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R’ Schachter endorses the Vote Torah slate of the WZC, or so I’ve been told. I don’t know if that’s a straight-out Shittah or an opinion that once the WZC exists, we should try to get as many Frum people as possible in leadership positions.
Joseph: That’s unfair. Do you say YM”S by every single Jew who grew up not-Frum and stayed that way?
Whoa! Toi. When did you come to the States?
42: Nah. Unless you want to be a Shul Rabbi Chelek Dalet isn’t necessary. But I see what you did there.
SDD: Well, none of those are names either. Alfasi and Bartenura are nicknames based on their home cities and Rashi is an acronym of his initials.
yekke2: Presumably, my statement of Descartes being Assur was facetious but existentialism being Assur was serious.
I meant you only definitely exist in your own thoughts. Everything else may or may not exist. But since we can’t be sure of their existence, we must assume they don’t exist.
The Rambam believes that there is no Stirah between independent wills and God’s Will because… well, we can’t understand God’s Will and it takes a Godly Will to comprehend the answer to that. But, in short, other existence is not a Stirah to Yichud because God is what causes all other things to exist and there is nothing else that functions the way God does.
DY: A straw man that is evident in dozens of posts here and dozens of conversations I’ve heard over the past week.
Joseph: Why not? If there’s no Makor in Torah that it’s a lack of Kavod and there’s no Makor in society that it lacks Kavod, why does it lack Kavod? Find me a Makor that it isn’t Mechubad. Otherwise, who made you (or me, or any few individuals) the arbiters on what constitutes Kavod and what doesn’t?
Fascinating. I don’t remember saying Descartes is Assur.
Pashut Pshat in Descartes is that there is no existence. Nothing exists. The only things that we can know to be true are our own thoughts. We cannot ascertain the reality of anything else. Hence, the only reason and only place anyone exists is in their own thoughts. That’s the only place existence can exist.
Which, ironically enough, is very close to what yekke2 said. (And not at all what the Rambam held. CH”V to pin pantheism or panentheism on the Rambam.)
JosephL Because even in the non-Jewish industry, it’s considered a big Kavod to name wines after someone.
SDD: I said Taana. There is a wine named King David.
DY: No. Don’t try to say the reason is X. Don’t say if you want to get smoke detectors for the Olam then you missed the point. Don’t pander to the crowd who think that the purpose of Emunah is to be able to understand every tiny detail of life that happens. And stop pretending a Rabbi’s job is to be able to answer them.
Joseph: The Gemara has a list of between 10-20 things that cause one to forget learning. Why did you choose one only mentioned by Achronim?
My issue is there is a pervasive attitude of an unwillingness to take responsibility for things in life and “blaming” it on God instead. There is always a level of responsibility.
There is also a pervasive attitude of always trying to find a deeper meaning to the extent that things that happen aren’t treated as real. Also, there is a tendency to try and overstep our bounds as to what we can know.
Here’s how I view tragedies. God is trying to tell us something. We have no idea what. Look inside at yourself and what you have to fix and fix it.
PBA: YU is trying very hard to push into the JLIC.
And the Kashrus wing is run by YU Roshei Yeshiva. It’s good to know that YU is Yeshivish now.
yekke: I disagree with your Kal V’chomer.
Joseph: Interesting. Bartenura and Rashi were both named in honor of those Rishonim. Alfasi doesn’t seem to be related to the Rif but I can’t be sure. Either way, though, it’s intended as a Kavod. Wines are often named in honor of famous people. King David is a much bigger Taana than any of the Rishonim.
nolongersingle: It’s hard to comment on OO because they don’t have an official mission statement and their flagship Yeshivah (YCT) officially does not endorse anything that’s Kefirah. However, a scarily high percentage of the people who attend the Yeshivah say and do things contrary to Ikkarei Emunah. So I think most of the Frum world is on a “wait and see” policy by them.
The same goes for Yeshivat Maharat, though I think it’s pretty clear by now that almost everyone attending there now has improper Hashkafos. (e.g. if we took a poll of Maharat and asked if/why a woman can wear Tefilin, the answers would pretty clearly show something outside the framework of traditional Mesorah-based Judaism.)
a mamin: I listened to that Shiur. I chose not to comment out of respect.
DY: Everyone Tremps in Israel. It’s how you find rides. That should fall under (at worst) Shomer Pesaim Hashem. No one has stopped Tremping and it hasn’t happened again. And not knowing the wiring is bad doesn’t make it Bidei Shamayim. It’s part of life to make sure your appliances are safe. It wasn’t a Neis that it exploded.
DY: Counterintuitively, when an Arab kills Jews I consider that Bidei Shamayim. There are plenty of them trying to kill plenty of us every day. Most of them get stopped, either by the IDF’s Hishtadlus or HKBH’s direct unseen intervention or, usually, a combination of the two. In those rare times when HKBH lets something through, it means it shows us something. This case, though, I’m not sure why it isn’t more than someone using a hot plate with faulty wiring and not having smoke detectors.
nolongersingle: That’s a very subjective question. To be short, there is a camp called “Torah-observant Jews”. Said camp contains many Hashkafos. It is very difficult and painful when some inside the camp are viewed as outside. Especially, as is the case with most of the Taanos on “Modern Orthodoxy”, a lot of it just comes from misinformation. Most within the “Yeshivish” and “Chareidi” camps accept DL and MO as being Torah-observant, just not for them. So when some come very strongly against it, it hurts.
How this is different than Meshichism is a very nuanced problem.
Avram: Meh. I wasn’t even necessarily defending DaMoshe. I was just proving to DY why his point was invalid via reductio ad absurdum.
DY: Explain how this isn’t Bidei Adam please?
DY: I’m always of two minds on this. On the one hand, there’s the Pashut Rambam in Hilchos Taaniyos, which should never be ignored.
On the other hand, if something happens which was Bidei Adam, it’s impossible to tell the line between what was actual “Yisurim” from HKBH and what was just a natural consequence of human choice. That’s my problem here.
DY: Who’s to say that there necessarily is a Mussar aspect to take from this?
DY: That’s ridiculous. How can the problem of mistreating others with Hashkafic differences (assuming the problem exists) be fixed if it can’t be spoken about?
If I have a Hashkafa that necessitates beating my wife, is my wife being intolerant when she protests? There’s a line. It’s not always intolerance to disagree with a system.
Josheph: Pashtus is that having a rule that someone with a colored shirt can’t Daven for the Amud is Apikorsus.
Why? Why? Why Torah, why? Why would you mention HPMOR?!
Joseph: I certainly hope so. I have not followed up.
PBA: I have a rule in life. There are far too many incredible true stories out there to bother making new ones up.
Mah HaAvodah HaZos Lachem?
It is the father’s job to pass on the Mesorah to his children.
Isn’t the Bava Kama 77 story in Seder HaDoros or Doros HaRishonim or one of those Seforim?
Ah. An excellent story this is.
So, a few years ago this new grain called qinoa was becoming popular. Many Rabbonim and Poskim didn’t know what to do with it, so like all good Rabbis they asked bigger Rabbis.
One Posek of a large community (and a tremendous Talmid Chacham) asked his Posek, who lives in Eretz Yisrael. The Rav from E”Y told him that qinoa is a grain the same as couscous so the Brachos are just like on couscous.
Now, this Posek is an American who has (presumably, don’t know his life history) been in America for a long time. So the only couscous that he knows is the couscous you buy here. Which, of course, is a Mezonos and an Al Hamichya because it’s not actually couscous-it’s pasta. Couscous is Israel, of course, is a Middle Eastern grain that has either a Mezonos or Adamah before it (Machlokes HaPoskim) and a Borei Nefashos afterwards according to everyone.
I discovered this when I once saw said Posek make an Al Hamichya on qinoa. I (hopefully respectfully) asked him what Pshat was, and he said that that’s what R’ so-and-so said to do. I found that impossible to believe, so I asked exactly what R’ So-andso said. And then I figured out what happened.
As an aside, I use this story as an excellent proof to those who think Kitniyos are outdated and irrelevant. Confusion happens.
Someone once told me that the Cherem is mentioned in the Pinkes of the Vaad Arba Aratzos but that doesn’t make so much sense either. Have never seen a Makor inside yet.
DY: Just referencing a Gemara.
yekke: I mean, there are plenty of Poskim out there with incorrect opinions (remind me someday to tell the story of the Posek who made an Al HaMichya on qinoa), but presumably the only Heter for an addict to smoke is that he is Anus, not Muttar.
DZ: So you can give the poor kid outside the Beis Zonos a sack of money to tie around his neck presuming he’ll use it on food?
yekke: Yes. But you are assuming that there are legitimate Shittos Bizman HaZeh that allow smoking. Pashtus is there are none.
sdd: False. Psahtus is that Dina D’Malchusa should apply to rules that are meant for the continued functioning of society and public safety.
Oh, and R’ Elyashiv held that someone talking on a cell phone while driving gives on the Din of a Rodef.
DY: Really? You put a dash in Shehiya? That’s just… wow.
Someone once came up to me asking for a money with a story about how he hadn’t eaten in two days and has no money for food. He had a pack of cigarettes sticking out of his shirt pocket.
What an excellent expression of thinking New York is the only place on Earth.
Fun fact: This was the warmest winter on record in the United States.
Not that that is an indicator or global warming or climate change or whatever anyway.
Pashtus is just aluminum foil is enough.
DY: What needs Yotzei V’Nichnas Mei”ikar HaDin? Unless you know for a fact he is lying (or he lacks Ne’emanus by being a Mechalel Shabbos B’farhesia), MeIkar HaDin you can believe him, yes.
Joseph: False. A civil court in such a case has the authority to attempt to determine whether one is lying by claiming to be “Kosher”. And the plaintiff will always win such a case because there is no case we can make that we have a monopoly on defining the word “Kosher”. It’s not Kosher for us, but it’s Kosher for them.
Also, “not recommended” is a much more accurate term. The Tablet K is an Eid Echad telling us it’s Kosher. As long as the Mashgichim and Rav HaMachshir are Frum people, it’s technically Kosher. How reliable they are, I have no idea. But unless it’s a known fake Hashgacha (and I mean really fake), one would not be Over on Issurim like Neveilah and such if one ate it.
You can say Bichlal Masayim Maneh if the Get was a Shtar Chov, not by a Get, which has to function independently of what it proves.
owl: R’ Shmuel said that all of them, even the Salk (polio) vaccine are hoaxes. According to him, what happened to polio?
According to many Rishonim (and the Rama in the Darchei Moshe, I think), the correct answer is that it’s Shabbos/Yom Tov.
It’s a good Get Mimah Nafashach. One of those two is Kosher and there is only one being Soseir him. One person can’t be Soseir a B’fanai Nechtav.