Ask JTF For Sunday, December 23, The Week of Chaim's Secular Birthday.

[admin]

BS"D

Note To All Posters: Only one post per person is permitted. Please make it a single, short question.

Chaim would love to answer all of your great questions but (unfortunately due to the number of questions and time constraints), if there is more than one short question, it will have to be moved to The Future Ask JTF Section. We apologize for this inconvenience and only wish that every person has a chance to be heard on the show.

Or course, comments not directed to Chaim will be moved into a separate thread under The General Discussion.

Chaim has stated that only one short question or comment per poster will be answered. Please remember that even with these rules, the program is over 2 hours long every week! If you want to post a longer question, unfortunately, Chaim may or may not be able to answer it in it's entirety. In this case, you may copy and paste parts of your question for the following week.

Thank you for your kindness and respect regarding these rules.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

BS"D

Dear Chaim,

Happy Birthday! May you live to be 120.

Do you believe Bob Dole was a real Conservative?

Was he a true friend of Israel?

Was he better or worse than Ronald Reagan on these two things?

Yacov Menashe Ben Rachamim,
Chief Administrator.

[jdl4ever]

Dear Chaim,

Why didn't many gedolim support Rabbi Kahane when he was living? He could have gotten so many more votes, so much more faster. In fact, I believe that the Haredim basically shunned him, despite the fact that he was advocating a State based on Torah values and support for the flourishing of the Jewish religion in Israel.

Regards,
T.A.N.I.A.

You know the answer to this and the Rav hinted to it many times; that our leaders and our Rabbis are not real leaders or real Rabbis.  See his speech in Y.U. where he said that the Rabbis of today are not the caliber of the great Rabbis in the days of old but they were warped by the exile. He got this from Talmud Tractate Sotah 49a (who in turn got it from the words of the last Prophet, Malachi):

"R' Eliezer the Great says:  From the day the Temple was destroyed, the sages began to be like school teachers, school teachers like synagogue attendants, synagogue attendants like common people, and the common people became more and more debased: and there was none to ask, none to inquire.  Upon whom is it for us to rely? Upon our father who is in heaven.

In the footsteps of the Messiah insolence will increase and honor dwindle; the vine will yield its fruit but wine will be dear; the government will turn to heresy and there will be none to offer them reproof; the meeting place (of scholars) will be used for immorality; Galilee will be destroyed.  Gablan desolated, and the dwellers on the frontier will go about begging from place to place without anyone to take pity on them; the wisdom of the learned will degenerate, fearers of sin will be despised and the truth will be lacking; youths will put old men to shame.  The old will stand up in the presence of the young.  A son will revile his father.  A daughter will rise against her mother.  A daughter in law against her mother in law, and a man's enemies will be the members of his household.  The face of the generation will be like the face of a dog.  A son will not feel ashamed before his father.  So upon whom is it for us to rely?  Upon our father who is in heaven."

The Rav was a very honest man, who told the Torah truth clearly and openly.  The Charedim and most Religious Jews I know can't bring themselves to accept what the Rav said about our "leaders" and "Rabbis" since it is depressing and they are told to blindly follow and worship their Rabbis, but what he says is the truth.

[TorahZionist]

I'm posting this for Yacov Menashe Ben Rachamim.

This semester (Fall 2007), I'm taking a class on Colonial Latin America and I'll be taking one on Modern Latin America in the Spring 2008 semester. What do you think of the Spanish conquest of Latin America? I think that although it was evil how Spain treated its Jews, the colonization of Latin America ultimately benefited humanity. Not only did it eventually lead to English settlers founding The United States, but it also provided The World with new crops from Mexico such as tomatoes and corn (maize), which had not been known in Europe or Asia.

What do you think of Cortés's conquest of Mexico? Is he a hero? What should have been done different to prevent Mexico from becoming what it is today? Should it have been colonized by more whites like Argentina? Should Spain have prevented the independence of Mexico?

[Eliezer Ben Avraham]

Dear Chaim,
Happy Birthday!
I recently saw on ebay one of Nachshon Walls' flags of the "State of Judea." It was being sold for 250000 and it got a bid, whether the person will pay I cant be sure, but nonetheless it is surprising. On that note, what was your opinion of Nachshon Walls?

[דוד בן זאב אריה]

Do celebrate the secular New Year and do you feel that Jews in general should celebrate the secular New Year. Also what about Birthdays should Jews Celebrate Secular Birthdays or just the Hebrew ones.

Thanks

David

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

Shalom Chaim,

When this nation was founded, we had true laissez-faire, but within a century, she was already being strangled by the "captains of industry" (General Electric, Standard Oil, U.S. Steel, etc.). The same has been true of any nation that has ever had a free market. It's only free until the sharks eat all of the smaller fish.

Chaim, because this is a fallen world due to Adam's sin, no two businesses will ever be equal--and basic Darwinian law has borne out that stronger, more predatory corporations will consume the weaker. Capitalism is all about natural selection, and in every case where the government does not aggressively fight them, big businesses will eventually devour all smaller ones, and these oligopolies/monopolies then become more powerful than the government, and establish a plutocracy.

Therefore, I sincerely wish you would reconsider the idea of establishing unfettered free markets. There must be some policing. Without extremely vigilant antitrust oversight, these markets won't stay free for long. I'll write more in coming weeks.

G-d bless you and your mother,

Chaimfan.

[cosmokramer]

Hello Chaim, Due to some events in my life, I have not been on the forum for awhile and havent put up but one youtube video. I am however getting things readjusted and will be active much more in the future. I am still and will be a JTF'r through and through, now on to my question:

If Obama or Clinton wins, do you think that either one of them would expel Jews from America? I Know you think every Jew should live in Israel, but if this were to happen, would you see it as a blessing or curse?

Happy Birthday by the way.

Moshe

[Dr. Dan]

Happy 26th birthday Chaim!!!

The following quote was sent to me in regards to a comment I implied that SOMETIMES natural disasters take place in areas where people have acted in evil ways such as the Tsunamis and Hurricane Katrina. 

This is the quote which he sent me:

Maimonides (1135-1204) simply said that we may not say that G-d does so and so because a human does so and so. This has been normative Judaism. There is no tit for tat in our religious belief system. Jews have become too Christianized in their theology.

(I'll tell you that I agree with this quote and we have to be careful of how we personalize Gd.  And it's not about who's side G-d's on either when we fight wars or have arguements.  I mean, anyone can just as easily say that Gd is on the side of the Muslims (Gd forbid) because they are currently winning this war.  In fact, the reality is that irregardless of Gd being here or there, we, ourselves, are doing the right thing to win these wars, whether Gd is absent or present in our midst.  Certainly, we should hope that He is in our presence and guiding us with His light.  My point is, we have to careful how we say things when speaking for Gd or about Gd or what He does etc...and just simply do the right and moral thing.)  And you know what, Chaim?  We definately are doing the right thing!  So there! How about them apples?

Shalom,

Dr. Dan

[Dan]

Happy Birthday Chaim!
  I look at 2007 as being Successful Year for both JTF and its members!!! 
 For the past year what have you enjoyed most about your life and what are you looking forward in the next year? Marriage, kids,moving to Israel,etc....
                                              All the Best to you and your Family,
                                                 As always Dan!

[JTFFan]

Dear Chaim,
What do we do about the current border situation if Huckabee is elected? Thousands of illegals enter the U.S. every day around 10,000. We need a candidate or someone for vice president who's strong on this issue.

G-d Bless,

JTFFan

[Yisrael]

Shalom Chaim,

Happy Birthday!

What do you think is the best way to deal with blackmailers?

I raise this question because Allen-T threatened to post personal information of forum members on the internet, if JTF were to be successful in having his anti-JTF videos removed.

Thank you,

Yisrael

[newman]

Shalom chaim,

The traditional political terms of 'right', 'conservative' etc don't seem to fit our present, so-called 'conservative' politicians. These people pursue a global, economic rationalist, 'free' trade, open-border agenda that sees western farmers, tradesmen and labourers thrown on the scrap heap due to third world, slave-labour imports of goods and people.

Would you agree that the present global capitalist policies of Bush, Blair, Howard etc are NOT true conservativism but a form of corpororate fascism ?

Toda,

Newman.

[Yogy]

Shalom Chaim and Happy Birthday!

During the last "Ask JTF" show, one of the members was wondering if a JTF blog would be a good idea. I agree with him and I believe that a blog (or several blogs, created by different members) would be complementary to the forum and will only improve it. The blog would allow a better focus on specific issues, with a targeted audience. Therefore, following your advice from the JTF website ("It is worthless to agree with the views expressed by JTF without following through with action. G-d demands deeds, not mere words."), I started the European JTF Weblog:
http://jtfblog.wordpress.com/
Would you consider publishing a list (on the website or on the forum) with websites or blogs that are endorsed by you?
And maybe also a certain set of rules one must follow, in order to receive the JTF endorsement?
I expect that pretty soon, all kinds of leftist or nazi-like animals (which is basically the same thing) will start publishing fake JTF websites.

Todah,
Dan

[VIVA KAHANE]

What Israeli films would you recommend?  I recommend "Ushpizin"; did you see it?  What is your feeling about Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus?  They have been criticized for "demonizing Arabs with their pervasive anti-Arab stereotypes" and they produced "Deathwish" which correctly captured the savagery of ghetto Kushim.  Are they righteous Jews?

[Christian Zionist]

Happy Birthday Chaim!

What is difference between the Hebrew words tannin and nachas?  Some scholars point out when Moses dropped his rod it became "tannin" which is traditionally translated as serpent.  However when Moses made that bronze serpent it was "nachas"?  What does the Hebrew actually say?  Could tannin mean any sea monster other than serpent?

Thanks!

Christian Zionist

[q_q_]

shalom chaim

I know that in israel, the media is all state controlled, and they try people without a jury. That`s simple enough.  But can you explain about the supreme court in israel, I have heard that israel is not really a free country since  the supreme court makes or overrules the decisions. can you explain how it works?

thanks

[Husar]

Just five words for
the best leader of this planet:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, CHAIM.

 

[Rubystars]

Happy Birthday Chaim! Where would the borders of Eretz Yisrael be, and would they stay the same once established?

[WestCoastJTF]

Happy Birthday, Chaim!  Many happy returns!

I heard you once mention a long time ago that following the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, there were settlers in the Sinai peninsula, much as there are settlers today in Judea.  Did I hear you correctly?  If so, what happened to them?  I really have a hard time understanding why Israel always gives land back - Israel did not start any of the four wars, yet at the end of them she gave back all the land she occupied.

Thanks and once again Happy Birthday!

[YESHA]

Shalom--Zev.
I want to share ALL of these wonderful pictures of the late Rav Hy"d, with members of this forum and maybe someone has an idea for placing all these pictures on a single website, of this Holy, saintly and awesome Torah giant –perhaps ones that are not in my collection can be added – what do you think,  Thank you Chaim and Shalom for this week. --Zev.

[kellymaureen]

Happy birthday Chaim...and many many more!

The state of universities in the U.S. is appalling.  I just posted an article wherein muslims have taken over the meditation room at a publicly funded college and also distributed very offensive literature, the school is doing nothing, EXCEPT assisting the muslim students in taking over.  That is hardly the exception anymore, its becoming the rule.   Do you see improvement in the future at all with our higher learning system?  In a few short years I will have to send my son off to university and I am dreading it.

Thank you as always
Kelly

[MasterWolf1]

Hello Chaim

And Happy Birthday brother, and many more.

I understand I think from Yacov that for some reason anyone using AOL has a hard time accessing the forum.  I think this needs to be corrected cause most people do use AOL, it services millions.   Like with me it always says I am banned if I use the AOL browser to open the forum but with Mozilla it doesn't.  David uses AOL so do I.  This slight problem should be fixed cause also through AOL I am allowed to have such a huge mailing list without being tagged for bulk or spam.     Even if you use AOL as an ISP and you want to access the forum through Internet Explorer the same problem.   How can this be fixed? 

[Ulli]

Dear Mr. ben Pesach,

happy birthday.

There are a lot of evil people, who mention, that Jews in the USSR were all Communists. I have read here on this forum a lot of stories about Jews, who resisted.

Please tell us the whole truth about the oppressed Judaism in the USSR.

Sincerly,

Ullrich

[ftf]

I hear it's your Birthday, Chaim, so Happy Birthday. May you be blessed by G-d throughout the coming year.

I try to criticise islam, and yet, I can never manage t be a s negative about it as the muslims are themselves, today I've listened to a muslim trying to justify to a Christian the fact that (according to many islamic scholars) it is permissible to marry and engage in sexual activity with a girl who has not yet even grown teeth, how can anyone argue in favour of such a hideous act?

Shalom.

[Ambiorix]

 Happy Birthday Chaim.

I wonder if Jews are allowed to visit Churches, e.g. when they are on a visit to Europe, and want to see the Gothic cathedrals' architecture.