baalei seder

"But before Moshe, the Am Yisroel were so good that even Bilaam, al corchei had to praise them. Now it states, Vayisa Bilaam es einav. Bilaam lifted up his eyes. Now he wasn't looking for good things in the Am Yisroel. You have to know that. If Bilaam could have found faults, he would have pounced on it like a fly pounces on a speck on the rotten apple. He was looking for faults. Vayar es Yisroel shochain l'shvatim. He saw Yisroel dwelling according to their shevatim. Now this I'll say in passing although it's not our subject. He saw that they were orderly. That they didn't mix. Everything was done with a seder. Now that's off the subject. Someday I'll talk about the importance of the orderliness of the ancient Jewish people. The ancient Jewish people were punctual in time. It's a mistake when you say Jewish time. It's a big lashon hara. There's a zman krias Shema and that's the time. You got to be punctual. No fooling around with that time. And other things in Halacha. Oh no, Jewish time is the most punctual, precise time. They were baalei seder."

Rabbi Avigdor Miller, “True Modesty,” tape 412, 42:27.

TREASURES OF ASHKENAZ -- Dancing Around A Bonfire & Concern Of Foreign Practices: Rav Wosner’s Responsum – רקידה סביב מדורה וחשש דרכי אמורי: תשובת רב וואזנער ז”ל –

Dancing Around A Bonfire & Concern Of Foreign Practices: Rav Wosner’s Responsum – רקידה סביב מדורה וחשש דרכי אמורי: תשובת רב וואזנער ז”ל –

How do we view dancing around a bonfire through Torah eyes? Are there any issues regarding the practice? Well, believe it or not, there a teshuvah (responsum) from a leading halachic decisor on the issue.

Toras Aba just put up an interesting post discussing a halachic concern regarding dancing around a bonfire, due to similarity with ancient practice of idolators. It is based on a teshuvah (responsum) of one of the leading poskim of our era, Rav Shmuel Wosner z”l, stemming from a תוספתא that states המרקד לשלהבת הרי זה מדרכי אמורי.

Here is the full teshuvah of Rav Wosner (שו”ת שבט הלוי, חלק ז, יורה דעה סימן קלו).

Rav Wosner concludes that there is definitely a מקום (basis) to be מחמיר (stringent) and refrain from doing so. Toras Aba feels that is relevant to ....

continue reading:

https://treasuresofashkenaz.wordpress.com/tag/lag-baomer/

SIDS caused by a vaccine: Federal Court Decision

In this case, I have concluded, after review of the evidence, that it is more likely than not that the vaccines played a substantial causal role in the death of J.B. without the effect of which he would not have died.  The role of inflammatory cytokines as neuro-modulators in the infant medulla has been well described and is likely the reason for a significant number of SIDS deaths occurring in conjunction with mild infection.  I have concluded that it is more likely than not that the vaccine-stimulated cytokines had the same effect in this vulnerable infant during sleep.  
 

Thomas L. Gowen 
In the United States Court of Federal Claims 
PUBLISHED DECISION
No. 13-611V 

https://ecf.cofc.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2013vv0611-73-0

flaunting social distancing

Why doesn't this article say that Chilonim are flaunting social distancing rules? Because if it were Charedim doing it, the article would highlight it.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/thousands-of-israelis-head-to-beaches-markets-flouting-social-distancing-rules/

Understanding why some Hasidic Jews resist social distancing restrictions

Understanding why some Hasidic Jews resist social distancing restrictions

By Eli Reiter

New York Daily News

An anthropology student  offering some commentary on Charedim and funerals and the health crisis. I would call this sympathetic and insightful.


Excerpts:

"Hasidic Jews are being called a lot of things as people react to the defiance of social distancing rules by a few thousand people at a funeral in Williamsburg. Many of the things they’re being called are wrong."

"The community is insular, but not ideologically anti-science. I taught science in a Yeshiva middle school. It was an all-boys’ school that stressed religious study. Parents and teachers were forced to make Faustian bargains because time and energy were limited resources."

"This community is not anti-intellectual. It is selectively intellectual, as are many other communities in different ways."

"When they feel misunderstood, or worse, pilloried, the bond between information-holder and audience erodes and there is no longer confidence in the covenant. Rosseau wrote that the sciences had caused the corruption of virtue and morality. Members of the scientific field have to work harder to tighten the bonds of that relationship.

"No community member actually believes that scientists are evil. But for a self-sufficient people who find comfort in ritual and have a long, problematic history with authorities and society, it is reasonable to ignore mainstream experts and embrace your religious ritual, however dangerous or illogical."

"Another factor is ritual. Comfort comes from embodied practice. Ritual has always provided solace for Orthodox Jews. Wake up, wash hands. Wrap tefillin if you are a man. Go to ritual bath if you are a woman.

"One of the most highly ritualized areas of practice is mourning. A loved one dies and the griever doesn’t even know what to do with oneself as he is overcome with sorrow."

"These rituals give comfort and free one’s mind from otherwise paralyzing sadness. The grief of losing your friends and family is often too much to bear, especially when there is mass loss around you and many funerals you can’t attend because restrictions on travel. Walking with a procession and accompanying the dead is a ritual that provides comfort for all the lives that have been lost to this disease."

Understanding why some Hasidic Jews resist social distancing restrictions

By Eli Reiter

New York Daily News