German Products

Yiddish is a holy language, much like chazal say not to take Aramaic lightly, because so much Torah was said in it.

Germany descended from amalek, as the Gaon said. But no one had a problem speaking a changed version of the language.

Using german products, especially companies which assisted hitler ym”s like Volkswagen and Mercedes, is something people with a Yiddishe heart boycott. Some of my rebbeim mentioned it, that they learned from their survivor parents never to touch a German product.

It’s very offensive when people mock the idea.

Both are.
PS try googling a company, you can find out what when the business is based.

Yiddish is not any more or less holy than English. Find me someplace in Tanach or the Gemara that says Yiddish is holy, then I’ll believe it.

A fair comment about Europeans: and the best,and cheaper, alternative to German products, I guess, would be Chinese – who not only imprison 1 bln + of their own citizens but also support all other current dictatorships – Norks, Russia, Iran … So, if you can’t find a heimeshe or a free anglo world alternative, I would first limit purchases from the current commies and only as a second priorities to the German/Europeans even if the latter is more emotionally charged.

Avira, Chazal say not to take Aramaic lightly not because “a lot of Torah was said in it” — unless you can provide a source.

R Yehuda in Sotah 49 suggests using Hebrew, Greek, or Persian rather than Syriac (seemingly Aramaic dialect). Guessing he would prefer English or even High German to Yiddish …

Avira, I do not have that seifer. Please, quote a Chazal.
Always…, an excellent kashya!

Mdd, I remember seeing sources in that sefer; I’ll try to look them up when i get a chance

This is a loaded topic for this site.

CS: There are companies which originally had “ties” to the Nazis that were sold decades ago to other entities in the U.S., EU countries, China and even EY. So it really depends on how you want to parse the ownership issue. One of the most widely referenced web sites listing corporations with direct Nazi ties or collaborations listed one of the three largest U.S. banks as selling Nazi war bonds, the 4th largest U.S. pharmaceutical company manufacturing drugs using Nazi slave labor and one of the most widely used providers of 401Ks to American businesses was a major German insurance company providing direct support to the Nazi war effort. There are still some direct 100% owned German companies that haven’t changed their upstream control since the Shoah but many have.

Anon, the Gaon said that Germany is from amalek way before there was antisemitism there. Rav yosef Chaim zonnenfeld famously avoided greeting kaiser willhelm, even though he was known to be friendly to Jews, because he had the mesorah from the Gaon.

Yes they are Scandinavian… But where did they come from? The gaon bases it on a medrash which says that amalek settled in “Germanya” after sancheriv.

You need to learn history from chazal, not academics. Have a drop of emunas chachamim; if you believe them that a drop of milk can cause a taste particle to form in a stainless steel pot and can be transferred by cooking after you clean it with abrasive scrubbing, then you can believe them for history.

Unless you indeed don’t believe them about things which you don’t understand. In which case we don’t have much to talk about

Anon, who told you that about medrashim? Did you read it online? Because it’s apikorsus. When chazal speak about spiritual matters, we have a mesorah to that effect; they’re not trying to “make a point,” they’re speaking about realities beyond the physical. Check maharal in beer hagolah for frequent mentions of this.

As for why people travel – they do. Ever hear of nomads? There are civilizations that have travelled vast differences. If this is your “kasha” on chazal…i don’t know who you’re convincing with it, if even yourself.

I’ll take the gaons words over that of a person who reads Wikipedia history articles and thinks that they know more than gedolei olam. And the fact that the germans became nazis only proved the Gaon right…what greater proof of that can there be?

This is only a matter of opinion, so not everyone may agree to this. A holocaust survivor was once asked if he thinks all Germans should be held responsible for the holocaust even if they didn’t participate. He said “Imagine a factory where some of the workers mess up and the whole factory is ruined but all the workers get blamed even though they had nothing to do with it. That’s the same thing here.”
I personally think that’s not true in all situations, as there’s a famous saying, “If you were with them, you’re one of them.”

Yeshiva – that survivor is entitled to his opinion.

Rav avigdor miller sair numerous times that all germans will burn in hell forever, even those there today

Dear Avira,

Your German History is completely wrong. Germany was an awful splace for the Jews for over a thousand years. The thirty years of Wilhelm II were the best of the millennium. And he himself was openly anti Semitic. Which the online historians conveniently ignore.

The Goan lived right after centuries of brutal oppression. Do you know of the original source that we can examine to see what the Goan had in mind?

Dear Avira,

Seriously? You think history is what some single individuals did or didn’t write? Rav Yechezkel Landau is at the beginning of the struggle for emancipation. Why should he write about the bitter past that he is struggling to leave behind? Yet there is still mentions of the terrible plight in some of his writings. But see the Maharil, Terumos Hadeshen, and others, for ShuT that arose from the daily atrocities.

I’ve yet to see any such harsh treatments in teshuvos, not any more than the Jew tax that was all over Europe, ghettos, etc…

And where did the tzlach advocate for emancipation from the ghettos?

I asked you for a source, and my reason for asking was that I’m not aware of Germany being any worse for Jews than Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Hungary, or anywhere else in the times of the achronim.

Poland, Lita and couple of other small places were exceptions where Jews lived – on average – better and more independent. Germany was similar to the most of Europe – and that is why “Ashekanzim” moved from Germany further East.

Communism was popular among Eastern European Jews at the time when most of them were not under Poland or Lita but under Russian empire, with those countries being “beyond the Pale” and not allowed into Russia proper. They were discriminated against, but still better off than actual Russian serfs.