Redleg

From the perspective of 43 years of successful marriage let me offer the following example:

Avrohom Avinu was among the greatest men who ever lived and the father of us all. Yet when it came to a major disagreement with Sarah, HaShem said, “listen to your wife”. And this wasn’t about tidying up the tent. It was about disowning Avrohom’s bechor.

You want a long, happy and successful marriage? Listen to your wife. Your success in life, in parnassa, in learning is through the zechuyos of your wife. do what she says.

WIY firstly, i disagree with your basic premise about instant desire. While I concede that men are more easily enticed than women, for most men in my experience, Jew and Gentile, admiration does not imply deep desire anymore than admiration of a beautiful house or car implies instant deep desire to possess same. Secondly, the thread is not about women dressing provocatively. It specifically refers to “technically” tznius attire. By definition, women’s attire that conforms to halacha is not provocative. It may be attractive but that’s okay. Halacha does not require women to dress like slobs or Muslim women in burqa.

WIY, are you a man? What’s your reaction? The fact is that noticing that a woman is attractive isn’t assur. otherwise Beis Yaakov meidlach wouldn’t make an effort to look attractive, get dressed up and made up, for shidduch dates. “Evil thoughts” are assur. Most men, Jew and Gentile, don’t entertain such thoughts. Unless you are a man and actually have such thoughts, what you were taught is nonsense.

For those of you to young to know, in the old western movies and series, the bad guys always wore black hats and the good guys always wore white hats.

Froggie, if you fight with your hands and not your head, another part of your anatomy is going to get kicked. in the ancient world, which includes includes Israel and Judea, different nations had different attitudes about waging war. Jews fought many wars, some defensive, some aggressive. the difference between us and the other Umos Haolam is that we always, even to the present day, understood that victory and defeat are in the Hands and Head (figuratively speaking) of the Borei Olam.

Ladies, the people and and sem teachers who are telling you how men think don’t, themselves, have a clue how men think. To hear them, and some of the posters here, tell it men apparently think of little else. I’m surprised that men remember to eat. The fact is that the great majority of men don’t have “evil thoughts” when they see women going about their business. You all just dress and behave in a way that conforms to normative halacha and don’t worry about what men may be thinking.

ain’t it a hoot? Downandin, I know what you’re talking about. As a self-employed head of household, I’m stuck. I can’t collect unemployment because i’m technically employed (by myself) even if I have no income,

Downandin, don’t worry! you’ll make it. I, Redleg, give you a beracha, not only for parnassa but also for yishuv hadaas, children who are shomrei mittza, and long and happy life.

Froggie, both Dovid haMelech and Shlomo haMelech fought wars of conquest as well as defensive wars., as did later Davidic and Hasmonean kings. These are what we refer to as milchemei reshus. Another interesting item is that none of the Books of Apocrypha cited above mention the neis of the menorah.

Krav Maga and similar styles are good because they are based on real world situations and not Bruce Lee movies. However, self defense isn’t really about technique, it’s about attitude and mind-set. Almost any technique or not technique at all is effective if the fighter acts quickly and violently. You’ve got to want to defeat your attacker and to do so by any means and at any cost. In the movie “The Shootist”, John Wayne’s character describes the fighting mind-set. Speaking of gunfighting he says,”it’s not being fast, or even accurate. I’t being willing.”

Marial Arts training is good exercise and fun. But real self-defense isn’t about executing a perfect Osoto Gari, It’s about attacking your attacker and keeping attacking until he either runs away or stops moving.

Here’s the key question to my mind. Do Jews have a chiyuv to prevent Goyim from sinning? As Jews we have a chiyuv to admonish other Jews who are over aveirah. SSM is clearly against the Sheva Mitzvos. Do we have the same obligation to admonish Gentiles for violating any of the Sheva Mitzvos?

Let’s take a less emotionally charged issue. The Constitution guarantees the free practice of religion and the U.S. Statutes prohibit discrimination on the basis of religion as well. The Law protects all religions including Hinduism which is clearly Avodas Zora and is also a violation of the Sheva Mitzvos. Are Jews obligated to protest laws protecting said Avodas Zora? Note that the penalty for Avodas Zora and Arayos is the same, both for Jews and Gentiles.

It has been my custom on shabbos since youth to wear a dark felt hat in the winter and a light straw hat in the summer. One summer shabbos I was walking to shul in my whitish straw hat and one of the neighborhood kids saw me and asked why I was wearing a white hat. The answer that came to my mind instantly is the one, I’m sure, that would occur to anyone on this thread over, say, 60. What do you think I answered the kid?

Back in the shtetl, you were too busy trying to make a living to spend much time in the beis medrash. The reality of shtetl life doesn’t shtim with your romantic vision. For the vast majority of Jews in the Russian empire, formal Jewish education ended at bar mitzvah. Only the very few who either had wealth or were from rabbinic families were able to continue learning into young adulthood. Of course, informal learning continued. There were chaburos for Mishna, Gemorah, etc. but the idea that the the shtetl was some kind of idyllic Jewish refuge is nonsense. To paraphrase Dickens, life in the shtetl was “Like an English winter day. Dirty, dark and short.”

You know what? Maybe we are all to hasty with our posts. What do you want?

You know, Froggie has a point. If you think enough of someone that you value their advice and you find that you disagree with the advice offered, you need to carefully consider that they may be right and that you’re wrong.

You may think you’re not being “picky” but it sure sounds like you are. Look, I find the whole idea of going into shidduchim with a shopping list offensive. My advice is to listen to the shachanim. You may think that you know better but I guarantee that you’re wrong. I have yet to see the day when a nineteen-twenty year-old sprout of a girl knows more than an experienced shadchan.

Moi, I have not seen one anti-religious post on this thread. The question was why are we (Jews) not protesting the NJ law allowing SSM. Many answers were given and opinions expressed. If you find rational discussion upsetting, perhaps you should re-evaluate whether you belong on this blog or not.

Live Right, I care deeply about many people and things. Sean Hannity’s comings and goings aren’t among them.

Charlie, While it is true that no religious test is required for the Presidency or any other national office and that, in theory a Wikken or a Zoroastrian could be President, I don’t see how you apply that to the current Office holder. President Obama claims to be a Christian and a Protestant to boot. He has been accused of being a secret Moslem. I am not aware that either of those two persuasions are polytheistic.

Sturgeon’s Law: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

Halevai, achizas einayim is another way of saying “slight of hand” or “misdirection.”. It was assur because the simple folk of the time could be convinced that it was real magic. Some poskim hold that is still assur today even though almost everyone knows it’s a trick.

As was previously mentioned, Orthopraxy isn’t a new phenomenon. No one can tell what’s in a person’s mind and heart. If a fellow is shomer mitzvos, is koveiya itim, is oseik b’tzorchei tzibbur, looks and acts as a Jew, what he believes is nisht dayneh gescheft (to coin a phrase). That’s between him and G-d.

P.S. Read “The Yeshiva” by Chaim Grade about this issue in prewar Lithuania. Original in Yiddish but English translation is available on Amazon.

Well, it would depend on which version of yemos haMoshiach turns out to be the correct one. If the RAMBAM’s version is correct, as I think it is, I guess I would pretty much do what I’m doing now. Making a living, taking care of my family. Of course, I would be contributing to the new Bedek haBayis, maybe buy memorial plaques for my parents, A”H”. I would also have to become familiar with hilchos kadshim and make arrangements to be oleh regel. Don’t think I’d move to E.Y. Home prices will be though the roof. I guess I can be oleh regel from chutz la’aretez just like they used to do in the old days.

The point is, to me, beyas haMoshiach is real. Not a fairy tale. Not “pie in the sky by and by”. Moshiach is a real person and you and I, real people will be there when becomes, b’meheirah beyameinu.

I, too, have a problem with “yenne maachleh”. Hey, cardiovascular disease kills more people than cancer. Why don’t we call it “yenne maachleh”?

Ah, MDD, MDD. What are we going to do with you? It is certainly possible to be mekayim hating resayim and still avoid judging. Let’s see if you can grasp this concept. All of us, me included, hate reshayim conceptually, but to say that particular person is a rasha? that’s pushing it. The idea of a virtually impossible mitzvah is not so strange. We have a mitzvah to deal with a ben sorer u’moreh. The maskana is that there never was one (although there is a das yachid that there was one). We see that that mitzvah is virtually impossible to be mekayaim, the purpose of which is pedagogical, it isn’t a far stretch to say that hating reshayim without judging any particular individual a rashah serve a similar pedagogical function in teach us to hat rishus.

Now, y’all will probably disagree with the above. That’s okay. When you and I appear before the Beis Din shel Ma’alah, as we both certainly will, I guess we’el find out if I’m right.

Why wouldn’t the secularization of Halloween be analogous to passeling an avodas zorah which Gentiles can do? I therefore think that the issue avodas zorah does not apply to the modern observance of Halloween. However, there is still an issue of chukas haGoyim.

Although trick or treating is rare in our communities I think that one should give treats to any kids who do show up mipnei darchei hashalom. It goes, I think, without saying that Jewish children should not participate.

P.S. To all of you want to take me to task for “paskening without a license”, please note the qualifiers, “I think” and “why wouldn’t”.

This issue illustrates the difference between theoretical halacha and real psak and the reason that, in serious issues, one should not rely on looking it up in Mishna Berurah or asking a such shailah to your average Rosh haYeshiva. If you have a serious question that involves life and death (real of figurative) as your Kehilah Rav, someone who deals with real people in the real world.

Based on you narrative, this girl is a constant source of disruption and defiance. Tell me. Is she a new student or has she been in this school since early grades? if she has, has she always been disruptive or is this relatively new behavior? I’m surprised that the school has tolerated her behavior for so long. Would the school suffer loss, either financial or social if this girl were kicked out?

Again, based on you narrative, I don’t think that this girl is acting out because of unanswered hashkafic needs or emotional problems. I still believe that she is behaving so because she can get away with it and has for a while. She is a bully and the more she can make you feel inadequate and “try to reach her”, the more satisfying a victim you become.