not think that. This story illustrates the problem.Menachem.
“The women never mention the name of the Rebbe before washing and scrubbing their hands.
The fear of the Rebbe is rooted deeply in the chassidim, and they mention the Rebbe regarding every step they take. Anything said in the Rebbe’s name, whether regarding their spiritual life or monetary matters, is holy to them and they fulfill it with mesirus nefesh.”
This is what we all have to do, except that we have to substitute “G-d” for “Rebbe”.Menachem: Of course words of Tora may not be spoken in the bathhouse; and that includes the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Sichos and Ma’amorim. But what makes the word “Rebbe” holier than “Acharon”, “Rishon”, Gaon”, “Amoro”, “Tanno”, or even “Novi”?
My point of 2nd July has been missed by the coffee room participants. Only G-d’s name may not be uttered in the bathhouse. If Lubavitchers won’t say the word “Rebbe” in the mikve changing room, then they are deifying him.
What words are forbidden to utter in the bathhouse? Some years ago, I think while the Rebbe was still alive, I heard some Lubavitcher Chasidim having a conversation in the mikve changing room. When referring to their Rebbe, they referred to him as the “boss”. The would not utter the word “Rebbe” there.
I do not see why only Ya’akov’s sheep are zoche to be reincarnated into Rebbes. All the Ovos were shepherds. Dovid too, and he was a master musician.
If Bil’om’s donkey could be reincarnated into human form, she could tell us some interesting things about her master.Don’t worry Coffee addict. The Rebbe said that the birthmark was the result of Ya’akov marking him for מעשר בהמה, so not being a בעל מום חס ושלום, he must have been a קרבן.
Avira: Please give the exact place where the גמרא uses the term הני רבנן to mean “These rabbis”
Avira: Rebbisch mayses are not Torah. The Satmar Rov ztl explained once the reason for the custom of relating Chasidish stories on Motzoei Shabbos. The Gemoro says that an Am Ho’oretz won’t lie on Shabbos, so these stories can only come out when Shabbos is over.
I wonder whether those rabbis who claimed to be reincarnations of sheep of Ya’akov, would have been able to describe the spots, speckles, or stripes they were decorated with.
Abandoning the Gold Standard was good on the whole: it benefited business and working people; but it came at a price for savers in terms of inflation. Governments could print or “quantitavely ease” as many dollars, euros, or pounds as they wanted.
Charliehall says returning to the Gold Standard would withdraw 95% of the currency in circulation. Putting it the other way, 95% of the currency is not backed by gold. Also, the trillions of dollars of gold and economic wealth supposedly backing currencies are measured in terms of inflated dollars themselves. That is why the price of gold has rocketed.
ujm asks where between the currencies he lists would I put cryptocurrency. The answer is none of them. They are comparable to gold: they have no intrinsic value. They are worth what people will pay for them, knowing that the amount in circulation is limited. No government in the world can flood the market with bitcoin.They say that cryptocurrencies are not worth having because they are not based on anything substantial. However since we don’t have the gold standard all currencies in the world are based on very little underlying economic wealth.
Back to Techeiles: I don’t see how it helps to wear it only on the tallis koton. If you hold that you can obtain techeiles, then you have a compulsory mitzvas asei to put it on every four-cornered garment that you are wearing. If your tallis godol does not have techeiles, then you are mevatteil mitzvas asei, even if you are wearing another tallis with techeiles.
I thought it was only angels who do not understand Aramaic