There Are No Philosemites!

Authored by: העורך Editor

Say I, otherwise, they would convert to Judaism (see the article here)!

That’s also how I understand Rabbi Miller below:

Q: Is [X] an אוהב ישראל? Does he love the Jewish People?
A: Well, that’s a very big order to expect of a Gentile. The question we ask is: How much is a Gentile not a שונא ישראל? And therefore, I think that on that question he would pass. [X] is not a שונא ישראל.
And since I understand what you’re getting at, I presume that I will have to speak a few words on this subject of…

Forget ‘Aliyah’ Itself: Can You Manage to Keep OTHER Mitzvos Outside of Israel?

Yishuv Eretz Yisroel: Does It Apply Today?

8:48 am

yerushalayimBy Rabbi Yaakov Rappaport 

Leaving the Land

Many young couples begin their first years of marriage living in Eretz Yisroel. Some couples decide to return to Chutz L’aretz after a few years. There are situations in which a person is permitted to leave Eretz Yisroel. The poskim write that if it is necessary for one’s parnasah, shidduchim, talmud Torah or for chinuch, one is permitted to move to Chutz L’aretz.

What if a person is moving to Chutz L’aretz for a non-compelling reason, is he permitted to do so?

Before discussing leaving Eretz Yisroel let us discuss the Kedusha of the land. Maseches Makkos, Daf 19, discusses the topic of kedushas Eretz Yisroel.

There is a dispute in the Gemara whether Kidsha l’shayta v’lo kidsha l’asid lavo. We know that terumos and maaseros no longer apply in Eretz Yisroelon the level of a mitzvah d’oraisa, since its kedusha is not an everlasting holiness for all time. The simple reading of this Gemara would imply that because lo kidsha l’asid lavo there is no holiness Eretz Yisroel today. Does it follow that it is permitted to leave Eretz Yisroel today because it has nokedusha?

There is a dispute between halachik authorities whether the prohibition to leave Eretz Yisroel is applicable today. Among the sources that discuss this question are Bais Shmuel Even Haezer 75,20; Gr”a ibid 17; Pischei Teshuva ibid 6; Vayoel Moshe Mamare Yishuv Eretz Yisroel; Shu”t Mincha Shlomo Tinyan 100,10. The majority consensus seems to be that this prohibitions is applicable today. There are at least four different opinions as to why it is forbidden to leave Eretz Yisroel.

Extra Mitzvos

The Rashbam, on Bava Basra, Daf 91, writes that it’s forbidden to leave Eretz Yisroel, shehmafkia atzmo min hamitzvos hateluyos baaretz. – there are fewer mitzvos when a person lives in Chutz L’aretz, therefore by leaving Eretz Yisroel a person exempts himself from mitzvos.

It seems that it is a general prohibition for a person to be mafkia himself from a mitzvah. R’ Moshe Feinstein in Even Haezer, siman 102, says that theissur of leaving Eretz Yisroel is only an issur D’rabbanan. From this it follows that according to the Rashbam to be mafkia atzmo min hamitzvos is anissur D’rabbanan.

The concept of mafkia atzmo min hamitzvos has many practical applications. For example, a person who puts himself in a place where there is nosukkah on Sukkos, or in a situation where he can’t do as many mitzvos as he could before.

Mitzvah of Yishuv Eretz Yisroel

The Ramban in his hosafa on Sefer HaMitzvos, mitzvas aseh 4 gives another reason why it is forbidden to leave Eretz Yisroel. The Ramban writes that it is ossur for a person to leave Eretz Yisroel, because he’s mevatel the mitzvah of yeshivas Eretz Yisroel. This is being mevatel a mitzvah d’oraisa; more than being mafkia – exempting ones self from anobligation, one is beingmevatel – breaking a mitzvah and not fulfilling it by leaving Eretz Yisroel.

A General Approach

The Meiri in Kesubos, Daf 110, gives a third opinion. The Meiri writes that it is forbidden to leave Eretz Yisroel, because Eretz Yisroel has a tremendous advantagein the chochma and yiras hachetthat is commonly found there. Those living in Eretz Yisroel, yicholin laavod es Hashem kiraui, could serve Hashem the right way. But, writes the Meiri, this is not the case for someone living Chutz La’aretz, where there are Ol hagalus and moretzaros. Within Eretz Yisroel it is easier to serve Hashem overall, in a land that has yiras hachet within it. Only yichidim– individuals – can serve Hashem properly in Chutz L’aretz.

This is a more general approach than the previous opinions. The Rashbam refers specifically to mitzvos hateluyos baaretz and the Ramban discusses the mitzvah of yishuv Eretz Yisroel. But theMeiri is taking a broader approach, all the mitzvos are easier to perform in Eretz Yisroel, and therefore a person will be lax in all of the mitzvos by going to Chutz l’aretz.

Continue reading…

From Matzav, here.

מתי צריך לבקש מחילה?

הריני מוחל  – בענייני מצוות פיוס ומחילה

קונטרס-הריני-מוחל

View or Download the PDF / פתח או הורד את הקובץ

הערות והארות תתקבלנה בברכה.
בברכת כתיבה וחתימה טובה
מערכת מעשה התשובה

Reprinted with permission.

The Achronim Just Make Stuff Up

Authored by: העורך Editor

I don’t know how else to put it.

Here is an English summary of the highlights in a pseudo-halachic discussion of eating food left under the bed:

One may not store food and drink under a bed, even enclosed in metal, and these receive an “evil spirit”, and so should not be eaten. As the Shulchan Aruch (Y.D. 117:5) says:

ולא יתן תבשיל ולא משקים תחת המטה, מפני שרוח רעה שורה עליהם… וכל אלו הדברים הם משום סכנה, ושומר נפשו ירחק מהם ואסור לסמוך אנס או לסכן נפשו בכל כיוצא בזה. (ועיין בחושן משפט סימן תכ”ז).

  • It is customary to be lenient if the food was under a mattress or pillow or plane seat or a recliner (even though it is sometimes used for sleeping) or in a sleeping man’s pocket.
  • If it was under a child’s bed or stroller or double-decker bed, there is doubt. Some say the food is permitted if no one slept under the bed, or if it was slept on during the day, but it’s better to be stringent since the Gemara doesn’t go into these details.
  • If medicine was left under the bed, there is room to be lenient.
  • Some say one person cannot forbid another’s food (אין אדם אוסר דבר שאינו שלו – responsa Rav Pe’alim).
  • For more of this (Cooked or uncooked? Esrog for Succos? Chanukah oil? Hefsed Merubeh? etc.), see here.

The ugly truth is, there is no good proof for any of this. Since we don’t observe any danger in our time, we have no tools to analyze any of this. One needs to take some general approach, and either forbid everything or permit everything (see Pischei Teshuvah on the Shulchan Aruch).

There are hundreds of such pointless discussions in the Achronim and countless ink poured.

If you don’t know something, just admit it!

America: Will It Become Turkey or Greece?

Turkey Now, America Later?

By 

Ron Paul Institute

August 28, 2018

In the past seven years, Turkey’s central bank has tripled the money supply and pushed interest rates down to 4.5 percent. While Turkey’s government did not adopt Ben Bernanke’s proposal to drop money from helicopters, Turkish politicians have taken advantage of easy money policies to increase subsidies for key voting blocs and special interests.

The results of the Turkish government’s inflation-fueled spending binge are not surprising to anyone familiar with Austrian economics or economic history. Turkey is now plagued with huge deficits, a collapsing currency, and a looming economic crisis, making it the next candidate for a European Union or Federal Reserve bailout.

Turkey’s combination of low interest rates, money creation, and massive government spending to “stimulate” the economy parallels the policies the US government has pursued for the past ten years. Without drastic changes in fiscal and monetary policies, economic trouble in America is around the corner.

The very large and growing federal debt will cause a major crisis as the government’s debt burden will be unsustainable. Instead of cutting spending or raising taxes, politicians can be expected to pressure the Federal Reserve to do their dirty work for them via inflation. We may even see the Fed “experiment” with negative interest rates, which would punish Americans for saving. The monetization of the federal debt will erode the dollar’s purchasing power and decimate middle-and-working-class Americans who are already seeing any gains in their incomes eaten away by inflation.

If we are lucky, the next Fed-caused downturn will cause only a resurgence of 1970s-style stagflation. The more likely scenario is the type of widespread economic chaos not seen in America since the Great Depression. The growth of cultural Marxism, the widespread entitlement mentality, and the willingness of partisans of various sides to use force against their political opponents suggests that this economic crisis will result in civil unrest that will be used to justify new crackdowns on individual liberty.

Those who understand the causes of, and cures for, our current predicament have two responsibilities. First, prepare a plan to protect your family when the crisis occurs. Second, do all you can to spread the truth in hopes the liberty movement reaches critical mass so it can force Congress to make the changes necessary to avert disaster.

Since the crisis will result in a rejection of the dollar’s world reserve currency status, individuals should consider alternatives such as gold and other precious metals. Restoring a free-market monetary system should be a priority for the liberty movement. Other priorities include ending our interventionist foreign policy, cutting spending in all areas, rolling back the surveillance state, protecting all civil liberties, and auditing (and ending) the Federal Reserve. If we do our jobs, we can build a society of peace, prosperity, and liberty atop the ashes of the welfare-warfare state.

From Lewrockwell.com, here.