העורך Editor

Since it’s one or the other, should effective monopolies look out for the customer or the current job holder (tariffs, minimum wage laws, technology resistance)?

Hamodia regarding an upcoming law mandating kosher electricity for Shabbos:

The Israeli Electric Company has resisted the idea of automated production systems, out of concern that it would increase pressure to replace workers with machines and robots.

Gemara Shabbos 55b – 56a:

אמר רבי שמואל בר נחמני אמר רבי יונתן, כל האומר בני שמואל חטאו אינו אלא טועה, שנאמר ויהי ויהי כאשר זקן שמואל ולא הלכו בניו בדרכיו, בדרכיו הוא דלא הלכו, מיחטא נמי לא חטאו. אלא מה אני מקיים ויטו אחרי הבצע, שלא עשו כמעשה אביהם, שהיה שמואל הצדיק מחזר בכל מקומות ישראל ודן אותם בעריהם, שנאמר והלך מדי שנה בשנה וסבב בית אל והגלגל והמצפה ושפט את ישראל, והם לא עשו כן, אלא ישבו בעריהם כדי להרבות שכר לחזניהן ולסופריהן…

Soncino translation:

R. Samuel b. Nahmani said in R. Jonathan’s name: Whoever maintains that Samuel’s sons sinned is merely erring. For it is said, And it came to pass when Samuel was old… that his sons walked not in his ways: thus, they [merely] walked not in his ways, yet they did not sin either. Then how do I fulfill ‘they turned aside for lucre’? That means that they did not act like their father. For Samuel the righteous used to travel to all the places of Israel and judge them in their towns, as it is said, And he went from year to year in circuit to Beth-el, and Gilgal, and Mizpah; and he judged Israel. But they did not act thus, but sat in their own towns, in order to increase the fees of their beadles and scribes.

שערי תשובה לרבנו יונה שער שלישי אות כ”ג:

ודע, כי הירא את דבר ה’ יחמיר וידקדק וישים נפשו בכפו על מצוה קלה כמו על החמורות, כי לא יבינו לאשר המצוה הזאת קלה לעומת החמורות, אך יבינו לגדולת המזהיר עליה יתברך. ופקח עיניך היטב לראות כי העיקר הנכבד הזה נתבאר בתורה, כי נכתב על מצות הקימה מפני השיבה כמו שנכתב על מצות מורא אביו ואמו ושמירת השבת – אני ה’.

On Tisha B’Av, Reb Chaim [Ed., Soloveichik] would not restrain himself from thinking in learning.  In explanation, Reb Chaim would point out that the words the Mechaber writes in Shulchan Aruch (554:3) are, “There are those that forbid learning [even] in thought.” Said Reb Chaim, “If the Mechaber wrote “there are those that forbid”, it’s an indication that there are also those that permit it.”

For those who won’t believe historians, maybe Rabbi Shalom Messas’ testimony will help:

Download (PDF, 44KB)

In a letter to Marc Shapiro.

Yes, this is against halacha…

• Affirmative Action = Hiring people because they can’t do the job well.
• Diversity = Hiring groups that cannot do the job well.
• Inclusiveness = Seeking to hire people who you know cannot do the job well

Here is how Fred Reed put it in the original article:

“Affirmative action” means hiring people because they can’t do the job well. Near-synonyms are “diversity,” meaning groups that cannot do the job well, and “inclusiveness,” which means seeking people who you know cannot do the job well. These underpin American society and have ruined education. For some time the sciences seemed less susceptible to the prevailing enstupidation because mathematics would present an impenetrable barrier to the the insufficiently bright. This, astonishingly, is changing. The sciences are being dumbed down to–are you surprised?–spare the feelings of included affirmative diversity.

Check out the rest here.

A bonus word:

• Minorities = Poorly performing minorities (Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and so on don’t count).