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  • in reply to: Jew vs. Jewish Person #2214285

    Menachem, this Gemora does not explain when Yehudi started to be used like that. Avraham clearly was not a Yehudi :).

    Turns out there are pre-Ester references: references in Yermiyahu sound like referring to the tribe. but Zacharia 8:23 seem to refer to Yehudi in a religious sense in the context of nations coming to learn and this is how Gemora Shabbos 32 seems to understand it.

    in reply to: Daas Torah for Gashmius #2214284

    I once witnessed an earnest BT asking a chabad shaliach a shaila – where to go to grad school for a CS degree. His choices were agonizingly difficult – Ivy League or MIT. I was very interested how the Rav will handle that .. He did pretty well. He walked the guy through possible considerations and suggested making a list of pros and contras and then look at it. I heard this guy ended up being successful both in Torah and parnosa.

    in reply to: R Yohanan motivation #2214282

    646, thanks! seems like Tiberius Julius Alexander who was first to proclaim Vespasian the emperor was … Berenice;s brother in law from her first marriage.

    The difference between Josephus a R Yochanan is that Josephus starts at the death penalty, so is ready to use all tricks to save himself and, as seen from above, Vespasian’s desire for becoming an emperor was known. R Yohanan starts as a respected member of the peace camp (esp in Avos d R Nosson) and then risks it all.

    Also, note the Roman ideology here: they considered themselves free republicans, not under a king like other lowly nations. “emperor” was a proclamation by the troops of a winning general as a prerequisite for the Senate to declare a triumph ceremony. So, it was expected to start with the support from the troops, as was in the case of Vespasian.

    in reply to: Daas Torah for Gashmius #2213816

    We do have sources though for going into business with a talmid chacham. Then, you do the hard part and you also benefit from the talmid chacham’s advice!

    Just be careful how you run the business. In Gittin in the discussion of darchei sholom that someone comes to Abaye and asks him to teach him, Abaye has no time because he learns during the day and works his field at night, so the student suggests that he works the field – and he does it by telling people at the bottom of the river that halakha is that top goes first to fill in cisterns, and to the people at the top that bottom goes first, and proceeds to fill in Abaye’s cisterns in the middle.
    Abaye did not teat his fruit that year and, I presume, did not teach the student either.

    in reply to: Daas Torah for Gashmius #2213815

    was there a machlokes between Litvishe Rebbes? I think most of them, traditionally, did not advise on stock selection. Although they did value chochma. R Salanter would show people some ship plan that included a new element that his son invented, and he was both proud that his son did that and also that when his son showed him the pan, Rav identified which part was the invention.

    in reply to: Jew vs. Jewish Person #2213817

    Avraham was indeed “Ivri”, Hebrew. Mordechai seems to be the first person to be called “Yehudi” and yamini at the same time, that is yehudi being used as a “Jew”, not as a tribe. Are there earlier references during 1st BM?

    in reply to: eidele bochur #2213421

    There are different ways to learn. If you are uncomfortable with certain style, you might consider other ones, especially if the style includes rudeness,, however excusable as listed above. This difference goes bacl to Bavli and Yerushalmi, with those from EY, like you, being less argumentive.

    in reply to: Jew vs. Jewish Person #2213419

    huju > “Jew” has been pejorative among gentiles since we left HarSinai.

    it is somewhat cultural. For example, Zhid (Yid) in Polish and Lithuanian is not pejorative per se (although some might use it), but it is in Russian.

    in reply to: questions about the yeshivish world #2212807

    n0 > There was no intentional assualt on the k’hal in this battle.

    Are you suggesting that attack on kahal was b’shgaga? If you separate the davening, meat, taxes, etc – what do you expect will happen? I would agree that political considerations were not usually primary, they were “for the higher goal” on both sides … for example, power struggle in Vilno with appeals to Russian government, where probably Russians succeeded in using the machlokes to weaken Jewish self-government more than each side benefited from trying to align with the government.

    in reply to: R Yohanan motivation #2212512

    Additional food for thought: V was pronounced Emperor first by legions in Alexandria July 1, 69 [sivan 23, shabbat], then by legions in Judea July 3 and others after that. Looks like V was scheming for this proclamation for several months before that. And it also looks like V left for Egypt after the proclamation and there learned in December about current emperor Vitellius killed by generals who joined V. That would make July 2 or 3rd a day of the announcement arriving (from Egypt, not Rome, but from a Roman official).

    The official who proclaimed V emperor in Alexandria was praefectus Aegypti was Tiberius Julius Alexander – who was Jewish and a relative of Philo… praefectus also sounds somewhat similar to feristaka that Gemora uses as a title of the messenger to Vespasian.

    To deepen the story – according to Roman stories, apparently Romans picked up on the idea of savior coming from Judea and Vespasian applied that to himself and his vanity and aspirations were already known. Josephus (who was captured earlier than this meeting) claims in “Wars” that he also foretold Vespasian’s accession to emperor.

    in reply to: Which filter should I get #2212518

    ujm > Which filters have a goy manually look at each picture

    simply use Mechanical Turk to hire someone in India: explain to them what images you object to, give them some examples, and they’ll be happy to collect samples of un-tzanua and avoda zora that you can then feed into deep learning and train your personal filter.

    in reply to: questions about the yeshivish world #2212517

    Neville > It is not the normative stance of the yeshivish world that learning all of shas is “not worth a lot.”

    This was an objection when Daf Yomi was starting – that participants will think they now know the Shas ..

    in reply to: Pew Research Study of American Jews, 2021 #2212515

    Jews were previously said to earn like Episcopalian but vote like Puerto Ricans. The charedi vote seem to reverse that: while most individuals “self-identify” as Republicans, communities often are in favor of Democratic policies – increased welfare, various subsidies, and often pragmatic support of Dem politicians as most O- Jews live in blue states. Florida is an exception. Maybe NY/NJ Jews should move to PA to affect another purple state.

    in reply to: questions about the yeshivish world #2212475

    part of the chassidi innovations was breaking up a town kahal – shtibles and especially different shechita, given that kahal was typically supported by taxes on meat and candles, I believe.

    in reply to: Pew Research Study of American Jews, 2021 #2212062

    Don’t want spoil a good story, but who are the 5% of O Jews who do not eat kosher? Either they are fasting or just pressed the wring button

    in reply to: Pew Research Study of American Jews, 2021 #2212025

    you can probably use Pew numbers of intermarriage going back to the 50s to model what percentage of people they ask are actually Jewish.

    in reply to: Pew Research Study of American Jews, 2021 #2212026

    but Pew is not the only one playing these games. One Israeli politico told me that he gets briefings from US federations over years that always show about same number of Jews – except their criteria of who counts as Jewish is being relaxed. He asked to use any criterion they want – and show him how numbers change over time according to that fixed criterion, but got no answer.

    in reply to: R Yohanan motivation #2211985

    Interesting that Avot D’Rabbi Nosson 4:5 has a different order of events:
    V knew that Rabban Yohanan was in the peace camp before the meeting based on his spies reports of R Yohanan arguing with rebels. So, V is ready to listen from the beginning. Then, R Yohanan asked for Yavneh (no mention of other items); and after V agreed, R Yohanan foretold that he will be melech. And the news came – not immediately, but in 3 days. But then it seems to imply that V (not Titus) destoyed Yerushalaim by recounting events forward.

    This order of events discards my question about risk, as R Yohanan mentions malchus after the negotiations, and V does not object at all, just takes it is a brocha from a tzadik.

    in reply to: R Yohanan motivation #2211987

    ok, ok, you got it, I wrote this triggered by a recent Daf Yomi, without carefully looking back at the text.

    I don’t think R Yohanan quoting the posuk changes risk calculation that he will be hanged or crucified – unless the messenger arrived on time.

    In another correction to what I wrote above, V did not engage in “Talmudic logic” about two ways of liability, but simply gave R Yohanan “trei katala” – two death penalties, despite only one of them possible under different hypotheses. Tells you how quick “Roman justice” was … and not much ope of escaping it. R Yohanan surely considered that.

    in reply to: R Yohanan motivation #2211989

    Tosfos is also asking why the posuk relates to V as he was not the one who conquered Yerushalaim, Titus was, and answers that surrounding for several years and causing hunger was a sufficient event.

    Question on tosfos: it says “ba Titus”, Titus came, but Titus did not come, he was already in EY – he was Vespasian’s son in charge of one of the Roman legions.

    Also, historical context explaining Vespasian’s expectations: this was a year after Nero died (or disappeared/converted according to our tradition), an unstable year of “four emperors” – all generals, old Galba, then Otho, Vitellius. who commanded some far-away legions. Vespasian’s brother Sabinus was killed rebelling against the latter. German barbarians (but I repeat myself) invaded Rome and killed Viltellius. So, Vespasian was clearly hoping for becoming an emperor and supported his appeal by being methodical and successful in Judea (recapping history al pi R Berel Wein).

    in reply to: shiylos on children’s stories #2211990

    common, I let my kids read some of these stories, and I recall commenting on Goldilocks and bear behavior in a similar way. If I would be sure that they’ll never hear any goyishe narratives in their life, I could have skipped it. I think kids need to learn critical thinking and be able to look at “accepted” narratives and see through them.

    As to Jewish stories, kids loved many of them. Some of their favorite ones, they, with sadness, put away in the basement after more information came out about the author.

    A good Jewish book on developing critical thinking is “another side of the story”. IT consists of short vignettes describing a moment where someone clearly looks guilty and then explains it. You can use it like Harvard Business Review cases – read the first part, and then try to find the explanation together.

    Also, many people question “stories of tzadikim” that whitewash lives of gedolim and create unrealistic expectations of how making of a Gadol happens …

    in reply to: Pew Research Study of American Jews, 2021 #2211992

    Pew has nothing to do with Forward, they do respectable polls of US population.

    Of course, numbers are skewed based on who they count as Jews, given intermarriage rate in previous generations, nebach. So, now “75%” includes many legit marriages between two upstanding bnei Noach who are confused to think they are Jewish. Maybe, we can, l’tzad schus, think of Reform as a bnei Noach movement. Although, they may be struggling with ever min hachai from the time of the treife banquet …

    We also need to downgrade 7.5 to some actual number, making Israel a place of most Jews (I presume Israel uses halachik definition in their count excluding non-Jews who came under the law of return).

    But the bottom line from Pew is that:
    R- intermarries dramatically
    C- ages and has no children
    O- world grows fast, but organically only. Not many switches from R, C to O, despite Chabad and yeshivot for BTs, and Kars for Kids heroic efforts …
    maybe someone can look and compare changes between denominations in previous Pew reports.
    I skipped “unaffiliated” here, don’t know how to analyze them

    in reply to: The Five Most Likeliest Candidates to be Moshiach #2211581

    So, would Chabad hold a veto over Hashem’s decision and even, Ch’V, delay a non-Chabad Moschiach?

    What if, Ch’V there is another group who only accepts Moschiach from their dynasty – will the world be stuck until they climb down?

    in reply to: ANARCHISTS????? #2211582

    Abba, this sounds like a good idea, indeed. One problem is that all Israeli parties loath to cut budget from anyone – as this could also happen with them later on.

    in reply to: Which filter should I get #2211583

    I also used OpenDNS.
    I am not sure that it requires installing something on the router, maybe I do not remember.
    You can do whitelisting – allowing only specific sites or groups of sites.

    Also, whether it is for yourself or a kid – make sure there is a positive motivation in using electronics: learning, taking classes, and focus on expanding these positive activities. After you do work for 10 hours on a computer, you may want to do something else for relaxation.

    in reply to: Chris Christie – why can’t Jews rally around him? #2211584

    yechiell, we just witness a very minor attempt at a rebellion in Russia – that involved heavy weapons, shooting a couple of military planes – and even that was a joke. For whatever reason, Congress and DC mayor decided not to protect themselves against an angry crowd. Whatever position you take on all these issues, there was no threat to democracy except by people who are using it as an excuse to curtail civil liberties. Ever heard of Reichstag fire?

    in reply to: Question of an ignorant, closed-minded Lubavitcher #2211577

    the tutor story requires clarification: why not simply fire the tutor?

    in reply to: Question of an ignorant, closed-minded Lubavitcher #2211578

    DaMoshe, > as long as you keep basic halacha, and don’t violate the ikkarim, you’re fine, no matter what derech you follow.

    Indeed, a good test is when someone asks a question of a Rav – some say: find out what your grandfather did; others – do my way. Beis Hillel prevailed because they presented Beis Shammai position first …

    in reply to: Chris Christie – why can’t Jews rally around him? #2211420

    yechiel, not sure where you live, but if you feel that a hundred people walking into Congress without weapons almost destroyed your democracy, you need to either move to a less fragile state or drink some herb water

    in reply to: ANARCHISTS????? #2211422

    Dan the> (the majority in my opinion)

    this is why they run elections and, in Israel, pretty often. If you are, for some reason, interested in Jewish opinion (as this is the society you mostly live in), it is probably 60+% who voted for the parties supporting coalition. You are simply denying reality that there are so many people who disagree with you.

    in reply to: Conscientious objectors Haredi VS lefty secularistts #2210994

    I think people who published letters about not going to the service are volunteers (who previously served), not objectors to mandatory service. As others said, this seems be to vicious reaction of the “old guard” who lost their influence and are afraid that majority of the country goes in a different direction from theirs, so they created this hysteria and others, unfortunately, followed.

    The fact is, Israel had five elections on a row where these issues were debated, and a finally formed majority are following up on what they were elected upon.

    in reply to: The democrats he who must not be named #2210993

    CTL,
    I am not following this close until the impeachment trial starts, but I think President Biden claimed that he was not aware of his son’s businesses. Me thinks he is a less artful speaker than Bill Clinton, so it is harder for him to come up with slick lies that can be interpreted both ways.

    in reply to: Question of an ignorant, closed-minded Lubavitcher #2210992

    To explain further my previous post (assuming it went thru): if this boy will have only 6 hours a day to learn after working, he will have to spend most of them on gemora and halocho, and will have less time to worry where Rebbe’s neshoma currently is. If he will still be spending this remaining time on wondering, that would mean to you that, unfortunately, he is not learning at all, and should go work full time.

    in reply to: Question of an ignorant, closed-minded Lubavitcher #2210984

    Ehrlichkeit,
    my advice (matching my other biases here) would be to engage your son in some worldly productive activity part-time. This should benefit his learning and, hopefully, direct him away from bad influence.

    As it is, he has too much time to consider various directions, and the fancier the better. If he were to feel some responsibility for, say, paying his rent, then he will, hopefully, better concentrate his mind in his learning. Many chachamim of Rabbi Yehuda generation did that and were successful.

    in reply to: Conscientious objectors Haredi VS lefty secularistts #2210982

    old post> It’s been almost unheard of, even historically, for a rabbi to need approval by the local government to be a rabbi.

    Russian empire had an officially approved position. Due to efforts of R Salanter and others, the policy was for the learnt people not to apply for this position and thus to have a clear separation between real and official Rabbis.

    Germany had mechanism of approval for creating a kehilla and, I think, for the Rabbi who they hire.

    in reply to: Chris Christie – why can’t Jews rally around him? #2210981

    thin skin, I think

    in reply to: Chris Christie – why can’t Jews rally around him? #2210980

    a medical question – does too much fat leads to think skin (thru stretching)? Then his bridge affair can be written off as a medical issue, and he is a perfectly rounded candidate indeed.

    in reply to: A Sukkah’la lyrics #2210018

    Menachem > “דער עמעס”

    the goal was to differentiate between Yiddish and Hebrew spelling so that those who learnt Yiddish would not be able to read Ivrit. I once talked to an elderly Yid from Odessa who just left USSR. He said that he – sadly – learned Yiddish as a kid but then communistim came and his cheder closed, and he wished to learn to read Ivrit all his life. I opened a chumash on the first page and ordered him: “read”. He read “bereshis bara …” and could not believe himself “I always was able to read Ivrit?!?”

    This is like a moshal of a person who had a treasure buried in his yard his whole life but he was aware. Was he a rich man?

    in reply to: Dreaming About Listening to Music During the Three Weeks #2210017

    > Hashem didn’t punish me because my touching it was unintentional. Maybe the punishment isn’t instantaneous.

    Exactly. On the most basic level – mixing up your own ideas/gedorim with what the Creator wants from you leads in the wrong direction.

    Ch-H – you may be right. When I am writing carefully, I may be paying attention to transcription, but not in the other cases. It seems like you constructed an irony detection measured as entropy of spelling variations or something like that.

    in reply to: Tort Reform #2210016

    congress? are these federal issues? can any of these be addressed in your state?

    in reply to: Outrageous auto insurance premiums #2210019

    there is also a “right to repair” issue in some states: whether independent shops can read onboard diagnostics. If not, all repairs are done by the monopolists at higher price.

    in reply to: Outrageous auto insurance premiums #2209777

    you can also find yourself an agent and put all your insurances – home, business, under the same person. That will give him an incentive to give you a better rate. If you do not need home or business insurance because you do not have those, then solve that problem first.

    in reply to: Forgotten Halachah MB 167 #2209778

    DaMoshe > So who actually has the right to lead the zimun?

    I think that the kohen has the first right. In shul, he can not refuse and offer someone else the first aliya, but at home, he can let baal habais.

    Recall that the whole thing is for darkei sholom (see Gittin), so that there will be less machlokes about priorities. Thus, if you end up accusing people of something, you are not doing it right.

    in reply to: Maharal’s Golem #2209782

    Avira> chofetz Chaim said regarding not having dibukim anymore until moshiach comes

    and then, I recall, he actually cured a girl with a dibbuk…

    in reply to: Dreaming About Listening to Music During the Three Weeks #2209780

    Not eating kitniyos is a minhag, but wearing a hat?! This just got out of hand. So, would a person born into a black hat wearing community need a hatara nedarim if he decides to wear his grandfather’s white or gray hat? Would it be if he wears it once, all the time, for work, or on sheni vehamishi only? I really want to know how people see this.

    As to confusion between midrabanan and Torah, isn’t it how we read the story of Adam and Hava making a takono not to _touch_ the grape? You may think that a person who understands the difference will not be confused, but it is easy to imagine someone who did not learn enough to be ignorant about what is meduoraita and what is not.

    in reply to: Outrageous auto insurance premiums #2209776

    > If the government requires drivers to have insurance, then they need to reign in the predatory policies providers use.

    all they need is to provide a market. If there are competing companies, they’ll provide a competitive rate. If you think, all companies are over-charging, open your own insurance company, charge less and become rich quick. It is that simple.

    It is possible that your state puts a lot of requirements on the insurance and also forbids “discrimination”, so the company is not able to provide appropriate rate.

    Also, with inflation, all prices went up, and maybe people went meshugane from inflation, so insurance rates will go up accordingly. When you read that inflation “decreased” – it means further increases will be smaller, nobody gives you previous increases back.

    in reply to: Question of an ignorant, closed-minded Lubavitcher #2208612

    Neville, I am applying chosid shoteh comparison to those who say that saving drowning Jews is not so important, other mitzvos will do fine. And not only not getting involved themselves, but looking down at those who do, focusing on their imperfections.

    in reply to: Question of an ignorant, closed-minded Lubavitcher #2208448

    Neville > Nobody says everyone should be mevatel other mitzvos to focus solely on kiruv.

    Did I say that? I am saying I highly value what they do here, despite whatever other issues are there. That means to me that there was something important in L Rebbe’s teachings, even if not of his students (or by now, students of students) turned out holding strange opinions. Maybe the alternative was that these people (or their parents) would be smoking pot on campus somewhere .. As R Dessler, I think, says that a handicapped person would use anything he can find to keep himself going up sulam yaakov.

    in reply to: Question of an ignorant, closed-minded Lubavitcher #2208310

    kiruv v. bikur cholim > The point was that different groups have different shticks.

    My point is that it is not a shtick but a generational emergency. Gemora talks about chassid shoteh who does not save a drowning lady because he does not want to touch her. I would extend this: the chosid might say – I am on the way to the hospital for bikur cholim or on the way to kollel and learning is keneged kulam.

    in reply to: Question of an ignorant, closed-minded Lubavitcher #2208309

    Re: Napoleon – the question is not about general attitude towards him but specifically in his war against Russian Empire. Chasam Sofer did not live there. I believe non-chabad Polish Rebbes supported N. Vilno community also. Reportedly, a French general visited Chaim Volozhiner and ask what he thinks about his army prospects. R Chaim answered with a moshal: a nobleman rides a cart with several expensive horses and gets stuck in mud. He sees a peasant with two thin horses passing him. He asks – how come I got stuck and you did not? Peasant answers: your horses are strong but each pulling in their own direction. My two horses work together – when one is pulling, the other is resting, and the cart never stops [see physics about stationary tension AAQ]. What do you learn about R Chaim’s politics?

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