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  • March 29, 2020 4:31 pm at 4:31 pm in reply to: Is America doing enough to deal with coronavirus? #1844375
    Tnewman
    Participant

    I would like to ask two questions.
    1- Does anyone actually believe the mishna in Pirkei Avos “דֶּבֶר בָּא לָעוֹלָם עַל מִיתוֹת הָאֲמוּרוֹת בַּתּוֹרָה שֶׁלֹּא נִמְסְרוּ לְבֵית דִּין”
    “Pestilence comes to the world for death penalties according to the Torah, but which but are not administered by Bais Din” ?
    2- The only explicit death penalty I can find that Hashem says He specifically will administer is this:
    כָּל־אַלְמָנָ֥ה וְיָת֖וֹם לֹ֥א תְעַנּֽוּן׃
    You shall not ill-treat any widow or orphan.
    אִם־עַנֵּ֥ה תְעַנֶּ֖ה אֹת֑וֹ כִּ֣י אִם־צָעֹ֤ק יִצְעַק֙ אֵלַ֔י שָׁמֹ֥עַ אֶשְׁמַ֖ע צַעֲקָתֽוֹ׃
    If you do mistreat them, I will heed their outcry as soon as they cry out to Me,
    וְחָרָ֣ה אַפִּ֔י וְהָרַגְתִּ֥י אֶתְכֶ֖ם בֶּחָ֑רֶב וְהָי֤וּ נְשֵׁיכֶם֙ אַלְמָנ֔וֹת וּבְנֵיכֶ֖ם יְתֹמִֽים׃
    and My anger shall blaze forth and I will put you to death by the sword, and your own wives shall become widows and your children orphans.

    It seems pretty clear to me this is the reason we have a worldwide pestilence. So what can we do about it?

    November 28, 2012 1:42 am at 1:42 am in reply to: $500 Million Powerball Lottery #910057
    Tnewman
    Participant

    If a frum person won and decides not to give to any schnorrer organizations anything would you blame him?

    August 5, 2012 11:49 am at 11:49 am in reply to: Why Your Grandchildren will be Eating Pork if They are not Vegetarians #889771
    Tnewman
    Participant

    Laboratory grown meat is not now and will not be cost effective to produce compared to growing meat live on the hoof. The lab procedure is a G-dsend (literally) for burn victims but don’t expect to replace ranches with vats. You have a rhetorical discussion. Nothing more.

    June 21, 2011 11:43 am at 11:43 am in reply to: What is wrong with selling shul to Buddhist? #778757
    Tnewman
    Participant

    Supposedly the Vietnamese family that bought the shul said they were going to live in it. There should have been a way to guarantee that as a condition of the sale.

    June 20, 2011 12:49 am at 12:49 am in reply to: What is wrong with selling shul to Buddhist? #778753
    Tnewman
    Participant

    The buyers should have been vetted to learn what they planned for the building. Whoever was in charge of the sale of the shul was negligent in their duty and should not be working for Young Israel.

    June 19, 2011 10:58 am at 10:58 am in reply to: What is wrong with selling shul to Buddhist? #778748
    Tnewman
    Participant

    The sale we’re discussing here was just one year ago. The seller was not even the local shul, it was the parent organization and according to the city database all they got for it was $114,000!

    Here’s what I read from a rabbi in Teaneck about selling a shul,

    “There are more pointed considerations if the new use is to be as a place of worship. Since idolatry is forbidden to Jews and non-Jews as well, we may not only not join in idolatrous practices, we may not even participate in providing a home for them.”

    He goes on further to say “To sell or lease a synagogue, then, does ask us to make some effort in advance of the sale to determine that the new occupant would not desecrate our values, religious and personal.”

    June 17, 2011 3:25 pm at 3:25 pm in reply to: What is wrong with selling shul to Buddhist? #778744
    Tnewman
    Participant

    I doubt there was a creditor forcing the sale since the shul was paid for long ago. Also, from the article it seems quite clear there were no locals involved.

    Like davidbassar says, let’s get all the facts and hear all sides in this story. If there was a valid reason that complies with Halacha why the Young Israel was sold to Buddhists, let’s see it written as a responsa like Rabbi Poleyeff’s. But if there were improprieties in this sale, someone should be taken to task.

    June 17, 2011 2:32 am at 2:32 am in reply to: What is wrong with selling shul to Buddhist? #778740
    Tnewman
    Participant

    That wasn’t the case here.

    June 17, 2011 2:07 am at 2:07 am in reply to: What is wrong with selling shul to Buddhist? #778738
    Tnewman
    Participant

    This whole affair is deeply disturbing. According to the email I received everyone involved knew the buyers were going to use it for a Buddhist temple.

    I just read through Rabbi Poleyeff’s complete article again. I can’t see any way the sale of the shul in Oxford Circle to Buddhists (even indirectly) could possibly have been sanctioned by the Vaad Halacha. Someone needs to look into how this happened.

    June 16, 2011 11:59 pm at 11:59 pm in reply to: What is wrong with selling shul to Buddhist? #778734
    Tnewman
    Participant

    The rabbi I spoke to said the shul could have been sold for any other purpose but absolutely not for Buddhism because every posek considers it to be outright Avodah Zarah.

    He directed me to an article The Sale of a Synagogue by Rabbi Israel Poleyeff in the Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society.

    From what I read even a mosque might have been preferable.

    June 16, 2011 5:58 pm at 5:58 pm in reply to: What is wrong with selling shul to Buddhist? #778728
    Tnewman
    Participant

    What I found disheartening about the described sale is there are still a handful of frum local people. It was still possible more frum people could have moved back there like they have in sections of Lakewood.

    June 16, 2011 4:11 pm at 4:11 pm in reply to: What is wrong with selling shul to Buddhist? #778725
    Tnewman
    Participant

    The rabbi I spoke to said Buddhism is unquestionably Avodah Zarah and it would have been better to level the shul than sell it to be used as a Buddhist temple.

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