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Maybe I missing something, but I’m trying to understand the problem OP has.
Is his wife showing up too early?
Too late?
Is even showing up the problem?
Is there a מחיצה?
Why is he looking over there?“He should make something up just to makeyou happy?”
Joseph was asking where I said something negative about OOT, not to say anything new. It was a legitimate question IMO.
First of all, I pointed out the great amount of Jewish amenities and services in town, implying the lack thereof OOT.
I pointed the lack of energy OOT, which causes less motivation and action. I mean to include learning.
I usually am using a phone the type, and I’m not one of those millennials who can type really fast on a phone, so I keep it brief, maybe too brief.
Joseph,
I tried to point out good and bad in each. It seems to me that you don’t accept that anything out of town could be better. I don’t see you wanting a dialogue.
A few months ago a son of a friend of mine was home for Bein zmanim. Although he is from where I live now, which is way out of town, he’s been learning in New York for a few years. I found it interesting that when he speaks he ends a sentence with a little bit of a push, as if there’s some level of ready to argue about anything he says. There is a truculence in the attitude that New Yorkers have. I consider this a survival mechanism. The city can be overwhelming, and if you don’t have a strong demeanor you can get lost emotionally and spiritually.
“MDG; I hope you have a climate controlled storage room for your flour and/or sift it before use, otherwise you might have an infestation problem leading to יציאת שכרך בהפסדתך.”
I like to freeze it first. Sometimes I put dry ice in the box to remove the oxygen.
“There are national brands of flour available all over that are Yoshon year round. No need to stock up like that.”
I have a particular brand that I prefer.
Joseph asks people for some very open thoughtful opinions and then comes back with extensive essays why they’re wrong.
New Yorkers always think they know best. That I don’t miss.
Joseph,
It’s both. There is clearly a lack of religious energy here. The bigger crowds create more energy, which creates more action. If you are around motivated people, that can motivate you and help you reach higher. That’s the biggest thing I miss from living in the NYC area.On the other hand, it’s much easier to fake it with externalities, like clothing and manner of speech. In such an environment, one can mistake going through the motions as being frum, even while a person does a lot of bad.
If you want to be frum out here, you got to really mean it.
This reminds me of an idea concerning the difference between Yosef and Yehudah. Yehudah is a frum guy with the family, but on the road he succumbs to temptation. Yosef looks like a spoiled soft kid until he goes out and develops his Tzidkut. Yosef gets tempted for a year and holds strong. Different people thrive in different environments. Some need support to grow, while some need more challenges.
I read that from Rabbi Riskin many years ago.Joseph,
We’ll have to agree to disagree. BTW, Los Angeles is pretty much like in town in attitudes, so I’m not including it.YankelFromYennevelt is saying similar to me.
I don’t think in town people get it unless they live OOT for a while.
The one thing I have is my ability to do without and not take things for granted. Because Chalav Yisrael is expensive here, $10 a gallon, and because it was hard to get (now easier), I drink a lot of soy milk. I have to stock up for yashan, like buying 200 pounds of flour in the summer. No complaints. I think it makes a strong impression on my kids. Rav Moshe said that one should not complain about being a Jew. I try to have a good attitude and create positive feelings. In town, you can take it all for granted.
From the perspective of being out of town, we see being from the New York area includes having many Jewish amenities, like chessed organizations, Yeshivot, kosher restaurants and food Stores, sefarim stores, and Jewish clothing stores.
on the other hand we see living in the New York metropolitan area as being intense: lots of traffic, lots of rude people. We often see the people, while being outwardly religious, also appear to be materialistic. Furthermore there seems to be an attitude of showing off religiosity. In smaller communities every child is welcomed to the school(s). We often read about how kids are left out in larger Jewish communities because they are good kids but not great kids. And the school wants the reputation of being great.
speaking of schools, I was the treasurer of my kids Day School. When people apply for scholarships, they were generally pretty accurate with their financial situation. No one claims poverty while driving a brand new luxury car. I heard of the New York area it’s not that way. And the schools are much more invasive and what they ask when it comes to a family’s financial situation. To put it simply, it seems like there’s more straightforwardness (yashrut) out of town.
As far as I am concerned, women should have an option to learn Gemara. The vast majority of women won’t care to begin with. Of the rest that do care, some are feminists and some have a real intellectual desire. When you take away the feeling of “this is only for men”, the femmeroids who have male envy will become less interested, as they will have nothing to prove. All that will be left are those who have the intellectual desire to learn (and just a few others). That is a miut of a miut, mostly of women who are lishmah. NP IMHO.
All women learn Torah sheBaal Peh to some degree. First of all, there is Halachah which they must learn. There is also Rashi on Humash, which is primarily TsBP which most women learn (i heard Satmar doesn’t). AFAIK, the real question for most us is Mishnah and Gemara (possibly Sod also).
Tikun Olam is a Jewish concept. We mention it 3 times a day in Aleinu. The problem is when it is taken out of context. We say we are to metaken olam bemalchut Shaddai. Our tikun olam is based on Hashem.
The non-frum base it on what feels nice at the time, which can (and often does) cause eventual destruction and cruelty.
50,000,000 Americans have been slaughtered, but women need their freedom.“Don’t ask how many nails I hammered, how many sheets of dry wall we both hung, etc.”
I thought you were a successful lawyer, who started 6-7 businesses, according to your bragging.
But now comes some poor-mouthing to sound like you’re a man of the people. You really are a Democrat.“I am far from elitist, my social circles cross economic and ethnic divides.”
That’s like people who say I’m not racist; I have a black friend. We know where that’s at.
From CTL: “…move to the flyover zone. ”
Spoken like a true Democrat. Elitist and condescending. Contempt for most people in America.
Considering that the OP is the square root of 2, I would have to say that s/he is not rational.
(Math joke)
Here in an example of a good Democrat
“The only reason that the frum oilom supports Republicans over Democrats is because of gay marriage. Period. ”
Nope. It’s been a number of years that the frum world has chosen for school vouchers, against abortion, and for Israel, among other reasons.
“I knew the torah hated supporting working families and protecting workers rights,” said sarcastically.
Why is it that the working class mainly votes Republican? They know who’s on their side.
Ubiquitin,
Much of what you listed may sound good, but those ideas are rooted in envy and greed disguised as fairness.
1,
GH was just giving her definition, which she acknowledged as her own.
I never heard anything like that.
Besides which, look at the Rambam on the 12th chapter of laws of Kings where he quotes the Gemara which says that it’s basically pointless in pontificating what’s going to happen.
Although we want to overcome obstacles, we don’t go out looking for them. In fact it’s better to avoid them.
For example, if a man must travel near the beach and he does not look, that’s a good thing. On the other hand, if he had an alternate road and still takes the road that goes by the beach, even though he does not look anything immodest, he is considered a Russia.
About the word yarmulke, from etymonline . com
yarmulke (n.)
1903, from Yiddish yarmulke, from Polish jarmułka, originally “a skullcap worn by priests,” perhaps ultimately from Medieval Latin almutia “cowl, hood.”
“That’s not a real difference l’maaseh. If they behave in a way which–today–we call “MO,” then I don’t really care what their kavana is, …”
Thats true only on a micro level – just looking at that one action superficially. A person’s motivation and hashkafa can make a world of difference in the spiritual value of their actions right now, and where they are headed in the future.
“You guys are going to take every MO trend, and call it as it is when Ashkenazim do it, but make excuses with Sphardim do it. ”
The big difference is that MO have a hashkafa for being MO. They are, generally, Bisheeta MO.
Sephardim OTOH just do what they do without any such hashkafa. Similarly, Reform is an Ashkenazi invention. When Ashkenazim do something (or not) they make a whole philosophy around it.Going back to the original question, it seems that even though Rav Yoseph Caro wrote in the B”Y that a head covering is middat chassidut, in the ShA he just says to not go without. As is to say one should preferably wear a head covering.
See the Yalkut Yosef about it. Siman bet. Who says that today one should wear a kippah.
“So the word custom or minhag does not come into this.”
Why not?
Why were they wearing hat’s 100 years ago?
Was it Halacha, minhag, or style?
Do you have any proof as to why?“I don’t know what makes you think the 60,000 don’t get near the kever, most people are only a few feet away,”
How can 60,000 people be within a few feet?
Besides which, I’ve heard that the number is between 30,000 and 40,000. But either way, most will not be near the lever.Most might not even be in the original place of where Uman was.
“Frum Yidden cover their heads.”
Not according to the Beit Yosef, who says it’s a middat chassidut.
In Xian lands, uncovering the head had religious significance for them. Hence the Taz says that our uncovering violates chukat hagoyim. The GRA disagrees.
From 50 years ago to today, prices have skyrocketed, especially housing and chinuch. No comparison.
I wasn’t pushing for govt interference, but rather a real education in the basics. I’ve met some chasidim who were quite sharp & well put together and OTOH some who were poorly educated and had difficulty speaking English. While much of that is dependent on the person (some are just sharper than others), having basic skills should be universal.
“do we have any proof they are worse off financially?”
Statistically saying, YES. You can find outliers in the data, but that does not speak for the majority.Try a different minyan and nusach. How about Syrian or Satmar, for examples ?
“Usually the people in the CR being critical of frum schools are those who advocate for more MO Day School systems.”
This debate is not more MO, necessarily. Rather it is about even having the education of a regular Litvish Yeshiva, so that they are not functionally illiterate in English and they are able to speak clearly (even with an accent).
Rabbis deserve vacation too.
It’s the father’s responsibility to teach the kids, not the school’s. If you can’t afford to hire others, then do it yourself.
When Hillel could not pay the entrance fee he was not allowed in. For good or for bad, we are constrained by the physical world.
“Seattle has a $14 minimum wage. Some guy had a restaurant. When they passed a bill for the $15 minimum wage, he thought he would lose money. Turns out he opened another five.”
One piece of anecdotal evidence that runs counter to the general data of what happened in Seattle. Generally, those making less than $19 per hour are bringing home less total wages.
Avi K,
1. I just meant that each of us needs to evaluate our own madreiga.
2. Regardless of his bad character, he still could be a channel through which Hashem send whelp
3. Good point. I did not mean to say otherwise, but my words may imply that. Thanks for your constructive criticism.BisBoy,
It seems to me that you’re asking the age-old question of where is a line between our effort and Emunah.
my answer to that is that each person is on their own level, and each person has his own dividing line. To me a good test to measure Emunah is to look at how much Yirah a person has. if a person claims to have faith that Hashem will help but has no fear, that is inconsistent. After all, it is the same Hand of Hashem that feeds you as that smacks you.
We need to look around and see how Hashem is involved in our lives and make a determination. Joseph was punished for petitioning the wine steward because he should have had faith in Hashem. but how was he supposed to know where his line was? The answer to that is simple. He was already thrown in a pit before. He was miraculously saved from the pit of snakes and scorpions before, so now he should know the Hashem is with him and saving him. It seems to me, based on the example of Joseph, the each of us should know our own level. But, it’s not always clear, just like it was not perfectly clear to Joseph.
From Nidah 70b, Soncino translation and notes:
What must a man do that he may become rich? He replied: Let him engage much in business34 and deal honestly. Did not many, they said to him, do so but it was of no avail to them? — Rather, let him pray for mercy from Him to whom are the riches, for it is said, Mine is the silver, and Mine the gold.35 What then36 does he 37teach us?38 — That one without the other39 does not suffice.
(34) ‘Engage . . . business’ is deleted by Elijah Wilna.
(35) Hag. II, 8.
(36) Seeing that one has in any case to pray for mercy.
(37) Samuel who stated, ‘Let him engage much’ etc.
(38) Cf. prev. n. but five mut. mut.
(39) Honest dealing without prayer and vice versa.“EVERYONE finds somewhere, some place, some time to romanticize and wax nostalgic for”
There is a difference between nostalgia and declaring something kodesh.
“Is this relevant to the discussion? How?”
The romanticizing of the shtetel and yiddish and all things in the alter heim. Most of us would not want to live there nor live like that.
Let me be straight forward. My point is that just because Jews do/use something does not make it automatically holy. If you have any proof otherwise please provide it.
Yiddish i!s, for the most part, German. The Yiddish word for translate, tiesch, comes from the word deutsch, which is German for German. When you say something like “tiech the Gemara”, you are really saying the translation into German.
Modern Hebrew is spoken primarily by Jews. Thus, according to your statement above, modern Hebrew is Holy.
Is a black hat or a streimel holy? Does it require geniza or burial when done?
“Any language which is spoken primarily by Yidden is holy;”
What is your source?
“currently this would include Loshon Hakodesh and Yiddish… ”
and modern Hebrew.
__
BTW, does anything that’s primarily Yidden related become holy?
How about potato kugel or gefilte fish (especially the jarred stuff in slime)?My question again is “Can you please help me understand your obsession with the term “Creole German”
Maybe to drive the point home that Yiddish is basically a bad form of German, and no one would call German holy.
I guess it’s better to call it Creole German than Chatzi Nazi“So what was the cause of the unfortunate rapid change to how it is now?Several factors .But foremost:Artscroll”
Why did Artscroll use English? Because that’s what people speak. Not Yiddish.
The original Artscroll Gemara, published about 30 years ago, had about a dozen Haskamot from various Roshei Yeshiva.“Thousand years and chosen language.”
Any proof? Or just romanticizing?
“”For the last thousand years …”
More like a few hundred. Do you have any proof for more than a few hundred?“Yiddish has been the overwhelming chosen language …”
Default, not chosen.Joseph,
I was pointing out that your 2 statements (of Gedolim and 1000 yeats) contradict each other.
But even in the last 200 years, why was Yiddish used? I would say for convenience; that’s what they all spoke. Not because of Kiddushah.
And if you say Yiddish has Kidushah, at what point did this Kidushah come upon it?
“Yidden have learnt Torah and spoken in Yiddish for a thousand years.”
Rashi, one of the Gedolim of about 1000 years ago, spoke French. The Rif did not speak Yiddish.
Joseph, like you said before, let’s look at the Gedolim.