העורך Editor

This relates to (although it doesn’t exhaust) the central point we keep harping on – אין טעם ברצון. (This doesn’t just mean we are often (at least) far less repelled by our own bodily functions.)

As the saying goes:

One man’s meat is another man’s poison.

“There’s no accounting for taste” (or the Latin: De gustibus non est disputandum) refers to only mannerisms (or דעות in ‘Talmudese’), whereas the Is\Ought (and especially אין טעם ברצון) distinction refers to all human behaviors, bar none.

Also, see Chazal’s analogy in Nedarim 20b:

כל מה שאדם רוצה לעשות באשתו עושה משל לבשר הבא מבית הטבח רצה לאכלו במלח אוכלו צלי אוכלו מבושל אוכלו שלוק אוכלו וכן דג הבא מבית הצייד.

Bereishis 47:26:

וישם אתה יוסף לחק עד היום הזה על אדמת מצרים לפרעה לחמש רק אדמת הכהנים לבדם לא היתה לפרעה.

Think about it. Egypt was devastated by the Plagues. The king and\or most of his servants drowned in the sea, while their families at home experienced fires. According to historians, Egypt didn’t regain its place as a regional power for centuries.

But the taxes didn’t change a bit.

See more here: How to Visualize Eternity

As we noted in the past from Megillah 25b, one may mercilessly mock idolaters. So as a public service, I have translated the Cursedian idols into more accurate and palatable terms (for us).

Here it is in English:

1. The Adulterer
2. The Bastard
3. The Haze

In Hebrew it’s even better:

1. הנואף
2. הממזר
3. הרוח שטות

If you read what the Brisker Rav said to Rabbi Amram Blau in Do Anti-Zionists Hate the State? check out the update as well.

I found out what he answered back.

I cannot understand the calendar as it relates to halacha. I should probably ask someone nicely, but it’s easier to just write about it in the vain hope a reader decides to write in.

As for renegade Jews, no questions. As for religious Jews who ignore the day in terms of halacha, no questions. I get stuck on the overtly Anti-Zionist and the Religio-Nationalists, or Dati Le’umi.

First, the DL. Why does the so-called Central Rabbinate’s moving the date change halacha? In other words, how can you omit Tachnun, so as to prevent the seculars from roasting Treif Rabbanut meat on Shabbos? (Changing the secular Lag Ba’omer so they don’t bonfire on Shabbos presumably has negative halachic consequences, too.)

And those who fast on Yom Ha’atzma’ut. Abroad they actually fast on the day the state was founded: the 5th of Iyar. But here they fast on the ever-moving “official” date. In other words, they fast on the unholiday eve, perhaps Derech Teshuvah, then enjoy a Seudas Leil Yom Tov…

A friend told me it’s similar to the Monday&Thursday fasts (בה”ב). No idea what he means.