smerel

Until relatively recently I was very pro gun control. My only issue was that changing the second amendment is a very dangerous precedent. Obama’s sneering comment about “those who cling to guns and religion” should tell you where the next step after overthrowing the second amendment would be

I changed my mind to oppose strict gun control after the George Floyd riots. Those riots caused me to realize that the line of “one day a gun may be your only protection so don’t let them take it away ” is true.

The over twenty people murdered in those riots were not killed with legal guns. The footage and pictures of a riots where entire business districts were destroyed except for the one store where the owner had a gun and stood on the roof of his store brandishing it also made me rethink my opposition to gun ownership.

People say they “only the US has mass shootings” Aside for that not being true it ignores that the US is also from the few countries that tolerates riots like the George Floyd riots so it’s citizens have more reason to be armed than the the citizens of other countries.

And while the media of course only tells you about mass shootings that (preferably) took place with legal guns and cover up the skyrocketing shootings and murders in the aftermath of the anti-police laws passed after the George Floyd protests, in places that all have VERY strict gun laws, those murders made me question how effective gun control really is.

I still support gun control laws that exclusively focus on weeding out people who present a clear and present danger if they owned a gun (as opposed to most gun control laws –at least in NYS that make so many technical difficulties in owning a legal gun there is no point in trying) I support the following gun control laws (1)national registry for buying a gun that does not allow felons to own a gun and requires felons who own them to hand them back. (2)a two week wait between the purchase and acquisition of a gun (3) only licensed gun dealers may sell guns and much stricter penalties and enforcement for non licensed sales or possession (4)raise the legal possession of gun ownership to 20 UNLESS the person owning the gun is in the army or police training

>>>However, I’ve heard that in IRL the Jew was in fact the hero of the story, and Shakespeare made him into the villain only because he knew that in those anti Semitic times no one would show to a play in which the Jew was the good guy, and that he was not in fact an anti Semite

I’ve seen the claim that the Jew was the hero of the story and Shakespeare changed the roles is a Marcus Lehman. I question if the story ever happened to begin with that anyone had any role in it.

As far as Shakespeare himself is concerned the excuse sounds like all the Germans who said after the war “we only members of the Nazi party for business purposes” And in the case of the Germans some of them really didn’t actively do anything other than belong to the Nazi party whereas Shakespeare personally wrote anti-Semitic works

>>>If you think you understand the chassidishe velt because you learned a little chassidishe seforim and went to Torah Vodaas then that might be the reason you think Chabad is not rooted in precedent from Chassidishe thought.

Don’t give me this “you don’t understand” apologetics. The leader of the Chabad movement himself when he introduced the “atzmius” concept explicitly said that it isn’t something he saw in any Chassidishe Seforim.

And say you are right that I don’t understand it. Do you think I’m the only one who doesn’t? Do you think no one in Chabad takes it even more literally than I do? I’ve heard plenty of chabad educators give speeches about how we need to take the “rebbe” for what he says. I’ve never seen any chabad educator speaking to a Chabad crowd emphasize that עצמות ומהות מלובש בגוף is not to be understood the way it sounds and that it would be a terrible aveira to do so.

It is true that in Chabad they have lifted their leader almost to the point of deification R’L but they aren’t going to listen to any outside group who attempts to set them straight . There are few groups in the frum world who are as willing to ignore the vehement opposition of other groups as Chabad. BUT their result should be a lesson to all of us that you should not just ignore vehement opposition from Talmedey Chachomim from other groups

>>>If not for covid Trump would have won

That is true but his behavior after the election doomed his chances in 2024.

Had he acted like Stacy Abrams and said “I don’t accept that I lost the election but realize that I won’t be the next governor of Georgia” and moved on he would have had a good chance in 2024.

But two years of talking about a stolen election don’t endear you to anyone. Is 2024 about what the voters want or a referendum on whether 2020 was stolen or not?

>>>Haaretz is the Zionist version of Der Sturmer.

You would be hard pressed to find a more ANTI Zionst publication than Haaretz

The question sure seems like a troll question but I’ll answer it anyway.

These days the term cult (which the question makes no effort to define) is used so broadly that it frequently really boils to “members of a group with strong opinions or a lifestyle you dislike”

As such pretty much any group can be accused of being a cult. Or one could can question if joining a cult is really such a bad idea. If you can enhance your life by joining a group that others consider to be a cult I would say go right ahead (assuming the only real issue with the group is that others accuse it’s members of being cultists)

A cult is only bad and a cult when there is a charismatic leader knowingly misusing the trust of his followers for his own benefit. An example of such a guy is Reverends Moon . A guy who misleads his followers to terrible results because he believes what he is saying is not a cult leader. An example of such a guy is an atheistic scientist.

>>>I am talking about a whole universe of science as presented by hundreds of papers written by probably thousands of people. You seem to dismiss them all

I don’t dismiss them all but I also don’t think that a scientific peer reviewed paper about something that can’t be proven true with a clear cause and effect, where there are many unknown factors and only certain types of evidence are admissible in reaching that conclusion represents truth.

>>>You seem to dismiss them all, without presenting a specific argument.

Scientists frequently do that about things like (but not limited to) overwhelming anecdotal evidence against them.

>>>I can only think that this is based on internal feeling that we, Yidden, know and understand something important that others don’t.

I work in a non-Jewish professional office and interact with non-Jews most of the day . I’ve never met a non-Jew who had the incredible degree of Emunas Chachim in scientists and Emunah Pesutah
in various scientific claims like I see on the ostensibly frum science oriented blogs and forums

>>>u have a pblm with science. all it is , is give you FACTS.
don’t like facts? r u an ostrich?
they don’t like the truth and facts, so they hide their face in dirt.
be my guest

Whoa! Defensive much here even though no one attacked you.

I won’t change your mind but (1)science does not give facts. They give their interpretation of phenomena and sometimes claim they are facts. Sometimes they are sometime they aren’t (2)Someone so scientifically educated should know that ostriches don’t hide their face in dirt. It’s an ancient scientific belief that we have far advanced from. They use their beaks to check on their eggs buried in the ground and in times of danger lower their heads partially in the ground to protect it.

But whatever…

>>>After taking over crimea, donbas and invading Ukraine , they have ZERO LEGITIMACY.

Do you know the Russian talking point justification for doing so? Like always and like ALL countries who make military invasions they claimed it was a defense maneuver .

In this particular case when you have a hostile military alliance (NATO) coming closer and closer to Russian borders they are lot more justified in claiming defense purposes than in many other military conflicts where the western views supports the invaders and claims of defense .

I stopped accepting the Western view about every conflict over thirty years ago because of this very conflict. Back then there was a question of Russia keeping Ukraine by force. The US of course was screaming against it. Gorbachev responded “The United States did the same thing and a lot, lot worse during the Civil War” The more research I did into the Civil War the more I came to realize that with all the American excuse (like Fort Sumter) Gorbachev was making an accurate analogy.

Getting back to this conflict going on now. When you have a military alliance (NATO) constantly moving closer to a country they are hostile to (Russia) with no other ostensible conflict at hand the hostile military alliance (NATO) has plenty of fault when a larger conflict erupts over it.

This is my last post on this thread.

>>>If I was a Russian I would be asking myself the following.

No you wouldn’t. If you be Russian you would probably agree with the over seventy percent of Russians who see the enlargement of NATO as a threat to them and like most Russian be happy you have a leader like Putin who is willing to do something about it.

Russians like citizens of the US and ALL countries only support their country going to war when they believe they are facing some threat otherwise. Putin doesn’t have seventy percent support for the invasion because people are dying to dominate Ukraine .

The reason this invasion did not happen when Trump was president was because for all his faults Trump understood Putin’s point of view and was careful not to provoke him.

You can scream about Trump being too friendly and soft with Putin but the end of the day Putin invaded Crimea under Obama and Ukraine under Biden. Nowhere under Trump. So apparently Trump’s friendly way of dealing with Putin really was better

>>>Paul Gosar and MTG spoke at a pro Russia white nationalist event led by well known anti semite Nick Fuentes.

The event they attended wasn’t inherently anti-Semitic and neither of them said anything remotely anti-Semitic at the event. I have no idea what MTG and PG privately think but one thing is certain: The Jewish community making a major about an event they attended and calling them anti-Semites is guaranteed to send them in that direction.

>>>One can only imagine the large OUTRAGE headline if it was AOC or Ilhan Omar.

I don’t remember any large OUTRAGE headline over AOC or Ilhan Omar attending events organized by anti-Semites. And they do so all the time!

>>>Is antisemitism merely a tool to use against political enemies?

Quite ironic that you would ask that question because that is exactly what you are doing with this post

I don’t feel bad for Putin but I do agree with him that the US and other Western groups have plenty of blame for the current conflict. Putin didn’t just wake up one fine day and start moving troops towards the Ukrainian border. It was a response to NATO troops moving closer to his borders and talk of Ukraine joining NATO etc.

He is 100% correct for saying that if Warsaw Pact was still around and there was talk of Mexico joining the Warsaw Pact along with Warsaw Pact troops moving into Mexico the US would not just ignore it. (Nor should they)

>>>In fact, the opposite has occurred. Moreover, there are numerous kiruv and other places throughout the USA, including on colleges, and in communities

I’m curious do you any involvement with Kiruv? Do you know that even American Kiruv organizations focus on Israeli Yordim because the typical American college student has so little Jewish identity that s/he wouldn’t go anywhere near a Kiruv center?

I’m no Zionist but I see more and more the truth of what Rav Yaakov Kemintsky said that Hashem wanted the state of Israel because otherwise most of the Jews living there would be assimilated.

Do you know that most of the anti religious activity in Israel today is done through the pressure and funding of secular American Jews not native Israelis

If you want to be such a kanoi go fight with Footsteps and the Reform movement. Not people and ideals who are long dead. As an aside it amazes me how all the big anti-Zionist kanoim in the US would never dream of fighting with the Reform movement or ANY other anti-Torah movement as long as it’s members aren’t Zionists

The “in Germany they also thought it can’t happen here” are making a false analogy. There is a big difference between a situation where a party like the Nazis is ALREADY in power and a situation where they aren’t. A guy living in Germany in the 1920s indeed had no reason to flee and was a lot safer than Jews in most of the rest of the world were at the time. Someone saying we have to leave Germany in the 1920s was making a foolish comment unless he was a novi. While it is possible that the situation in the US could rapidly change just like it did in Germany that possibility exists in other countries as well so there is no reason to go running to them.

Another factor to consider is that the US has far more things decided on a local level than most other countries. It is possible that some of the more liberal states will become unlivable for Orthodox Jews but not the US a whole

>>>Bashing a capital policeman with a fire extinguisher followed by a shpritz of bear spray is an explicitly recognized form of political discourse

Are you trying to remind us about how the Democrats and media lied to us for WEEKS claiming capital policeman Brian Sicknick was killed by being beaten with fire extinguishers and when that was demonstrated to be a lie they went ahead and lied to us for another few WEEKS claiming he was killed by bear spray until the family and medical examiner report forced them to admit it was all made up?

But those are the truth seekers and truth purveyors who we are supposed to follow about everything else with regard to the capital riots .

>>>The Republicans should be working on fence building and reconciliation, rather than passing a resolution designed to encourage people who would otherwise vote Republican

There is no way you can reach out to someone who isn’t interested in reaching out to you and the only thing she says to or about you is “I hate you” like Liz Cheney. If she had the exact same viewpoints but also used her media limelight to advance ideas that Republicans care about and speak against Democrats ideas that they oppose she would be in a very different situation.

Unlike the censure of Sinema or the fact that Manchin now needs private security wherever he goes
Cheney wasn’t censured for her political views. She was censured because there is a limit to how much of a fight you can pick with people and expect them to continue to consider you you as one of their own .

>>>Smerel, why in the world would Cheney suddenly embrace the Left-Liberal agenda?!? Are you for real? Stop spewing the lunatic Trump propaganda which can not withstand the smallest scrutiny.

You are screaming so loud I can’t hear what you are saying. If you have a specific question or scrutiny on what I said let me know and I’ll respond.

On a personal note as my comment indicted I am anti Trump. However I also realize that his career opponents are frequently lying and frequently doing the wrong thing as well. It is rare to read an article about Trump that is pure honest and straight reporting . And many (most?)of the people who are investigating him are Rodfim. Your emotional response to my comment complete with the standard insults Trump’s opponents tell their followers to believe about anyone who doesn’t blindly and slavishly parrot their party line indicates that you have fallen into their web. The only difference between your comment and the type of comment you would expect from a Trump devotee who believes whatever Trumps says is which side you happen to be on

Don’t know if this counts for personally but Rav Lipa Margulis died of Corona two weeks ago but he was also in his late nineties and had many other complications

>>>The state of Israel purposefully grew the myth of both the danger they were in as well as the legend of their unlikely victory.

To answer your question as to where Rabbi Wein’s observation came in, it because the only three groups who make such claims about the Six Day War are (1) Far far right frum groups (2) militantly atheistic anti religious secular Jewish Groups and (3)anti-Semites.

When Yitzchok Rabin said that “anyone who thinks we should be thanking for our victory is the six day war is mistaken. Is was all out superior planning” that statement was unacceptable in the frum world. Rabbi Shapiro saying it doesn’t make it any better or different. It’s not for no reason that Rabbi Shapiro is such good friends, quotes and appears at so many events with Gilad Atzmon (google the two names together) a guy who makes the typical secular Israeli seem like a tzadik. And it’s not for no reason that both of them are quoted in anti-Semitic literature

>>>Where does the empty wagon advocate kochi veotzem yodi?

It doesn’t use those words but does have the exact attitude the posuk

וְאָֽמַרְתָּ֖ בִּלְבָבֶ֑ךָ כֹּחִי֙ וְעֹ֣צֶם יָדִ֔י עָ֥שָׂה לִ֖י אֶת־הַחַ֥יִל
הַזֶּֽה

That is exactly the way The Empty Wagon describes the six day war. Keep Hashem out of the picture. The fact the Israeli were facing armies with more than three times the amount of soldier, tanks, airplanes, money and other equipment each .And in some cases more than five times the amount of Israeli resources ? No problem. Israeli ingenuity knows how to deal with that. Hashem helped? What? Where does Hashem come into the picture? It was all superior Israeli strength.

You can’t get more Kochey Votzem Yodey than that.

>>>The CIA chief at the time said that Israel would win in “probably 6 or 7 days”.

Can you give a direct to where that was said . I know YWN does not allow links so give some basic ways I can find that prediction. I’ve tried to do so and all I could come up was predictions of Israeli victory between six and eight WEEKS with tens of thousands of Israeli dead (which actually matches the Israeli predictions)

Plus at that point in time the CIA was also predicating the US would quickly win in Vietnam as well.
So the CIA were no neviem and their assessment is of little value. Particularly when it makes so little sense. How was Israel with less than a third the amount of soldier, planes, tanks and other equipment supposed to win the war in less than a week?

If I KNEW that what I hear about the Uyghurs is true and there were protests on their behalf I would join them. Being that my knowledge of the issue is coming from sources that I do not trust and even those sources are giving over very little information and no one else is organizing protests on their behalf, not even Uyghurs in other countries, I don’t feel I can get involved.

And no I don’t fault, say, some potato farmer in Idaho who didn’t protest the holocaust because he barely knew about it if at all

>>>People only look at results.

You gotta be kidding. Do you think that people should judge a president by something other than results?

>>>It does not matter that the Senate is obstructing him

If not for the “obstructionists” in the Senate things would be a lot worse.

>>>he is unable to live up to his promises.

The Senate is not the ones who are stopping him from being the unifier who would lean across to get things done that he promised to be. It takes two to be bipartisan

>>>I think that if the media and world hadn’t been pressing Trump from day 1 or rather even before he took office, he wouldn’t have had to go so extreme.

The rov of my shul almost never mentions politics (maybe once in five years) I have no idea what his personal political views are . Even so he did once make the point that Hashem is mevakash es nirdof even is a Tzadik is being rodef a Rasha . And in the case of Trump the people being rodef him aren’t tzadikim…

He said it in an almost neutral political context . Just making the point that the ENDLESS investigations and allegations (many proven false already) against Trump being made by open enemies with obvious personal gain and even impeachment trials being judged by open enemies who weren’t even paying lip service to listening to both sides before deciding how they would vote is totally incompatible with Halacha and Torah Haskafa and frum people should realize that