oomis

yentingyenta – I wish you much mazel and hatzlacha in finding your true basherte on your own. I hope he walks in the door somewhere that you are, and makes the first move. I met my wonderful spouse that way, and so did two of my kids. And Hashem sent us our zivugim without the need for external shadchanim. So much less pressure and so much more enjoyable experiences. I realize not everyone feels comfortable with meeting on their own, but likewise, many people feel the shadchan process is awkward and uncomfortable. To each his (or her) own.

I am totally, utterly, and unalterably opposed to anything that is called a resume, where shidduchim are concerned. My children need resumes for job interviews. Period. People need to stop this nonsense, which gets worse and worse every year, and just MEET each other.

First off, much hatzlacha to you in taking this awesome step. I cannot imagine it was easy, especially the undergoing giyur when you already feel you are Jewish to begin with.

I am married to a BT (I am FFB), and from my perspective, I think you would benefit from a couple of years more of being frum under your belt, so to speak, to help your transition. It might be better for you to seek out like-minded Baalot Teshuvah (of some duration, who are established in their frum path), because they are more likely to understand what the journey is like for you, having gone through it themselves. You can then grow together in your religious observance. Yasher koach on seeking out a life of Torah commitment.

Of course I don’t eat fish and meat together (it’s why I get upset when I see supposedly kosher recipes that call for worcestershire sauce on meat (hard to find that sauce not made with anchovies). I do cook fish with cheese (tuna melts, for example), but never with fleishings.

I have never understood what the “sakana” was, and it would be worthwhile for tabbanim to explain that to us. When something is done for a reason other than “Hashem commanded it,” it is helpful if the reasoning behind it is clarified. Otherwise we run the risk that someone will say that the sakana existed then but not now, so it’s not shayach anymore. That may or may not be true, but it helps to let people know what is behind the halacha, the minhag, the chumrah, the whatever. What was the sakana then, and why is it or is it not sakana now?

I do the following (not paskening, but my rov has told me what I do is good). First, I put only one or two burners on, very low. The I cover each burner, whether on or off, with a perforated approximately 8″ metal disc about 1/2 thick. They are sometimes called simmer rings or heat diffusers, meant to be used as a double boiler effect to put a pot on, to evenly distribute and lower the heat under the pot, so food does not scorch. Then my blech (covered with foil) goes over those discs, raising the height of the blech even further above the burners than it would be otherwise (I know most of my friends simply put the blech directly over the burners, but even for the sake of carbon monoxide issues, I think my way is safer and leaves a more open area for the gases to escape). I put my food either on an area that has no flame, or on top of a turned upside pan on top of the blech.

I rotate the food, so nothing ever gets too hot to touch. I don’t need potholders to move them around, so it is not yad soledes bo. My mom O”H used to put things into a pan filled with boiled water that remained in one spot on the blech all night (like the k’daira al gabai k’daira “un-blechs” that are sold). I prefer not to keep hot water on a blech.

Am I yotzeh if I just throw it at my mother?”

Were you not in Shul on Sunday?

This was a satirical post. You don’t like sheitels, don’t wear ’em.

Hashem did not specify in the Written Torah the halacha of women covering their hair. Wasn’t it learned out from the inyan of the Isha Sotah? We cannot presume to state definitively why Hashem wants women to cover the hair after marriage, other than the fact that “sei’ar b’isha erva. The same hair in an unmarried woman is not erva.

The covering of hair serves to remind both men AND the married woman herself that she is now an eishes ish and off limits to other men. Does it say anywhere that a woman must cover her hair specifically to make herself look less appealing to others? Not to my admittedly very basic knowledge. It just shows that she is married and it is now therefore considered erva as any other part of her body that is erva for ALL females, married or not.

We may cover our other erva with nice clothing (and in fact on Shabbos and Yom Tov we are supposed to do just that). There is nothing wrong with covering the hair erva with a pretty sheitel. It still serves the purpose of following the law of covering the hair. When we start ascribing reasons other than the change of women’s marital status, to why HaKadosh Boruch Hu wants us to cover our hair after marriage, we run into problems. JMO.

At least some of the signs of a tereifah are external and visible while the animal is still alive.”

Ok, thanks for the information. Mikol melamdei hiskalti. 🙂

Oomis: Actually, only a properly-Schechted Kosher animal can be a Treifah (or, at least, Assur to eat Mishum T’reifah). And milk from a T’reifah is Assur. ‘

And how would you know the milked animal was a treifah until AFTER it was shechted? By that time, the milk was probably already drunk.

The events are not pritzus. The manner of dress might be less than our concept of tznius, and the idea of the Olympics, going back to the “gymnasion” of the Greeks, speaks to things that were very negative in our history, but you have no chiyuv to watch it.

Good question. We should ALWAYS have cheesecake.

Any word in Ivrit that is not “kodesh” comes from Arabic or some other language.

Thank you Tzaddiq. Once it is yom tov and I am not going back and forth to my neighbors to use their oven, I will be fine. Right now I am like a house on fire. I have literally been up and down the stairs maybe two dozen times today. My only rest stop was posting in the CR briefly today. I happen to LOVE yomim tovim, and the more company I have the better I like it. I am looking at this tiny (in the grand scheme of things) nisayon as a kapara for something else. It just is the timing that was the problem.

To all of you who replied with really helpful suggestions, thanks very much. Some of the things you suggested, I can do. Others (like pasta dishes and anything with sesame), I cannot, because there are some allergies and other dietary restrictions in my family (among all the people who will be here for yom tov),that make some of those delicious sounding suggestions undoable for me, unfortunately. (I commiserate with those whose ovens also broke down). My neighbor graciously allowed me the use of her oven today, so I am trying to do what I can this morning. I HATE going into yom tov with stress.

I have a wonderful repair man, whom I trust implicitly, and he cannot get the part needed. The thermostat on my old Magic Chef wall oven, went. They do not make this type of thermostat anymore. The oven was valuable to me because it had a continuous pilot (not electric ignition).

Convection ovens that run on electricity, will be good for before yom tov, but won’t help on yom tov. I cannot get a new oven installed before Shavuos, in any case, even were I able to afford one. But now the question is, any recommendations for wall ovens???? Pros and cons…

STOP! You’re KILLING me!

Recipes please, folks.

I may end up with NO food for yom tov. My oven just broke and may not be fixable before Shabbos. I need stovetop main dishes. FAST!!!!!!!! Alternatively, is there a table top convection oven in which I can bake and roast? If so, what brand?

If a Rov gave a gift every time he was invited to a simcha, he would go bankrupt. His presence at the simcha is a gift. For the rest of us however, a gift should be given, based on what we can afford. If the people who invited you are not happy with what you can afford, they will not invite you again. Big deal. You’ll save more money. People who care about you will understand (unless you can afford a gift and are merely being a cheapskate, in which case, SHAME on you!).

I had several people who came to my kid’s weddings and gave nothing. In two out of three cases, they could not afford a monetary gift, but they each took non-professional candid pictures of the simchas (very lovely ones, btw), and put them together in an album for me. It meant a great deal to me. One person simply forgot to give, and never realized it. Moichel. If people matter to you, you don’t make an issue of it.

It’s assur when it’s more Bar than Mitzvah…

I thinkt he makes a valid point, Wolf. This is something a rov should know or make it his business to find out. It is a shailah, after all. That said, it may take some doing to find out such information.

Refuah shelaima to both of you. Amein. Have a good Shabbos, free of pain. A relative of mine and also a friend of mine both had hip replacements recently, and they are doing phenomenally well, B”H. BE”H so will your mother.

Thank you Sam2 for clarification. I have only heard the expression Goel Hadam in connection with a Shogeig.

Ask yourself what chance someone who was illiterate at age 25 would have of becoming a great writer (some had, but not many)?

I don’t know about that. rabbi Akiva started at 40.