What's the basis?

I saw this:

1. Tetanus-not contagious 2. Hpv-transmitted through sex 3. Hep B-transmitted through sex & drugs 4. Diphtheria-0 cases in the US 5. Measles* 6. Mumps* 7. Rubella* 8. Chickenpox* * Historically a minor childhood disease in healthy children.

What’s the basis for mandating these?

Note: Mumps might be an exception because if developed in adolescence can cause sterility.

Helping another student

In a yeshiva in Bnei Brak the members of the hanhola were frustrated with the resistance of advanced talmidim who were asked to learn and help the newer talmidim but declined, claiming it was 'Bitul Torah'. The members of the yeshiva‎ ‎administration went to ask the Chazon Ish for advice. The Chazon Ish, zt'l asked to speak to them. He then asked them, "Do you put on tefilin every day"? They enthusiastically responded "Of course we do"!

Then the Chazon Ish continued "But why? Doesn't it take away time from learning"? You put on teffilin because it is a Torah mitzvah, so the Chazon Ish continued "Helping another student in his learning is no less of a mitzvah than putting on teffilin"

3 Oaths - Not Aggadata

There's a myth going round town that very few gadolim viewed the Three Oaths which prohibited immigration en masse and conquest of Eretz Yisroel pre-Mosiach as binding halacha. Many people think that only the Satmar Rav said this, as if that wouldn't be substantial in itself. 

However, even according to leading figures at YU, many if not most gadolim viewed the oaths as halacha.

Rabbi J. David Bleich, a Rosh Yeshiva and prominent scholar at Yeshiva University, writes, 

“Elsewhere in Contemporary Halakhic Problems, Vol. I, I have presented a fairly comprehensive list of the various views concerning the nature of the oath, ‘shelo ya’alu be-chomah.’ The view that ‘the oath was simply aggadic and never binding’ is but one view among many and is distinctly a minority view.”  

Rabbi J. David Bleich, “Withdrawal from Liberated Territories as a Viable Halakhic Option,” Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society, Vol. XVIII, Succot 5750, Fall 1989, p. 107.

Rabbi Hershel Schachter, another prominent figure in the Religious Zionist world, writes, 

“In expounding the verse ‘I have made you swear, O daughter of Jerusalem,’ the Gemara relates that the Almighty administered three oaths on the Jewish people. The time and nature of these oaths are not clear, but one of them entailed a commitment on the part of the Jews not to return and conquer Israel by force. Many Gedolim in Europe took this to forbid any attempt at reestablishing the State of Israel before Messianic times.” 

(Rabbi Hershel Schachter, “The Mitzvah of Yishuv Eretz Yisrael,” Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society, Number VIII, p. 27.)

Rabbis Bleich and Schachter are arguably the most prominent scholars associated with YU and the Modern Orthodox world. 

Rabbi Yaakov Forchheimer shlita

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Rabbi Yaakov Forchheimer, posek at the Lakewood Yeshiva, is a Yekke who was raised in Washington Heights.

Mizmor Shir Lyom Hashabas Lewandowski. 1985 http://breuers2gether.com/

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"The truth about mobile phone and wireless radiation" -- Dr Devra Davis

"The truth about mobile phone and wireless radiation" -- Dr Devra Davis

Merck lies about vaccine ingredients

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as if he worshipped idols

"The answer to this is quite simple, but first we must remember the words of the Rif (Rabbi Yoshiahu Pinto, quoted above in Siman 1), in his commentary on Ein Yaakov, that the Sages only said "whoever lives outside of Eretz Yisroel is as if he worshipped idols" when the person leaves Eretz Yisroel of his own volition." (v'Yoel Moshe, Simon 4)

"...in Shmuel I 26 Rashi says, "One who goes out from Eretz Yisroel in Temple times is as if he worshipped idols." So he says explicitly that this was only true in Temple times. Although in some printings the words "in Temple times" do not appear, still we see that Rashi there quotes the Targum Yonasan: "David went among the nations who worship idols," so we see that the reason why someone who goes out of Eretz Yisroel is as if he worshipped idols is because he goes among the nations who worship idols." (v'Yoel Moshe, Simon 5)

Book Recommendation

The Dynamics of Dispute: The Makings of Machlokess in Talmudic Times

by Zvi Lampel

Why do sages disagree if we all have one tradition? How could laws be forgotten? This book address that question and many others concerning the dynamics and history of the Talmud. It's a challenging book, lamdish. It can be a tremendous aid in Talmud study.

Parshas Vayechi - Linked davar Torah from Torah.org

Parshas Vayechi – Managing Jewish Pride

By Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein | Series: The Timeless Rav Hirsch | Level: Advanced

Managing Jewish Pride1

Into their councils my will may never enter; with their gatherings my honor may not be identified…Cursed be their anger, for it is strong, and their wrath for it is harsh. I will separate them within Yaakov, and I will disperse them in Yisrael.

Yaakov’s blessing of his sons amounts to the first major testament to the future Jewish nation. We should expect some surprises.

Ruvain was passed over for leadership because he displayed too little self-confidence and assertiveness. Shimon and Levi, in turn, forfeit the mantle of leadership for showing too much.

Yaakov curses their anger. Yet, at the same time he hits that their anger is not in and of itself a curse but a blessing.

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Before and After

The Western World before the 1960s:

"That is why the Jew rejoices whenever and wherever culture elevates people to a perception of true values and to nurture goodness."  Hirsch on Genesis 3:24

The Western World after the 1960s:

"But of course where culture and civilisation are used in the service of sensuality the degeneration only gets all the greater."  Hirsch on Genesis 3:24

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