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ROB is not wrong in that technically if tights (non-skin colored) that are thick enough are worn then there is no issue of Giluy Ervah. Not that that’s the only issue.
PAA: So he’s not saying we shouldn’t wear Techeiles. He’s saying we already are!
The CR.
“Chazal tell us that when permission is given to the Midas Hadin it doesn’t differentiate between the Tzaddikim and the Resha’im. The Resha’im bring it on but the Tzaddikim get burned first.”
Makor for this claim please? It feels like it’s against a Passuk.
TU731: That is a horrible Ra’ayah for several reasons. I really hope your post was a joke.
yekke: Bimchilas K’vodcha, you are confusing several issues here. Biting nails on Shabbos is a Misasek because you are not at all paying attention to what you are doing. That is called a Misasek. We can get in to more detailed definitions (maybe we say Misasek by the Prat of an action, for example by Niskavein Lachtoch Es HaTalush), but the basic definition is if you have no Shaychus to the action being done.
Also, I’m not sure what your point by Niskavein L’hatiach is. That’s still a Misaseik, it’s just Chayav because SheKein Neheneh.
TU731: So if this “Mesorah” of yours doesn’t care about what the Rishonim and Achronim say, what does it care about, exactly?
Lakewood: Who says it’s unnecessary? He’s an infinite being, presumably He (by definition, actually) knows what’s necessary and what’s not. Our scope of knowledge is limited. But we do know that He has the capability to even all things out eventually and therefore we can assume He does.
Dealie’s a new Joseph, right?
42: She mentioned this before (a year or two ago). I thought it was silly and irrelevant then and I still think so now. It’s not Treif, it’s not Eiver Min Hachai, it’s nothing.
The only qualification I’ve seen for stepping on nails is if it the place where they first landed when they were cut (it’s a problem) as opposed to if it’s been moved (it’s no longer a problem). I think the Gemara explicitly mentions this distinction. I don’t recall seeing anywhere that differentiates between bitten and cut, for whatever that’s worth.
truthsharer: He is fond of quoting a famous conspiracy theorist and rabid anti-Semite who claims that the Zionists intentionally goaded Hitler into starting the Holocaust so that they could get public support to move to Israel.
HakunaMatada: By the way, the Gra’s greatness was not in his lack of sleep. Nor was he the first to do that. One of the famous philosphers (Hobbes or Locke, I think) was said to sleep for 30 minutes every 6 hours. There is a modern innovation called the Uberman sleep schedule which says to sleep for 20 minutes every 4 hours. Studies are being done on it, but it seems there have been incidents of people doing it long-term with minimal adverse side-effects.
The Gra’s greatness was his dedication to and level of learning, not his lack of sleep.
Please, please tell me that this title is not a way of censoring the word Hashem. As it is, it is a Bizayon to write Hashem with symbols instead of letters.
Good point. Edited.
Lakewood: As I said in the other thread (before you joined), your Kashya is not a Kashya. Let’s boil it down step-by-step.
Given: G-d is All-Powerful, All-Knowing, Benevolent, and Good.
Given: Bad things happen to innocent and/or good people.
Conclusion: One of our two givens must be incorrect. Since we see the bad things that happen, it must be that G-d either doesn’t exist or isn’t one of those things.
The problem is that that presupposes a lack of any eternal incentives. If we trust that said All-Powerful, All-Knowing, Benevolent, and Good G-d is all of these things, then it stands to reason that He has ways to make things up to those who suffer. Just because we can’t see it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
Anonano: What you said is very accurate, with one exception. You might not find a Mussar class in an MO high school but you will find Hashkafa. In general, MO is a bit more philosophic and rationalist than the current Chareidi outlook, so you will find classes in “Jewish Philosophy” studying Rishonim (Moreh, Chovos Halevavos, Emunah V’deios, etc.) in most MO high schools.
HakunaMatada: The primacy of Talmud Torah over all else on an individual level is a recent phenomenon. That cannot be denied. If someone would claim that it was because in centuries past the community could never afford it, I would not necessarily dispute that (I wouldn’t necessarily agree either, but it is a valid claim). The current mode of everyone learning in Kollel for extended periods hasn’t happened before. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. It would definitely be a legitimate Tayna to say that this is a Lechatchilah and we were stuck in a B’dieved situation for most of our history. But the fact is that things are different now.
The current views on “Da’as Torah” are very much modern innovations and show an extreme basis in Chassidish thought that permeated into even Litvish society. The current mode of radically changing normative Halachah L’chumra is also a fairly modern innovation, though the roots of it are definitely found in the times of the Rishonim and Chasidei Ashkenaz.
There are some MO things that are also relatively modern adaptations. Some MO leaders do place an interesting emphasis on certain types of secular learning. Far be it from me to impugn R’ Aharon, but his position that even the liberal arts can significantly enhance Talmud Torah is troubling. Maybe for him it has done so (or for people who attend his Yeshivah; Gush somehow manages to get a lot of incredible geniuses), but I don’t see how that is true of the general population. I could very much hear the Taanos both ways about math and science, though. Jews may not have traditionally studied them en masse, but then again no one did.
WIY: I don’t buy that. Hashem gave us different levels of Aveiros with different Chiyuvim. I never understand why people think that Middas HaDin means even the slightest of slight transgressions is a Chiyuv Misah.
I honestly think that TUM731 is indicative of them problems that come up when people apply Lomdus to practical Halachah too much. The fact is, the Rishonim were incredibly clear with everything they said. And while the current mode of learning might respect the ability to find a way to prove that a Rishon really meant the exact opposite of the words he said, when we get down to the Aliba D’hilchasa aspect of the Sugyos, we have to understand that the Rishonim’s Shittos are, well, the Rishonim’s Shittos.
TU731: Honestly, your pontificating about this nebulous “Mesorah” that can trump Rishonim and Mitzvos D’Oraisa with the head of every Yeshivah getting to define what they are sounds a lot more like Conservative Judaism than Orthodoxy.
Don Drysdale gave up 6 runs in the third inning of that historic day that Koufax sat. When Drysdale was being pulled after giving up that atrocious inning, he told manager Walter Alston, “I bet you wish that I was Jewish too.”
It can’t happen. It doesn’t matter if a mother was a Jew faking as a Goy. The kids have a Chazakah that they are Jewish. Nothing short of Eidus can change that (and you would need 2 Eidim).
I have found some non-Jewish songs inspirational when I have had occasion to hear them.
Harri: If you’re that worried about this, perhaps speak to a Rov who might want to recommend a psychiatrist for anxiety issues. That aside, it’s still not Assur. Just stop as soon as you realize what you’re doing. If you start again without realizing a minute later, stop again as soon as you realize what you’re doing. I find it quite improbable that you’re this worried about it and are still actually willfully and intentionally doing it.
Harri: If you Mamash don’t notice it then you are a Misasek and completely Pattur. Just make sure to stop the second you notice it.
eyefortruth: If you can prove that G-d exists, and that He gave us the Torah, and that Chazal properly transmitted Torah Sheba’al Peh, then you have proven Moshiach as well.
But I mostly agree with you. There is some level of belief required as not all of these things are objectively provable.
eyefortruth: The Rambam in the Moreh 2:25 goes through a 25-step process to philosophically and rationally prove the existence of G-d.
Lost1970: Heaven forbid! It should spur you on to greater heights. Jealousy to bring them down is terrible. Jealousy to make yourself better is what G-d wants from you.
Kinas Sofrim Tarbeh Chochmah. Being “jealous” of people for doing better than you when you are capable of making yourself better than it’s a great thing. It will lead to you becoming better yourself.
We believe that G-d is good and fair. He made some people Jews and some people not for His reasons. We believe that non-Jews are rewarded so long as they are good people and believe in G-d.
My pet peeve is the Erev Yom Kippur mass text. They’re not actually interested in apologizing. You just get it because you happen to be in their contacts list.
It is Muttar to talk to a cousin (unless you are in a family where you Mamash don’t know your cousing like you would a stranger).
The Mechaber very conspicuously leaves talking out of the list of Assur interactions with Arayos. Hence, talking is not inherently Derech Chibah (while other flirtatious actions are).
R’ Moshe says that in today’s society, if a guy is going to be friends with a girl while there are so many guys available to be friends with, there is an inherent psychological assumption that the reason he wants to have some form of relationship is because, well, she’s a girl. That, he says, makes even talking inherently Derech Chibah and Assur Min Hatorah.
By one’s cousins, this assumption doesn’t seem to apply, and certainly if the cousins grow up together. Thus, in this case, just talking (in a non-inappropriate way, obviously) should not be Assur.
TU731: Your dismissal of Rishonim’s opinions as being irrelevant today is more than reprehensible. Unless you can prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the Metziyus has changed to such an extent that their statements are no longer relevant, then what they say is far more binding than just about anything else we have. To dismiss Rabbeinu Yonah as being outdated is beyond arrogant and misguided.
Also, there is a huge difference between saying that a Shittah is Dachuk and less Pashut and therefore not necessarily what we should follow when a more Pashut Shittah exists and between saying that said Shittah is invalid. You seem incapable of distinguishing between not Paskening like a Shittah and not being Gores it.
I wear a velvet Kippah, but I actually wonder why it’s not Chukas Akkum. The pope did it first.
HaLeiVi: Right, but his way of defining these things certainly was unique. He had basis in Chazal, yes. But he also had to counter-read and/or dismiss many Gemaras. It was not for nothing that many contemporaries felt his books had to be burned. The Rambam was not mainstream in his time. And he’s certainly not mainstream on a lot of things now, especially when the current world has a far less rationalist outlook than he did.
HaLeiVi: The Seforim Blog has several writers. The main one is a massive genius and Talmid Chacham, even if he has a few quirks. Honestly, he reminds me of R’ Schachter a lot. Very similar styles of speech in presenting Mekoros. He just tries to make them accessible to people.
HaLeiVi: We hold like him for many K’lalim in the Ikkarim. We certainly don’t hold like him on every Prat.
I think artscroll is more responding to the current world outlook than directing it.
That being said, the difference in what Shittos the Artscroll Peirush on Shas (especially the Hebrew one) is willing to bring down and what they say in their other works is shockingly extreme.
I’ve actually wondered why many in the Yeshivish Olam never strongly picked up the chronology controversy. That could put the possible deadline at 40 years away.
R’ Shlomo Kluger held that a Kippah has to cover Rov of the head. The first T’shuvah in the Igros Moshe very strongly disagrees with that P’sak. R’ Moshe Shternbuch tries to make a Chiluk to be M’kayeim the P’sak, but I think the Olam has accepted Pashtus like R’ Moshe (Feinstein).
R’ Shlomo Aviner in a T’shuvah says it has to be visible from all sides.
There were early Achronim who felt that Kapparos was Assur because of Darchei HaEmori.
Also, see Rashi on Shabbos 81b (I think). It is actually a fascinating source for seeing how Minhagim develop.
… That’s not a reason. That’s just a statement.
WIY: You are absolutely wrong. In fact, if he literally had zero extra time, he should drop Chazaras HaShatz before dropping the Shiur. An Osek B’tzarchei HaTzibbor is Pattur from Tefillah completely, let alone T’fillah B’Tzibbur.
Twisted: The Birchas Kohanim isn’t L’vatalah if no one is listening.
They wore tunics that had no type of Eizor. So that is lacking something Mechubad that you would greet a king with. Nowadays, our clothes have belts or elastics or separate shirts and pants so the difference in the clothing is clear. For whatever reason you need a have an Eizor. Our clothes probably meet that requirement anyway.
WIY: Presumably not. As far as I’ve ever seen, people add their own (raisin and celery seems popular in America) and don’t do even close to all of the ones mentioned. Different Machzorim and school-handouts choose different Simanim to bring down. There are two Minhagim by what to say for carrots. I would assume that the Minhagim by Simanim are incredibly fluid. Very, very few (apples+honey and maybe pomegranate) are anywhere near universal.
LAB: She was making fun of what you said. I took her post as being entirely tongue-in-cheek.
apushatayid: I believe the Achronim say that that Magen Avraham is referring to where the Tzibbur came while you were Davening, not that you started learning after finishing your Shmoneh Esrei before Chazaras Hashatz.
Our pants our different than theirs and, assuming that they’re Muttar to wear Bichlal, count for this.
That aside, we are Yotzei Hikon by putting on a hat/jacket/tie/something else special for the Tefillah.
WIY: Nope. See the Aruch Hashulchan on this. We don’t know HKBH’s Cheshbonos on these things. He told us that Simanim work for this, so we make them however we can. It’s weird, sure. And it is against the Minhag, as Toi says. But I see no reason why this wouldn’t work.
PAA: The Beis HaLeivi, I think, was the one who said you need a Mesorah, and he brought Ra’ayos for it.
TU731: The “do you think you understand the Sugya better than…” argument is not an argument. By that logic, you should never say P’shat in anything, ever, because you don’t know better than everyone who has ever spoken on it ever. R’ Chaim (if he actually said this; I’m not holding in his Shittah here) is entitled to his opinion even if it argues with many major Shittos. Us Talmidim are entitled to point out that he is arguing on said Shittos and in the minority. I could respond to your R’ Chaim quote with, “Do you think you know the Sugya better than the Maharal to say anything to the contrary?” It’s inane and doesn’t mean anything.
Shower on the second day. That’s a big one.
WIY: It’s not. The Rambam would call that Apikorsus as well (I think he says that B’feirush somewhere; I have to find where).
It’s fine to say that we don’t entirely hold like the Rambam on this issue, certainly because mainstream Shittos are far more mystical and less rationalist than the Rambam was. But trying to answer it up and say why it works within the Rambam is, frankly, an insult to the Rambam.