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Shmuel

 Special HodOfHod Farbrengen

BYOB (Bring Your Own Bonfire)
Shmuel Brin
May 24, 2019 19:39
But a Mazal Tov to you!!
Shmuel Brin
May 24, 2019 19:39
@HodofHod But what about a stack?
Shmuel Brin
May 3, 2018 18:05
Happy Birthday!
 

 V'dibarta Bam

"And speak of them" (Deut. 6:7) This is the main Mi Yodeya com...
Shmuel Brin
Apr 8, 2019 22:35
@msh210 Just noticed that your gravatar is one of those knots.
Shmuel Brin
Apr 7, 2019 22:51
@msh210 Did you see www2.math.umd.edu/~jmr/MathTalmud.html ?
Shmuel Brin
Jan 21, 2019 03:55
@Alex Is this HNQ personal or general (meaning, that if you go to MY your going to get more MY links on the side, and if you frequent tag X, you'll see more questions of tag X)?
Shmuel Brin
Oct 10, 2018 04:19
@MonicaCellio It's very entertaining and educational at the same time - the best type of educational. And it's written by one of the most respected Rabbonim in the world. Yeah. It's good.
Shmuel Brin
Oct 3, 2018 05:50
The Tzemach Tzedek said that the true resolution is like his sons. Reb Hillel responded that when the Tzemach Tzedek said a Maamer, it's the Shechina speaking through his mouth, so no one can argue on it, but when he gives an explanation, he is using his brain like anyone else, so he can argue on him. The Tzemach Tzedek responded "True, but my human intellect is still greater than his."
Shmuel Brin
Oct 3, 2018 05:50
@רבותמחשבות There's a story that the Tzemach Tzedek once said a Maamar, over which erupted a debate between his sons and one of his prime students - Reb Hillel of Paritch. Unable to come to a resolution, they decided to ask the Tzemach Tzedek himself.
Shmuel Brin
Sep 21, 2018 06:02
@msh210 In order to label a movement as an A"z movement, the leadership have to be along with the A"z. Or else Young Israel would also be a heretical movement, since some members of Y"I shuls aren't Shomer Shabbos.
Shmuel Brin
Sep 21, 2018 00:07
@Aaron not much :) . Just as much as you post about yourself.
Shmuel Brin
Sep 21, 2018 00:06
@Aaron See the Minchas Yitzchak. I mean it would have been more honest to say you're writing a letter to the Rebbe's grave, but it's really the same question - can you ask a Tzaddik who passed away to pray for you. And there are Poskim who say that it's fine.
Shmuel Brin
Sep 21, 2018 00:01
@Aaron If you write to the Ohel? No. And there are plenty of big poskim (yes, I know that you don't follow the Kabbalistic approach to Judaism, and are more Meqori, but it's not an outlandish position given Ashkenazi Jewish approach over the past several hundred years) who would back him up.
Shmuel Brin
Sep 20, 2018 23:56
@Aaron About writing to the deceased, see judaism.stackexchange.com/a/82827/732 :)
Shmuel Brin
Sep 20, 2018 23:55
@Aaron Generally, most "official" Chabad houses won't approve of writing to Igros. Writing to the Ohel is a different matter.
Shmuel Brin
Sep 20, 2018 23:52
@Aaron Because the Shul leadership appointed a female Rabbi. If a few congregants (or even all the congregants) had a Woman Rabbi independent of the Shul, I don't think the Shul would be evicted from the OU.
Shmuel Brin
Sep 20, 2018 23:48
@Aaron The main difference between "Chabad" and "Conservative" is that the former's official position agrees with you on a lot of things (like opening a volume of Igros Kodesh at random, or the whole Moshiach business), while the latter's official position is more problematic, Had the JTS and the RA firmly agreed to the Halachic process, and agreed that Torah Min Hashamayim, there would have been probably been treated like Modern Orthodox.
Shmuel Brin
Sep 20, 2018 23:43
@IsaacMoses The letter-writing thing sounds a lot like praying to an intermediary It's as much an intermediary as when he was alive.
Shmuel Brin
Sep 20, 2018 23:40
@Aaron If the publishers could do something about it, they would do it. But writing it in the volume won't accomplish anything. A Shabbos clock, on the other hand, actually prevents you from accessing the website.
Shmuel Brin
Sep 20, 2018 23:35
@Aaron You know that most of the "New Testament" is just letters that Paul and John wrote to people right? What other religions do doesn't concern me at all, and is totally irrelevant. Unless you're trying to say that Christianity has an eternal patent on responsa.
Shmuel Brin
Sep 20, 2018 23:34
@Aaron Most letters there are such that are worth studying. Whether it's Halachic letters or Hashkafic letters or general advice letters (like how to behave in case of a dispute, what to do if you feel (non-medically) depressed, what to study, how much to study, etc.). There are very few (if not 0) "Yes" "No" letters without context. It's the same reason we have Igros Kodesh of all the previous Rabbes. No one's writing to them.
Shmuel Brin
Sep 20, 2018 23:28
@Aaron The books are published to be studied. Should we ban Tanachs because people do the Goral HaGra on them?
Shmuel Brin
Sep 18, 2018 18:18
@IsaacMoses I charge $500 for standard apology, with a $250 Yom Kippur fee and a $600 Erev Yom Kippur surge fee.
Shmuel Brin
Aug 22, 2018 18:05
@barlop Could be Arabic
Shmuel Brin
Aug 8, 2018 19:41
@IsaacMoses Yes :)
Shmuel Brin
Aug 5, 2018 07:01
@Ploni I was never a (diamond) mod. You can see deleted answers when you get above above 10,000 points
Shmuel Brin
Jul 9, 2018 17:46
@IsaacMoses Although I think you (a mod) can do it
Shmuel Brin
Jun 6, 2018 00:06
@Kazibácsi ditto
Shmuel Brin
Jun 6, 2018 00:06
@mbloch My top voted answer was a lame answer to a not-technically-interesting question. It just hit the sidebar. I have quite a few answers with 0 upvotes which I'm much more proud of
Shmuel Brin
May 7, 2018 18:38
@רבותמחשבות He was 50 according to wikipedia. The Shach was 41.
Shmuel Brin
May 7, 2018 15:30
Actually, the Beis Shmuel passed away in 1706, while the Magen Avraham passed away in 1682
Shmuel Brin
May 7, 2018 15:27
@רבותמחשבות I think that the Beis Shmuel was from after the Magen Avraham
Shmuel Brin
Apr 20, 2018 15:56
@IsaacMoses ?
Shmuel Brin
Apr 9, 2018 05:40
What's up with the spam?
Shmuel Brin
Apr 8, 2018 04:27
@Alex Although I was under the impression that he wasn't a Rabbi by profession, just education.
Shmuel Brin
Mar 27, 2018 04:56
**But I also mean anyone who's into stuff like ayin hara' on either a conceptual or practical level.**

On a practical level it won't help: (Q: Can I do X? A: Yes, I do it!) We'd delete this answer.

Conceptual: Experts are Mekubalim, and short of our old Mekubal (who seems totally off the internet), I don't see how we'd find them.
Shmuel Brin
Mar 27, 2018 04:52
I agree :) and we definitely have a nice amount of Lubavitchers (although the really Chassidish ones will eschew Internet use). It's just that StackOverflow optimizes for experts (I think there's a blog/meta post somewhere about this) - it's more practical to optimize for experts and then let laymen to ask questions than to optimize for the laymen, since laymen naturally follow experts but not vice versa.

The bigger concern is that we're missing _experts_ - it would be great if we could get Roshei Yeshiva, or Kollel students, or Rabbonim to use this website (kind of like how there are cele…
Shmuel Brin
Mar 27, 2018 01:55
Or you're an academic.
Shmuel Brin
Mar 27, 2018 01:54
@IsaacMoses Outside of Chabad, if you're knowledgeable in Kabbalah, you probably won't be going online (and if you do, you're going to be going to heavily moderated websites - maybe something like Yeshivaworld's coffeeroom).
Shmuel Brin
Mar 27, 2018 01:52
@IsaacMoses I think we naturally attract computer savvy people since we're on SO. If you're not computer savvy (at least Google-savvy), you probably won't find this website.
Shmuel Brin
Mar 27, 2018 01:50
@IsaacMoses Unless we'll allow Hebrew posts, it'll be hard to attract those.
Shmuel Brin
Mar 11, 2018 07:00
Oh, and how could I forget. Links. The more the better
Shmuel Brin
Mar 11, 2018 05:31
@רבותמחשבות Thanks
 

 Discussion on question by Al Berko: W…

Imported from a comment discussion on judaism.stackexchange.co...
Shmuel Brin
Dec 27, 2018 02:54
@YaacovDeane that's the point. When the Navi says "Whoever disobeys your lips and doesn't listen to your words" could imply "whoever disobeys all your lips, and doesn't listen to all your words" - which doesn't apply to a prophet.
Shmuel Brin
Dec 27, 2018 02:54
The Pasuk says that anyone who "וְלֹא־יִשְׁמַע אֶת־דְּבָרֶיךָ" is liable to be executed. But you don't have to obey every instruction a prophet says, only what he says in the name of Hashem.
 

 Discussion on answer by chacham Nisan…

Imported from a comment discussion on judaism.stackexchange.co...
Shmuel Brin
Aug 22, 2018 23:19
@chachamNisan I didn't count. The article says that Rav Ovadia Yosef said that the majority forbid. I don't have a Yabiya Omer on me to look it up, so I can't look up his Mekoros.
Shmuel Brin
Aug 22, 2018 23:19
@chachamNisan I'm talking about a consensus of Poskim.
Shmuel Brin
Aug 22, 2018 23:19
@chachamNisan But consensus doesnt't require a Beis Din.
Shmuel Brin
Aug 22, 2018 23:19
@Orion I suppose that Havarah LeOchel Nefesh (and then Mitoch) would be muttar. But most Poskim don't agree.
Shmuel Brin
Aug 22, 2018 23:19
See this article, where (between footnote 43 and 44 he quotes Rav Ovadia Yosef who says that the majority forbid electricity on Yom Tov, and Halacha KeRov).