oomis

I heard there was an attempted kidnaping of an 8 year old Jewish boy in Brooklyn. People, PLEASE watch the children. In my neighborhood, we have parents whose little kids run around with absolutely ZERO supervision (I include kids under the age of 2). The parents rely on the slightly older ones to watch the babies. I have myself run out of my house to snatch up a baby who walked into the street, and another time caught another one as he was about to fall down a steep staircase on his tricycle. Both children had no parent in sight, and the parents made themselves nisht vissendig when I brought the kids back to them and told them what had happened. We cannot be so cavalier about our children’s safety. Hashem might be our Shomer, but He expects us to NOT rely on miracles.

chesedname, with all due respect, your analogy is a poor choice. When someone has bad breath, (which smoking causes,too, just as an aside) they are possibly bothering my aesthetic senses, but they are not endangering my life, polluting the air I breathe, or hurting themselves. They just smell bad. Smoking is an insidious problem, a filthy habit, and wasteful of money that could be put to better use. And those are only its virtues! Don’t look down at anybody, but no one has a right to deliberately rot the air that we all need to breathe, and possibly endanger us through second-hand smoke.

What about making a Waldorf Salad and keeping it refrigerated for this purpose. The veggies, slices of apple, and walnuts, should fill you up.

Thanks, Wolf. I KNEW it was Agag, that Og was a questionable answer. I guess I was Senior Momenting again.

Avraham Avinu by the akeida, “Vayashkeim” that he got up early to do Hashem’s bidding.

Pinchas Ben Elazar Hakohein, who killed Zimri Ben Salu and Cozbi bas Tzur with one stroke through both of them, for flagrant public immorality.

Tzipporah, who herself gave a bris milah to her son.

Shmuel Hanavi who killed Og Melech Habashan (do I have that right?) when Shaul Hamelech failed to do what he was commanded, to execute him. Shmuel just took a sword and split him in half.

I don’t know of any book where the story appeared because my Rov told it over during a drosha. Have you looked in Mesilas Yesharim? Maybe there is something about this in there.

No one is looking for ways OUT. We are looking for ways IN, ways in to enjoying the food we eat on PEsach, that was often very bland and limited. Ways in to NOT feeling like Pesach is synonymous with UGH, matzah AGAIN?????????? Ways in to feeling, WOW, I cannot wait to try this new recipe l’kovod yom tov! People who view these enhancements of the Chag is being “loopholes” might possibly lose sight that Hashem has NEVER asked us to deprive oruselves of the enjoyment of Pesach. he only asks us to refrain from eating MAMESH CHOMETZ. I asked this once before – do you drink coffee at a fleishig simcha, with pareve creamer, or enjoy tofutti or other soy products that may be consumed with meat? DO you ever read an Artscroll Chumash or Talmud? Maybe those things should also be assur in your eyes, because they enable us to do something we might otherwise not be able to do.

We have enough important strictures that we MUST follow in order to be frum. Please don’t negate the things that we have learned MAY be done in an halachically acceptable way. Otherwise don;t bother making cholent for Shabbos, either.

My daughter just made yummy devil’s food cake from the Tamar Ansch cookbook. tastes like chometz.

“Oomis-

I made your fudgy and gooey chocolate cake (the one where you wrote “best served with vanilla ice cream” and it came out gavaldik! Thank You!

Hope you had a good Yom Tov as well. Thank you for your good wishes and may you too have all the brachos you wished for everyone else! “

I know I made a great chocolate cake, but I mamesh don’t recall writing anything about ice cream, so it may be someone else deserving the compliments. In any case, amein to the second part of your post. I had a great SECOND seder (fell into an almost-coma by shulchan oreych on the first night).

I am delighted with how my blondies and chocolate cake came out. I also made a chocolate mousse for dessert (no squirrel, for those who get the reference), and it was AWESOME. I hope everyone had a wonderful yom tov, no matter how they spent it, and may the sedarim (or even better, SEDER in Yerushalayim) next year be joyous, full of family and friends, zivugim for those who are unattached as yet, babies for those who want to become parents, and nachas from those children and grandchildren we already have.

I agree with Anonmrs, and also with Mayan_Dvash. Labels are for canned goods, not people.

Chag kasher V’SAMEACH (emphasis on the simcha for all). May none of us be lonely or feel lonely, even if alone.

My husband and I were once asked for directions to the Van Wyck. We were driving home from Brooklyn off the Marine Park Bridge, and the ladies who asked us for directions were totally lost. We started to explain how to get there, saw they were more confused than ever, and told them to follow us and we drove all the way to the approach to the Van Wyck until they knew where they were going. It took us about 40 minutes or so out of way, but we saw the s’char mitzvha middah k’neged middah, when my husband took my son to Yankee Stadium one night, and THEY got totally lost when leaving, having taken one wrong turn, and were somewhere in the Bronx. They were driving around and around, with NO cell phone (that, and a GPS were purchased right after this), and all of a sudden they saw some guys and asked for directions back to the highway. the guys started to explain, but my husband was getting more and more confused with all the twists and turns, and the fellow said to follow him, he would take him to the road to the highway. Huge leap of faith after midnight int he Bronx, but he guy was as good as his word. Thankfully, they were brought directly to the highway entrance. Cast your bread…(good aphorism for this week, huh?)

Do you think pareve cheesechake ruins the etzem of Shavuous? (OK, that one’s a joke.)

Wolf – I NEVER joke about cheesecake…

As to the rest of the statements – Hashem gave us halachos, but He did not forbid us from enjoying life. Torah Judaism, unlike certain other sects and religions, is not meant to have us live an ascetic life. There is absolutely NOTHING, repeat NOTHING wrong with finding a way to do something otherwise forbidden to us, in a kosher and halachically acceptable way. Clearly Hashem gave our chachomim and our scientists the seichel to figure out how to do things that ENHANCE the spirit of Shabbos and yom tov. We cannot watch tv with a timer (uvda d’chol), but we CAN turn on lights so we don’t sit in the dark like the karaites did. I cannot eat bacon, but if I want “bacon” and eggs, (because it really IS delicious, from what I hear, but it is nevertheless assur), I can eat imitation bacos, IF I SO CHOOSE. Do you use pareve “milk” in your coffee after a fleishig meal? The idea is that we do not HAVE to deprive ourselves. Pesach is meant to symbolize freedom. There is no inyan that we have to suffer. For some people who are addicted to certain types of food, going without those foods is extremely hard for them, even if only for a week.

I personally never saw the attraction to pesach spaghetti, or pizza, but I don’t eat that so often when it is NOT Pesach time. I can live without all of these things (just give me chocolate), but some people really feel they cannot. And why should they have to? That is NOT what Pesach is about? Chometz is a very specific aspect of food. If there is no chometz, then it is not assur, and should not be thought of as assur. Because if that is the case, then whoever feels this way should also not eat anything that is leavened with egg whites. The cakes made by that method look as chometzdig as any I have ever had.

I think the chillul Hashem could be in allowing politicians and/or legislation to get in because you (not you, Wolf, the “royal” YOU) did not vote. Each vote counts, and if someone doesn’t use the inalienable right that was granted to the citizens of this country, and as a result some immoral law is passed because it was not legally fought within the voting system, then a C”H can occur.

Chesed, that was really funny.

I agree with Aries. I would probably respond, “I’m so sorry to hear that. it must be a very difficult time for all of you? I wish him/her a refuah shelaima.What can I do to help you – do your kids need to be babysat or picked up from school? If it’s ok with you, I could make them dinner so you can be at the hospital if you need to be.” I would and I have said that, and a few other assorted things, and people are very appreciative when you give a specific offer of help, rather than a generic, “Let me know if you need anything.” People almost always feel uncomfortable asking for help, so you should always be specific in the offer, and THEN also ask if there is anything you might have overlooked that they need. Sometimes all they want and need is a friend.

I am sorry, Volvie, but C”S in the USA is NOT non-kosher by any stretch of the imagination. Perhaps in Europe, where mare’s milk might have been substituted for cow’s milk, it was a problem decades ago, but there is no such problem with USDA grade A milk, which can only be certified as such if it comes from a cow.

I am not telling you to drink C”S, as I respect your decision to use only C”Y. But to refer to it as non-kosher because of a shitta that you choose to follow, is unfair to the hundreds of thousand of KOSHER Jews who do NOT drink only C”Y, as per the shittos of other Gedolim, who matir C”S. We get into this argument with the C”Y drinkers on a semi-regular basis, and IMO it is wrong to assert that C”S is not kosher. You hold to a different standard. Fine. Your standard is your decision The milk we drink in this country all comes from a cow. And the last I heard, all cows are kosher animals. So the milk from every one of them is only milk.

“I would feel not very kind if I went out and bought non Cholov Yisroael for someone else when I am strictly Cholov Yisroael for “

How a person “feels,” is halachically irrelevant as to whether or not something is in fact kosher. Someone who holds by Breuer’s shechita, for example, might not “feel” another schechitah is reliable. That does not mean he is correct, only that he is correct for HIMSELF. I personally would feel EXTREMELY unkind if I knew someone else could eat something that I myself cannot use. Just because you eat C”Y does not mean the person who does not do so is inferior to you in some way. If he eats C”S, then you would be doing him a TOVA to give him the item you yourself cannot eat because it is not C”Y.

Let’s take the argument away from kashrus for the moment. Suppose you are a borderline diabetic and someone invited to your home for a dinner gives you a beautiful store-bought cake that is 100% certain kosher. You absolutely hold that you cannot eat it yourself, much as you would love to. Should you throw it out, or maybe give it to a friend who (assuming there is no weight problem) can eat sugary foods? If you think this is nothing like the issue of kashrus, IMO you are mistaken. Kashrus is all about what we theoretically CAN eat but MAY not eat. Halachically we all CAN eat C”S products, but some of us hold to a standard that says they MAY not do so. That doesn’t mean that the rest of us are unkosher, and it surely does not mean that kosher C”S foods should not be given away to kosher C”S-eating Jews. You don’t throw out good food, especially when someone else can use it. If it were not kosher, there is no question.

“As a note, if you only eat Cholov Yisroel you cannot give someone else (who is Jewish) non-Cholov Yisroel.”

Why not? It is not unkosher. If you give it to someone who does eat cholov stam, why should there be any problem? It certainly IS baal tashchis to throw perfectly good food away. Where is it written that you may not get hano-ah from it by giving it to someone who MAY eat it? Source, please.

Health, you are also quite right – people say really stupid things when they pay a shiva call. The most offensive things were said to me and also to my sister when we sat shiva for my dad and my mom O”H, respectively. I won’t repeat it again, as I already posted this once, but the two comments were extremely insulting and hurtful, and uttered by longtime friends of the family, people who should have known better than to make embarrassing comments to aveilim.

Esther, one can only hope that you were made stronger in the zechus of what you had to endure, both by these foolish remarks and by the actual treatment you underwent. May your refuah be complete in every way, and may you enjoy only good health and much simcha ad meah v’esrim shana. Then put on a good pair of headphones and tune the insensitive clods out.

In any case this is a moot point. Women legally HAVE the right to vote, so yes, in the USA it is permissible The original question posed did not specify halacha).

“People should trust in Hashem and stop being so shallow that they need to see photos before accepting a shidduch. Are we running a modeling agency that this should be a requirement to get the job of husband or wife? Shtusim!”

Amein to that! DOUBLE Shtusim (or shtuyos)!

It’s not misguided focus for someone to be attracted physically to the person whom they are dating. Hashem gave us that feeling for a reason. But you are right that we should focus on OTHER attributes, such as middos, personality, intelligence, thoughtfulness, etc., though looks DO play a part (and are extremely subjective).

OY, have I got a headache from this!

If it were free, I would certainly be tempted, provided there was absolutely no question on the reliability of the kashrus. But truthfully, I would rather go for Succos or Shavuos. Pesach is a time I really like being home. But if someone else likes to go away and can afford it, kol hakavod.

Can’t believe I missed that – NO eggs in a Pesach cake???? Must be the chemical fumes from cleaning for Pesach. Shindy, please advise, as per smh1’s very astute observation.