Joseph

Back in the day? You only graduated 8th grade five years ago!

Jews always have bechira.

Or if it works for Computer Science.

Sephardim are not into much Modern Orthodoxy or Daati Leumi. Those are by and large Ashkenazic contraptions.

What’s the source that you lose a mitzvah if you later regret having done it?

Phil, I shep nachas every time I see you getting bent out of shape due to disagreeing with a position. Keep up the spewing!

Without a gun how would you defend yourself from an armed robber.

Therefore you’d say it was a good thing guns were invented?

You might need a gun now that its around. But that doesn’t mean it is a good thing.

Or bombs.

You should avoid them to the maximum extent possible.

YY: Be so kind as to explain a difference between a yarmulka and a “kippa”. Is what the kippa sruga crowd wears something different than what the Yeshivish and Chasidish crowds wear?

Switzerland was smart enough till 1971 to hold out.

Yasher Koach!

That’s a happy occasion, Dovid.

No.

We should eliminate presidential term limits so that The Donald can remain in office for a third term.

Joseph, it’s silly to compare the two subjects and opine which is worse.

Stick to pointing out that the threshold for accepting anecdotal evidence is being applied unevenly. There’s nothing to be gained, though, by comparing the pain people must endure. When you say A is worse than B, it only comes across as unfairly and ignorantly minimizing the pain of B.

I agree with you completely, DY. My goal in my last comment was to make the same point you just made, in response to comments that implied one was worse than the other. By making the reverse argument paradoxically, even though I don’t subscribe to it, I wanted to point out it is equally silly.

TLIK:

1. The issue with a shidduch crisis is notably more pronounced in the Yeshivish/Litvish community than in the Chasidish community. I should have been clearer about this point. Most of my points above relate to the non-Chasidish community much more.

2. In that context, the shidduch crisis is notably more pronounced than any child abuse crisis. The shidduch crisis, to borrow your language, has been demonstrated in accumulated anecdotal data. If you want to assert that there’s any notable community child abuse crisis, something that’s never been demonstrated other than individual, sporadic cases, not at the tzibbur level. So before we entertain the hypothesis that there is an abuse problem to examine, first show us something convincing that there is an issue to study.

If you contend that there isn’t a problem of a disparity between males and females in shidduchim, simply state your position please. (And provide the same proof you insist upon, if any, for those with the opposite opinion.) If you agree there may be such a disparity, but are uncertain, so state.

If there is a disparity then the ramifications are bad, all will likely agree. As such, if you are uncertain, why would you knock down those trying to alleviate what you’ll agree may be a big problem? Should those potentially suffering continue to suffer due to your uncertainty? Should the issue be swept under the rug and those pointing it out shouted down because of a lack of (cost prohibitive and likely impractical) formal studies?

There are also no scientific or formal studies of any alleged domestic or child abuse problem in the Orthodox community. Should we, too, be dismissive of it?

And if a scientific or formal survey is impractical to conduct, the problem should be ignored, allowed to fester and assumed non-existing in the absence of proof?

Getting rid of animal predators is permitted.

Many rabbonim consider pictures to be close to avoda zora. Some rabbonim didn’t allow themselves to be photographed.

Chasidim generally get married young, at age 17 or 18, and generally marry a spouse of the same age as themselves. So the Chosen and Kallah are both 17 or 18.

The Chasidish disparity in numbers between the number of available boys compared to girls is proportionally much smaller than that in the Litvish world. The small disparity that does exist among Chasidim is generally one of more boys than girls.

Which is why especially among the less intense Chasidim you’ll find a lot of Chasidish boys marrying non-Chasidish girls. One of the good things about this phenomenon is that it alleviates the shidduch crisis among both Chasidim and Litvaks. It’s like a double-headed victory.

laskern: I never thought that what Chazal tell us in Pirkei Avos have become inapplicable in our times.

ZD: “Unless you are a doctor, who can afford to live in Brooklyn working 3 hours a day, 18 hours a week, the rents are astronomical”

You missed the other half: Don’t forget that the standard of livelihood required is bare minimum. “Kach hi darkah shel torah – pas b’melach tochal etc.” — Bread salt and water – if you have that, you have parnasah.

Nowhere does it say a big apartment.

Yseribus: That isn’t a problem. That is a constitutional right. Chasidic parents have the right to choose to not secularly educate their children after eighth grade. See the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Yoder v. Wisconsin. That takes precedence over state laws, and Yoder overruled state law.

The more time spent on secular studies the less time there is available for Limud Torah, which is far more important. It is impossible to give a “public school equivalent education” PLUS a full Torah/Jewish education. There aren’t enough waking hours in a day for a child to have two such full curriculums.

Besides the fact that Yeshiva kids, even putting aside their Jewish education and knowledge, do better in secular studies than New York City public school kids.

Parents have the inherent right to choose how to educate their children. And they’re wise to choose Torah over evolution.

I love that story, laskern. Thank you for sharing it.

ביטע זיי מיר מוחל

Beis HaTalmud (in Bensonhurst.)