Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
PBA: You’re saying that all people who went to Yeshivish high schools are actually insane? Or maybe you’re just projecting. 😛
Gamanit: Her heart is still beating because she is on a respirator. If the plug was pulled, it would stop. The headless sheep could have also lived indefinitely if we had artificially kept its lungs pumping and heart beating.
(I am not agreeing that brain death should be considered death; just explaining the Tzad.)
Mods: You already gave away my identity in my subtitle. Why are you censoring Froggie’s posts?
RYochanan: I can sympathize with what you’re going through. I don’t know your schooling situation or what else was available, but I want to point something out to you. Being around people who aren’t as Shomer Mitzvos as you isn’t always a bad thing. Many of the people you were in school with as a kid probably would have no Shaychus to Yahadus if they hadn’t gone to schools like yours. Schools like yours serve a major purpose in that they give kids an opportunity to know something about Judaism and feel a connection to their religion. If your school didn’t exist, these parents would probably be sending their kids to public schools and the children would never have any chance of being Frum for their whole lives.
These schools need Frum people like you in them because without the Frum people, these schools are basically glorified elitist public schools for Jews. The kids need to see Frum role models and Frum people to make connections with. People might not ever stay in touch with early childhood friends, but they do have a major influence in the course of their entire life.
Don’t be mad at your parents for sending you to a school with people who weren’t Frum. Who knows? Maybe because your parents sent you to this school you have positively influenced people for the rest of their lives–an opportunity you never would have had in a standard Yeshivish place.
And I think that if you would tell your father you’d rather learn with him more than have him help with your homework, he’d be very, very happy with you.
About the not having somewhere to learn part: Is there anyone who lives nearby that you could set up a Chavrusa with (in your home or theirs)? It could be a Rabbi, classmate, random neighbor 30 years older than you. It could be anyone. And, worst-case, learning by yourself isn’t so bad. You can get a lot done and really impress yourself. Make sure to write things down and feel free to share them in the Coffee Room. I’d be glad to comment on any Chiddushim that I see. 🙂
I have to think on this. I don’t know if it’s Chukas Aku”m. It represents something related to Avoda Zarah, but it definitely does serve a practical purpose (you need a calendar).
Gamanit: The Mishnah (I think in Ohalos) says that a decapitated person is considered dead instantly. There is a Machlokes between contemporary Poskim whether that is a Din (if somene have no head/brain, they are dead even though the brain still reacts for another 30-45 seconds) or whether that’s just because they’ll bleed out and their heart will necessarily stop pumping in a few seconds. They did an experiment in Israel to prove something to R’ Shlomo Zalman with a sheep where they tied off the major veins and such then decapitated it. The heart continued beating for a day or two.
Squeak: I can read in my dreams…
LF: I didn’t come up with that. One of the Chassidish Rebbes said it (because you use a hammer to knock on doors to wake people up for Minyan and someone who doesn’t go to Minyan is called a Shachein Ra). It’s a cute Remez, but it really bothers me when people think that that’s how the Yiddish word was created and it just happened to be that the German (and English) word is the same. I certainly don’t think that the Rebbe that said it meant that. He meant it as a Remez to inspire people to get up for Minyan.
Algor: That’s a name that a Ger in Washington Heights came up with for his name around 75 years ago. So yes, it does stand for that.
The much better one is the Chida. AZuL”AI stands for Isha Zona V’chalalah Lo Yikachu.
Algor: Something tells me you need to learn the difference between a post-facto Remez and a pre-planned reason. Or is the word “hammer” really Roshei Teivos “Harchek Mishachein Ra”?
HaLeiVi: That’s only because of our Chisaron Yediya as to what the Maskana of the Gemara was. There was one way that was given at Sinai and any other way is Passul. This isn’t somewhere where it’s Shayach to say Eilu V’eilu (unless you say like the Rambam about Machlokes, which I don’t think you do).
I don’t know what “Inyan” means, but presumably it means that there is something to be learned or some additional mystical component to the Mitzvah. So I repeat, it’s not Shayach to have an “Inyan” that is relevant to the wrong way to put on Tefillin. There was one order given to us at Mattan Torah. Unfortunately, some of the Rishonim (we assume Rabbeinu Tam and the Shimusha Rabba) were not able to properly be M’chaven to what the order was based on the Gemara. One of the orders mentioned in the Rishonim is definitely a Passul order. There is no way around that.
HaLeiVi: That can make sense by Shofar, where any Kol can work as long as it sounds like crying (and, by the way, many Rishonim argue on R’ Hai). If Tefillin are in the wrong order, it’s Passul. It’s not possible for there to be an “Inyan” to both in this case.
HaLeiVi: Also, why would the Tikkunei Zohar only mention Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam? What about the Ra’avad, Shimusha Rabba, etc.?
HaLeiVi: Interesting. Still, you’d think if they wore two different pairs of Tefillin that, you know, the Gemara would mention it.
Also, it would have to be from Yehoshua. If it was from Moshe Rabbeinu it would be a Din D’Oraisa. There’s a famous Beis HaLeivi about a similar topic.
sam4: Needless to say, with all due respect to the Ben Ish Chai, that is far from Pashut P’shat.
Emunah: That’s because it’s not a curse word in Israeli society. Curse words are inherently subjectively. Totally innocuous words to Americans are considered incredible offensive in England and vice versa. There is nothing inherently bad about the word. You can ask them not to say it because you don’t like to hear it (totally understandable), but it doesn’t mean anything bad to them like it does to you.
streekgeek: That’s actually a mistake that was made common by a TV show a few years ago. “Nauseous” can mean the same as “nauseated”. “Noxious” means it induces nausea.
Mammele: Different Jews from modern-day Iran prefer Iranian and others Persian. It depends on several things. But yes, Persian is the more common preference. I should have said that.
DY: Thanks…? That was a nice backhanded agreement, I guess? If even that.
🙂
PBA: Numbers being infinite in no way is a question on God. But… you might want to brush up your mathematical and logical skills. What you say sounds good, but it’s quite silly. Which might be what you are going for anyway. 🙂
Squeak: So do you live in Colorado or Washington?
Golfer: The Gra’s famous lines on this are actually in his Sefer on Shulchan Aruch. Take a look at where the Shulchan Aruch mentions Pardes (YD 245 or 246).
PBA: That sounds like what they did in the Catholic high school I went to.
HaLeiVi: R’ Shlomo Zalman (Meorei Eish page 810, maybe 808) says that it was improper to use the word “Chashmal” for electricity, though it’s entirely possible that he was unaware of the Greek etymology (see a footnote on that page for an absolutely Pele’dik opinion, by the way).
Golfer: The Rambam very famously says that Ma’aseh B’reishis and Ma’aseh Merkava are natural physics and Aristotelian metaphysics. The Gra very famously says that the Rambam is quite wrong. (Well, almost everyone disagrees with this Ramabam; the Gra just says it most sharply.)
That sounds great. Good luck if you can pull it off.
One question: Aren’t you Sefardi? How do you wash on Matzo? (Also, a quarter Matzo might be a K’zayis which gets you to Bentching, but how do you make a Netilas Yadayim?)
rd: Donate your time 364 other days a year when you’re not causing them to be Azil Umodeh L’Avodas Kochavim. Let other non-Jews (who have no Issur of Lifnei Iveir) do it that day.
rd: The Meiri and the Rama come for entirely different reasons. The Meiri on this is probably the most minority Shittah in existence (he holds that Hinduism isn’t Avodah Zarah) and the Rama didn’t have the Sefer HaYashar so he didn’t know what Rabbeinu Tam’s Shittah actually was.
Unitarians aren’t Ovdei Avodah Zarah. There are very few Unitarians. All Catholics are Trinitarians, as are most Protestants. Did you make sure that only Unitarians were at this soup kitchen, though?
Everyone does it. Giving that as an example is usually an example of the reverse. Everyone likes to make fun of everyone both Frummer and less Frum than them. It’s a problem.
DY: “On a bit of a deeper level, if their commitment to the RS”O is real (or to whatever extent it’s real) their relationship with each other will be important to them because it is important to the RS”O.”
This quote scarily reminds me of monastic rhetoric. People’s relationships with the spouses (spice?) is about each other. If it was only about Hashem, it wouldn’t matter who you married (or if you married at all). It would be very 1984-esque. You marry because the country needs people, not because the relationship matters.
I’m not saying that spousal relationship trumps HKBH in any way. I’m saying that HKBH made us so that we need (and should have) relationships with spouses that are personal, shared love of HKBH notwithstanding.
HaLeiVi: There is a difference between recreational activities (such as chess) as necessary and institutionalizing Bittul Torah. Chess may not be inherently bad. “No Torah day” is.
rd: Those Poskim are an extreme minority based on a misunderstanding of Rabbeinu Tam’s position. Who, exactly, are you relying upon to be Mattir Shituf for them?
Syag: We believe that HKBH uses doctors to help heal people, not quacks with insane theories that prey on grieving and helpless people. If that were true, everyone should “invent” their own cure for cancer because maybe HKBH will use us as the instrument to cure cancer. HKBH uses real doctors that practice real medicine.
And it’s meaningless in regards to getting the boy the treatment. It has other consequences though, and not positive.
DY: The USA Today spent the past few months detailing this guy’s sordid and evil history. I don’t advise reading it unless you have a strong stomach. But he is using this poor family as a pawn to make himself look good in the public eye and make the FDA look like Big Brother who doesn’t care if kids die. Perpetuating that idea is dangerous to the public at large.
Mammele: I have thought of that. Here is my perspective. Of course the family wants it signed. Of course they want the treatment. Anyone in a hopeless situation will grab for whatever any smooth-talking charlatan tries to tell them. It’s human nature. However, we, as this family’s nation, are disconnected enough from the direct pain to be able to be objective. And we, because we love this family, have to be able to step up in defense of this family–by protecting them from the vile quack who is preying on them.
DY: If it was even a tiny hope, I would agree with you. But it’s no hope at all and several indications are that it is killing these people faster. The treatment is a scam and people who signed enabled this swindler to take advantage of a poor and despairing family–and to give him dozens of thousands of dollars to do it to boot. I wish there was something we could do. But this wasn’t an option. All that is left is Davening.
HaLeiVi: There are several censored traditions as to what that fast is about. (The one that according to some is in the Vatican’s edition of the Bahag is fascinating.)
This is not a good thing. Research the situation and this “doctor”.
Also, getting 100,000 signatures was meaningless. All it mandates is that the White House release a statement. The President will say that it’s up to the FDA. The FDA will say, as it has been rightfully saying all along, “no”.
Golfer: Ad’raba. When a Minhag is questionable Halachically and we know the reason and that it doesn’t apply, we should try to remove that Minhag.
LAB: It’s 11 days, and in some countries they were Noheg Nittel on January 6th (which is when the Russian and Greek Orthodox Churches celebrate Christmas nowadays).
jbaldy: Also, people would make sure not to have any light in the home to avoid drunken groups seeing and wanting to break in.
HaLeiVi: I am responding to the version of that Shittah that I saw (I think it was brought down in the Nitei Gavriel).
The Matzeiva is a bad example (and possibly Apikorsus if you take the analogy too far). HKBH told us at Mattan Torah that it was now an improper way to serve Him because the Goyim used it for A”Z Kodem Mattan Torah. To say that a Mitzvah can be changed like that Achar Mattan Torah might be Apikorsus.
DY: Fair point, though context could say he’s only referring to someone who refuses to ever work and will learn his whole life whether he can afford to or not, which also may not qualify (though it probably does as well).
DY: I don’t know if denying the concept that each additional word of Torah brings more good into the world classifies as Mai Ahanu Lan Rabannan. That’s the only reason it might not be Apikorsus.
HaLeiVi: That is, honestly, (I’ll temper my words) a reason that is difficult to understand. Because the Christians hold something happened on this day, it would be M’tamei our Torah? That doesn’t make any sense, to say the least.
rob: He said that someone who spends all his time learning does not qualify as being a productive member of society. DY called that Apikorsus. I don’t quite think it’s Apikorsis, but it is extreme arrogance and stupidity.
rd: Can I ask why that’s Muttar? It sounds like a nice idea, certainly. But won’t it make them be Azil Umodeh?
rd: As far as I’m concerned, [remainder of sentence redacted]. Please explain what right you have to pick and choose your Rishonim. What right do you have to even write the sentence, “The law is as [anyone] writes it, as far as I’m concerned”?
DY: I could hear the Tayna that nowadays we are heading back to a place where the Rambam’s S’vara applies to the average person. The Kessef Mishnah meant it mostly for Rabbonim, not entire communities. But there are proper ways to state such a thing and a necessary level of knowledge before one can present such a S’vara. rd has neither.
Syag: I’ll tell you why you’re viewing it wrong. It’s because Hashem’s knowledge is categorically different than ours. Knowledge, in Hashem’s terms, equates with absolute existence. The proper chess analogy would be someone who has only 1 legal move. The piece will not move until he moves it, but there’s no real Bechirah. That’s what Hashem’s knowledge is like. Which is why it’s a paradox.
LF: Don’t you mean that the Torah says that digging for unconnected subterranean streams worked?
HaLeiVi: I dare you to go up to an Iranian and ask him if he’s Sefardi. I’d wear a helmet before trying though.
HaLeiVi: It’s a Minhag with an obvious reason which, in America, B”H doesn’t nearly apply to the same extent. Yes, there are a lot of drunks around, but we don’t have to worry about Pogroms starting if we leave our houses (or have a light on inside them).