Rocky

UJM_your logic highlights one major flaw in the message put out by the Chareidi world. Just because you have a certain belief and appreciation of the Torah, having an elitist and disconnected mentality will not draw the other person closer to your way of thinking. Your argument goes something like

“Why don’t the chilonom appreciate our Torah.? Don’t they know that Torah holds up the world?!
No, they don’t. They value learning gemara as much as a college student studying ancient Latin texts. Imagine one of these discussions.

Reuven: My brother, who was a father of five, was just killed in the war, and his children will grow up orphans. My neighbors have similar tragedies. Shimon, why do you think you are better than us, and why can’t you also fight?”

Shimon: “Me fight? Soldiers are losers. Don’t you know that I study Latin! Try it sometime and you will see how difficult it is. ”

Reuven: “Maybe you can cut down on your extended vacation time and contribute in some way to the wat effort or at least show some appreciation to those who are laying down their lives for you?”

Shimon: Me show appreciation? You should appreciate how much Latin I study!. Latin students are so rare we need more of us!” Don’t you dare consider cutting off our funding1 The study of Latin is holding up the world!

Yeshivos and Kollelim can’t have it both ways. You can’t say that you are the REAL protection for the country and then abandon your post for an entire month. Does that mean than if anyone is CV killed during bein Hazmanim that the Bnei Yeshivos will take the blame?

Those who are arguing that everyone needs a break is OK up until the point of comparing it to the rest of the world. How many other professions (other than teaching) give 10 weeks of vacation a year? Do the chayalim get that much vacation?

commonsaychel: I believe there were still telephones between 1900-1925.

Kuvult-just out of curiosity, did you listen?

Mr. Klein, I hate to break it to you, but the Boston Jewish community is going downhill because of…. HOUSING PRICES! There are more affordable communities. The only hope we have is for people to get out of their head that they need to live in a community with tens of thousands of people just like them.
I am a bit curious what made you revive a four year old posting

Avirah, your sytem does not work in the rischa deoraysa of yeshiva. Kol Hakovod to coffee addict for bringing back intelligent discussions to the YWN CR! And thank you, mods, for letting these discussions through.

When someone asks a good question, you can’t just say “Mesorah”! You need to back up your point from a source in shas and poskim. His whole question is how did that mesorah develop? We have always had women in Klal Yisrael who were not watching children.

To say it is not an ikar for women is also not an answer. No one said it is an ikar. The question is if there is not such a high level of difficulty why is not more commonly done? For a man to daven vasikin is also not an ikar but we don’t say “man should not daven vasikin bec. his ikar is learning Torah”

The higher end brooks brothers usually do have shatnez. However, the question is completely irrelevant as any suit with wool or linen needs to be checked.

I received another doozy form the NY

“Analysis: Israel has made it deliberately hard to tell what is happening in its ground assault.”

Duhh. I can’t imagine why the IDF would not share their attack strategy with the NY Times. Even if the NYT would promise to keep a secret (between good friends) it is generally not wise to let the enemy know exactly what their plan is. What a bunch of idiots.

Thoughtful response: your explanation does not hold water for commodities that are shipped from elsewhere. All meat and most groceries and sold in Lakewood are not produced in Lakewood. The only difference would be the shipping costs to Lakewood which even if it is higher is minimal. It is the overall supply and demand on an INDUSTRY that will have that effect on prices.

I think prices are much more effected by attitudes and mindsets. If more people in Lakewood just buy items without concern for prices and don’t change spending habits, store owners will raise prices to what they can get away with. If Lakewood has become the Ir HaTorah Vehagashmius prices rise accordingly.

Check this out in a few weeks from now when people start buying arba minim. Compare the cheapest set (or average set) in Lakewood vs. Brooklyn. All of these goods are being shipped from elsewhere. I think that you will notice the prices are much higher in Lakewood than Brooklyn, Monsey, 5T, Passaic etc. You may say it is because people in Lakewood are more machshiv mitzvos or because the resident don’t think about it and just pay higher prices no matter what. The sellers will then adjust prices accordingly for the same exact sechora.

Ahhh! Nishtday, you and are the only one who understood my words. You are truly worthy of becoming my talmid. Gadol Hadorah and Ah yid will need to spend more time in hisbodedus until you are ready. Either that or I should choose my words more carefully next time.

Legend has it that the first time someone sang Lecha Dodi in Ner Israel in Baltimore, the mashgiach R. Dovid Kronglass Z”TL (an Alter Mirer) walked out in protest. For those interested I may even hint to you who that baal tefila was.

I had so much pleasure a few years when I called Geico to cancel my insurance because I found a better rate somewhere else. I told the operator “I have some great news! I just save over 15% by switching out of Geico!”

It could be that I was the only one in the conversation that was amused.

The short answer is because then can. Most are run as a for-profit business and they do that very well. The same for girl’s seminaries, matza and esrogim. If people did not pay it they would charge less.

An additional factor here is that each camp feels pressure to out do each other in lavishness of the trips. Remember when a trip outside of camp was a hike or at most a bus trip to Woodburn for pizza (bought at the camper expense)? Now if a traveling camp does not fly to exotic places like Alaska it is a nebach. This does not answer everything but it all comes back to the level of materialism that WE create puts pressure on the weakest.

When it comes to camps and seminaries it is worse. You try explaining to your kid why Mom and Dad think it is insane to pay for a month of camp close to what they pay for a years worth of tuition. Let me know how it goes.

AAQ-It sounds like you are suggesting what we call today homeschooling. I challenge you to ask any of the girls rejected from all schools that they applied to and say “how would like to be homeschooled by Mrs. Greenberg down the block? She has a computer with real buttons that work and a cassette player with lots of good tapes”. See how that will fly.

If the parents with money don’t have their children rejected by schools and the only ones rejected are parents with average to below average incomes it is on the community as a whole to come up with a solution. That means a collective effort to develop a strategic plan to accommodate the constant growth (BH) that our community is known for. It is very nice that Roshei Yeshiva can get up in August and say that no school can open until every girl has a spot, but that is not a solution.

The community has enough money to support our growth. The proof is in the increased materialism which should be obvious to all. If we can appeal to people with the means to apply their money for good we can solve this problem way before the month before school starts.

The title has no real practical significance. At least not since the days of Yehoshua (?). Similar to the idea of Gadol Hador it is a honorary term. If some whosays who is Rabbi X? You can respond by saying He is soooooo great he is the Posek/gadol/tzadik Hador.

Let’s take Rabbi Akiva for example. I think most would say he achieved a very high title. Does that mean that we always pasken like Rabbi Akiva? No. Psak has a certain system and does not care about titles.

When it comes to the title Posek Hador IMHO it is more about who has contributed the most to psak halacha. Thirty years ago R. Moshe had few rivals in the Ashkenazi psak ( R. Sholomo Zalman?) and R. Ovadia had no rivals in Sfardi psak. This does not mean that we pasken like them. It just means that their word carries a lot of weight and we consider them heavily when considering how to pasken Lemaaseh.

Leave it to Square Root to dig up something irrelevant from the past in order stir up controversy. Perhaps you would like to tell us what R’ Chanaya Weissman had to say about this when it first cam out 27 years ago?

I am not at all familiar with this particular shul so please do not take this question the wrong way. I know of several shuls (outside of SI) which host a weekly kiddush using shul funds. If they have a sponsor, fine, but if not, they pay for it with communal funds. Although the officers of the shul are doing this to promote social interaction among members, I find it to be a wasteful use of communal funds. Does this shul on SI do the same, or is there only a kiddush if someone sponsors it?

I think a very worthy argument (which I have not heard on the news) is “What would you have done if you were on the train?” Would you allow neely to harm others? Do you know of a better way to restrain a violent man threatening others? If so, do you think your reflexes would have sprung into action and done that?

The concept of spinning an argument can be a very powerful one and should be used more often to defeat stupid points of view. For example, when Hamas Islamic Jihad etc , launches 1,000 rockets at Israeli citizens and Israel responds with airstrikes, they should ask the brain-dead liberal who complains “So what do recommend Israel should do?” then just sit quietly.

For those of you who think that Aiva is not a real basis for a heter, ask anyone in Hatzala if they will answer a call on shabbos to help a non-Jew I think most would agree that chilul shabbos is a bigger issue than entering a church not for the purpose of A”Z

UJM- of course. OU is very straight about what they are maikil on and what they are machmir on. The are excellent at upholding the standards they have set. If you don’t like their standards go someone else at your own risk.

The hechsher for Shatzer were the same people who produced a smear campaign against another reputable hechsher for very unscrupulous reasons. About 20 years ago there was a meat-producing plant that did not give in to the strongarm tactics of this hechsher (call it hechsher A) so the plant dropped them. The other reputable hechsher (call it hechsher B) continued giving their hechsher and did not agree with the blackmail tactics. So Hechsher A ran a marketing campaign against hechsher B and said mozi shem ra against The Rav Hamchshir who is a major Tamid Chacham and posek.

I don’t see how anyone can trust a hechsher that uses blackmail and mozi shem ra as their modus operndi.

Questions regarding the care of STAM are best left to be answered by professional sofrim.
Questions regarding halacha are best left to be answered by bona fide poskim
Questions regarding phycological issues are best left to be answered by professional mental health professionals.
Questions regarding medical issues are best left are best left to be answered by professional doctors

All other major issues, like how to solve world peace, the shidach crisis, and any major issue regarding the Jewish community are best left to be answered in the YW coffee room.

I don’t remember the thin matza brand in Bingo. I just remember seeing two options and one had a box checked off on the side that said: “thin”. I think it was under the hashgacha of R’ Mordechai Gross shlita in EY. I bought the regular matzas from the same brand last year and they were great (after the oven trick of course). I believe that they went up $1 pound from last year ($11.50 to $12.50).

This year I splurged and bought some of the Badatz Eidah Hachareidis matza for $13/ pound. I can let you know after pesach how they were.

MB10- I think most in town kolleilm are expecting the wife is working to bring in at least one salary. Between that, government programs and the kollel check, you can live very comfortably if you spend on what you need. The kollel check is meant to be that last bit to help make ends meet, not to be full support.

It gets back to the question of which kollel years are we talking about? For the first 1-5 years this plan can work well. If you are talking about say years 5-10 that is a different parsha once things like tuition come into play.

If anyone has numbers to prove otherwise I would love to hear them.

Square Root-What is with your obsession with Chananya Weissman? Is this a new form of trolling where you just post something written by someone else to get a rise in people?

Avira-That is a pretty harsh accusation. Do you have a quote from any of his writings that demonstrate that he “blasts daas torah and listening to rabbonim”?

AAQ- Although I do not know the inner workings of the big tzedka organizations, it would actually seem easier in today’s day and age to research to true needs of a family. I agree that the ideal would be to give to family that I know personably and can attest to their genuine need. However, I would guess that most donors are not in that position. This would be especially true if you live in a wealthy neighborhood and most of your circle of friends are of the same ilk.

It should not be too difficult in many (not all cases) for an organization to contact a reputable Rav who knows the personally the most destitute and needy cases. Unfortunately it seems to me that there is not a shortage of genuine cases of need for families who got a raw deal on life.

Gadol Hadorah: I agree that we are living in an age of unprecedented wealth. But it seems to me that even so there are plenty of causes that we are obligated to give to that are desperate for $. Not every mosad is flush with cash. Although there may be an inyan to buy a Tesla for a guy who had his repossessed, it would seem that this should be put on the lower list of priorities. True everyone has a right to give to whomever they prefer but it would nice if people with $ would also use seichel in where they give.