mishpachashu

saysme: Ha thank that’s funny. In one of them he says “whats there to explain, I sign my posts.”

But why? Why did he start signing his posts”? Is it not in order to evoke a certain emotion? Indeed, after I read a post signed by the wolf, it does evoke a certain emotion as if it gives his posts something undeserved. What do you guys think?

Well compared to the CRC for kashering a hot plate:

The CRC says to put it on the hottest setting for half an hour and clean it thoroughly.

R’ Blumenkrantz says to put it on hottest setting for one hour, clear it thoroughly and then cover it completely with aluminum foil.

Thanks! this is so helpful! Yashar koach!

“I used to need to know people to ask shailos to. “I know a guy who knows a guy etc.” Some people probably took great pride in the sense that he was the local guy people came to to ask general questions. In the past the only thing lay people had was the kitzur shukchan aruch which is extremely limiting- so local guys who learned were always needed and looked up to.”

Now however, I can say 100% for myself that I never need to “rely” on someone I personally know for ANY questions. On my pocket sized smart phone alone I can instantly find about any question you can imagine such as ” Medicines, Toiletries, and Non-Foods On Pesach”. I have halacha hotlines I can call, famous Rabbis I can email from halfway around the world. I have apps that give me an instant shiur and English translation of any page of shas in a second and can lain and teach me the weekly sedra. I have online dictionaries, entire libraries, translations of tosfos- all at my finger tips. With the recently published Hamafteach, I can find instantly what daf any topic or keyword in Shas is then go to my smart phone and listen to an English shiur about it. I have not asked someone I personally know a halachic question in over three years and have gotten along perfectly fine.

Yes, this is all great for the layman who (with much effort) can day by day turn himself into a talmid chacham. But what about all those guys who were always considered so smart in their yeshiva but are now not needed anymore?

I agree. I get so much out of listening to certain gedolim from eretz yisroel where I can rewind, fast-forward and pause that I don’t even bother going to live shiurim anymore by the local Rabbi. Every time I go to a live shiur I don’t get much out of it and it doesn’t speak to me.

I simply cant remember the last time I actually went to shule for a local shiur after mincha and got something I couldn’t have gotten better online instead. But isn’t this a bad thing also? Aren’t we losing something by this?

For instance, at high school my Rabbi would give a question and answer session every week on Fridays where students could ask him any question they want and he would answer it. They would ask questions such as “can you celebrate Thanks Giving” “whats the deal with counting Jews” “Crossdressing on Purim” “going to the mikvah on erev shabbos” “can you dance and clap on shabbos” etc.

Now though, with a simple search on yutorah.org Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz has a halacha series that goes through all of these types of questions so concisely and thoroughly that no high school Rabbi can possibly compete with him. So the once cherished Q & A Fridays are now no longer needed.

I am ambivalent about it. On the one hand, it is good that the information is available to all so easily. On the other, it is also nice to learn things that are “exclusive and hidden”, to be needed and admired over your learning and to “need” your chavrusa. What do you think a practical answer is to this? I know many yeshivos don’t allow artsscroll in the yeshiva so one chavrusa “needs” the other- but that seems like we are just fighting a growing trend and it won’t be effective outside of the yeshiva or in the long run.