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Yes, I taught social studies. I went to public school, and went to after school, when I was a kid.
No kids pulled the stunts that the boys in that yeshiva pulled. OTOH, I went to schools for the gifted and talented.
I taught for one semester in a yeshivish school.
The kids were abusive, cruel, and the worst behaved I ever seen. Ii went to public schools my entire life, and never once saw anything like this in my life.
My advice is for this young man to pursue a prudent path; you can be well-educated, have a good career, and make Torah the soul of your existence and being, and it doesn’t matter what political label you attach to yourself, or what kind of headgear you wear. Many YU types are yeshivishe for the most part, anyways.
Rabbi Avigdor Miller told anyone who learned 500 blatt gemara that they can use Rabbi on their kid’s wedding invitation.
You’re on the right path in a MO environment. Be the best you can be and a shining example to others. Have a good hashpa’ah on your classmates through your shmirath enayim, negiah, etc. Excel in your studies, go to YU, join a good shiur, and work with NCSY. Wear a black hat, if that floats your boat.
Out of curiosity, I’ve checked out the forums on that website, and in many cases, it’s a fertile ground for rechilut and lashon hara.
When people make external sanctimonious displays of false religiosity, I’m put off. I’m impressed when I see people making a kiddush hashem, treating their parents with respect, helping the poor, loving their neighbors, etc. Wearing the nicest hat with the broadest brim, the snazziest suit, drying off lettuce leaves at the seder table, and many other chumrot we see, I think, reflects a lack of learning. When people’s stringencies reflect a sicnere parsing of halakhic literature, I respect such individuals.
OTOH, I’m often ridiculed for what people perceive to be eccentricities (i.e. I am now makpid on yashan and bishul yisrael, thus limiting my ability to eat in 99% of kasher restaurants, I only wash on breads that are bread-like and not cake-like, I only use yayin eino mevushal for kiddush, I don’t carry in string eruvin, I don’t accept payment for teaching torah, I wouldn’t want my wife to wear a wig, etc., all of which are based generally on the Rambam). Therefore, I’m sensitive to people’s religious practices in most cases.
We have a fear of leaving this world without having made certain accomplishments.
But life is fleeting and passing. If I were to die tomorrow, I’d be happy, knowing that I leave this world and galuth for something better.
Social activism
Community service
Debate Team
Journalism
You get the picture
I think the challenge is to find someone who will support your spiritual and religious goals. For me, it is extremely important to listen to 1-2 shiurim a day and learn every night. Whomever I marry will have to honor the fact that after work, I will need to devote 2 hours a night to G-d and sit and learn (gemara/halakha, parsha, iyun tefillah, etc.) Marriage is supposed to have an uplifting spiritual effect, not a detrimental effect on one’s avodat hashem, so I’d say that is something to be vigilant about.
This promotes good relations with non-Jews, as this allows the Christians to spend their holiday with family.
I participated as part of a JCC “Mitzvah Day” group.
I don’t believe Christianity is avodah zarah, and neither do the others who advocate interfaith relations (eg R’ David Rosen, R’ Shear Yashuv Cohen, etc.). It’s not an issue, afaic.
A God who would condemn me for donating time to help poor children is a God I wouldn’t want to believe in, quite frankly.
I taught last year.
The kids were the abusers, not me.
You should collect disability as soon as possible. If moving to a more Jewish community isn’t possible, inquire about staying in a Jewish community for shabbat and yom tov. I’m sure rabbanim would be more than happy to put you up. Coming from a family where there isn’t much observance, I relate to your plight in certain ways, and in my journey of becoming Orthodox, I’ve had great support.
If you leave it out in the winter, you should be fine.
The Meiri and the Rema, for starters, don’t believe Christianity is avodah zarah. Same applies to the shita of R’ DZ Hoffmann and others. I wouldn’t classify their approach as an extreme minority.
Unitarianism, for certain, wouldn’t be considered avodah zarah by any account (R’ Henkin allows Jews to enter Unitarian churches), and this would apply to other denominations that don’t believe J.C. was a deity. (J. Witnesses, etc.)
Sam2,
The holiday for them isn’t so much about religion anymore. In any event, I don’t believe their religion is vadai avodah zarah, in line with the shita of those poskim who don’t categorize Christianity as avodah zarah.
Vaccinations have nothing to do with autism. This is a lie that lacks any scientific basis.
We don’t know what causes autism, although genetics, socialization (or lack thereof), age of the parents, etc. all play a role.
And here I thought I was an “apikores” because I suggested SYAS and JWed.
There’s no need to hurl ad hominem insults and attacks, Sam. The law is as Rambam writes it, as far as I’m concerned.
And ROB has an incredible amount of knowledge on this inyan, so I appreciate his support.
I don’t have the time to give you the laundry list right now.
A person who doesn’t pull his weight in this world and takes from others doesn’t have much respect in my eyes.
I’m volunteering at a soup kitchen, where I’ll be helping distribute toys to poor gentile children.
I beg to differ, DY. Labor has an important place in Judaism, and those who abscond the duty to work make a chillul hashem.
I think it’s unbecoming to wear shoes that aren’t nice on shabbat. I do wear dress shoes on shabbat that I wouldn’t wear during the week. During the week, I wear Rockport shoes, and on shabbat, I wear more dressy shoes.
Right-wing means authoritarian, dogmatic, fundamentalist. I don’t see your tayna.
And, DY, who’s we? I happen to pasken like the Rambam on this issue, and many others, as well.
The best shadchan for a productive member of society is either JWed or SYAS.
I’ve been nursing myself back to health lately, and have been cooking a lot of things from Malky Eisenberger’s Mokholim Tsum Gezunt. Like celery soup (just celery and onion boiled in water). Little calories, little flavor, no pain, no gain.
Mustard is one I haven’t thought of before.
I’d suggest to start by trying ketchup and bbq sauce. These add a nice ta’am. I prepared a chulent flavored with ketchup, bbq sauce, paprika, onions, onion powder, garlic, and garlic powder not long ago for a shul kiddush, and we couldn’t stop eating it.
I got the idea for bbq sauce when I ate by a family in Monsey that made their chulent with bbq sauce. Without it, I find chulent to be too soupy.
Ron Popeil makes one. Just buy a food-grade syringe and use your favorite bottled kosher marinade with a hechsher, or make your own.
Whatever sells the most and wins the popularity contest.
Oomis, shkoyach 🙂
I heard a neighbor once describe 13th Avenue in Boro Park as a chulent, since all types converge there.
In truth, the idea of combining salty, spicy, savory, and sweet flavors may seem gross, but these create a balanced flavor that more than compensates for the lack of meat. Although, if I were making a meat chulent, I’d use the same flavorings, and also add browned marech bones for added flavor.
People should learn the writings of the Rambam, Ralbag, Ibn Gabirol, Rasag (Emunot ve Deot), Ibn Paquda, Ibn Daud, Ibn Falaquera, Hasdai Crescas, Kuzari, Mateh Dan, Hakham Kapach, Hakham Yihye Qafih, Yashar miCandia, Azariah deRossi, Leon deModena, Hakham Faur, etc. thoroughly. Having an engagement with philosophy and matters of belief is essential to living a well-examined life.
When you put all kinds of ingredients together, things that seemingly wouldn’t go together, you get a cholent. In a deeper sense, cholent is symbolic of klal yisrael, and the human family, as a whole. We’re made up of people of many different gifts, persuasions, hashkafot, personalities, approaches, cultures, backgrounds, and walks of life. When these things are considered individually, on their own, they seem distasteful, unusual, unpalatable, and out of place. But when this great diversity is brought together, and all come together, and mingle, interact, and have the opportunity to “cook” together, the results are quite delicious, and the whole ends up being greater than the sum of its parts.
Someone posted that on Facebook earlier.
I don’t even miss the fleish from this cholent. Just be sure to add plenty of oil. The oil prevents the mixture from drying out, and it lends that nice sumptuous mouthfeel that you get from meat. And the kugel on top is great.
A cholent on kigel iz vi a faygel on a fligel.
I don’t really have one. Just a bit of this and a bit of that. Although, I use the whole bottle of ketchup and bbq sauce for the entire cholent (it’s a huge one)
prunes add a meatiness and sweetness.
coke adds a unique flavor, and a tad of crispness
I make a cholent like this:
Sweet potatoes, white potatoes, onions, carrots, celeriac, chopped garlic, whole garlic cloves, water, barley, beans, paprika, mushrooms, onion powder, garlic powder, ketchup, bbq sauce, soy sauce, onion soup mix, parve beef soup mix, prunes, and coca cola, and I top it with parve kishka, potato kugel, and whole eggs.
I learned about it from about the age of 7. I became religious after learning all about it, finally at the age of 17.
I, too, miss Chanukah.
Saying Hallel every morning, kriat hatorah every morning, Al haNisim, Maoz Tzur, Mi Yimalel, Sevivon, Dreydl, Chanukah O Chanukah, learning all sorts of Chanukah torah, sitting in awe and meditating on G-d’s miracles and salvations for 30 minutes a night, etc. are all very dear to me.
The lesson, though, is to take Chanukah into every day life. Be mindful that by virtue of being here and waking up every morning, that is a miracle. That we’re saved from troubles all the time, and that every morning, we need to re-dedicate the Beit haMikdash in our hearts and souls through clinging to G-d and doing mitzvot.
It’s not that ends justify means. It’s that pikuach nefesh is doche issurei shabbat, and other issurim, as well, and that saving a life takes precedence over shabbat.
Takahmamash,
My parve chulent recipe is great for vegans (and carnivores, too). You can also do amazing things with Daiya cheese (like making a parve lasagna or macaroni and cheese), meatless crumbles, and a great variety of grains and vegetables (like making stuffed zucchini and stuffed eggplant with vegetables, rice, tomatoes, and onions, etc.)
Simchas and holidays and family get togethers are often a huge source of tza’arot and troubles for families. The holiday season, for instance, is always home to a spike in psychiatric crises.
My favorite explanation of minhagim is from Hakham Ovadia Yosef: a Sephardic woman doesn’t give up her minhagim when she marries an Ashkenaz, since by nature, her Sephardic minhagim are more correct than the Ashkenazic minhagim. Circular reasoning at its best.
Hello? Nobody here ever heard of salami and eggs?
Jews eat meat in the morning, also. Many times, after tefillah on shabbos, chulent and deli is eaten at like 11ish.
Although it seems traditional for people to have lox and bagels for a bris.
In a day and age where we have almond milk, parve coffee creamers, Rich’s, So Delicious coconut creamer (certified Dairy Equipment), etc., parve cheese, parve yogurt, etc., is it really such a tragedy to be fleshig?
I was a scholar in residence and cantor in residence, and we served the following:
Chulent was parve, made from potato, sweet potato, barley, beans, onions, ketchup, paprika, oil, Badia seasoning, pepper, salt, and bbq sauce.
Cappiello braided mozzarella (OU-D) was served with basil and tomato, with balsamic dressing. You can use Fresh and Tasty for CY mozzarella braid. This was a delicious Caprese salad.
Green salad with assorted dressings and toppings (olives, peppers, pickles, broccoli, parmesan cheese, shredded cheddar, etc.)
Parve kishka was in the chulent, along with assorted kugels on the side.
If you want meat, you can serve salad with cold grilled chicken and parve Caesar dressing and croutons (capers go nicely in such a salad), and try different hot stews that can cook over shabbos. Chili comes to mind (use many kinds of beans and let this stew over shabbos, like a chulent. You can also use beef stew meat, and add jalapeno, chipotle, green bell pepper, onion, cilantro, crused tomatoes, beer, garlic, cumin, chili powder, and other ingredients for an authentic Mexican taste.
The idea is that a person should eat hot food, as well as a dish special for yom shabbat.
We have a pothead in the CR. There’s no use trying to help him (or her) and there’s no tachlis in trying to get them to stop their drug abuse. They’re not going to listen, they’re convinced of the veracity of their claims, and that’s it.