Ariel K

6,370 reputation

1025

bio	website	zappable.com
	location	New York, NY
	age
visits	member for	2 years, 2 months
	seen	5 hours ago
stats	profile views	118

Recent graduate with a BA in Computer Science. Interested in working on useful projects, such as education or search. Blogs: Zappable.com, TorahJournal.com/Blog.

	6,370 reputation	bio	website	zappable.com	visits	member for	2 years, 2 months
1025 badges		location	New York, NY		seen	5 hours ago

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Jun 29	comment	Exercises to prevent eyes tiring At least product recommendations are specifically Jewish and cannot be asked elsewhere,( and most are Torah-related) but this is just a general health tip question. But it makes little difference either way.
Jun 29	comment	Exercises to prevent eyes tiring There's no hashkafic or halachik issue being asked, and reading isn't something specific to Judaism.
Jun 28	comment	Exercises to prevent eyes tiring This doesn't seem like a question on Judaism.
Jun 27	comment	What is the halachic source for objection to gay (civil) marriage? There have actually been many cases already. E.g. (from 2008): articles.latimes.com/2008/jun/17/opinion/oe-stern17
Jun 24	comment	What is the halachic source for objection to gay (civil) marriage? There's a machlokes between R.Henkin and R.M. Feinstein over the status of non-halachik marriages for non-observant Jews. It depends whether one applies the principle of "ein adam oseh b'ilaso b'ilas znus". R' Moshe said one does not apply it in such cases, and they are not considered married once they separate. Everyone agrees that for non-Jews, that is the form of marriage that they have, so Halacha recognizes it as marriage (nisuin), just there isn't kidushin for non-Jews.
Jun 24	comment	What is the halachic source for objection to gay (civil) marriage? One of the issues with the New York State law (at least as initially proposed) is that it will cause legal problems for religious people and organizations. E.g a religious-owned wedding hall could sued for discrimination for declining to service a gay marriage.
Jun 19	comment	Can an apikores (heretic) count in a minyan? No. He may have incorrect views of who can count for a minyan.
Jun 17	comment	Can an apikores (heretic) count in a minyan? ____ accept _________
Jun 17	comment	Can an apikores (heretic) count in a minyan? I think he would have to recognize all the halachos of a minyan, such as who can be counted for one. It was based on a Rambam that discussed whether ka'arites could be counted for one.
Jun 15	comment	Multiple People Saying Kaddish Out-Of-Sync I don'y think it was actually instituted, just if their were more kadish-reciters, they would say more kadish's. So if everyone's saying it at once, you don't need to say more (at the end of davening).
Jun 14	comment	Multiple People Saying Kaddish Out-Of-Sync Btw, The reason there are so many Kaddish's is so each mourner can say one on his own (they didn't use to combine them). If they are combined, I don't see why there are so many repetitions.
Jun 14	comment	Answering Atheist about Torah miracles @Jake, I didn't know of another rishon to quote who tries to explain away many miracles. But Ralbag (in his perush on nach) seems to recognize certain miracles that break with the norm, as long as they don't change the fundamental nature of an item. I don't see how that would fit with his total denial of providence.
Jun 14	comment	Answering Atheist about Torah miracles @YDK, I put in "possibly" because I wasn't sure. I did hear that there was a 14th-century scholar who said it was just allegorical, but I don't know who it was.
Jun 13	comment	Peer-to-Peer Lending Websites Its very different. In a bank, they pay you a certain rate irrespective of the default rate on their loans. On LendingClub, if the person you lend to defaults, you lose the money. They're just the ones who deal with it.
Jun 12	comment	Peer-to-Peer Lending Websites No, it was via email. I basically cited all of it in first paragraph.
Jun 5	comment	Stealing wi-fi? zeh neheneh v'zeh lo chaser is more of a problem if you e.g use their house without permission. but here, you're just using the wifi which is coming out from the house, so it seems like less of a problem, almost like smelling a bakery when walking by (sort of).
Jun 5	comment	Does participating in Torah discussion websites fit into the spirit of Torah sheB'al Peh? But even if its being used, perhaps online takes it too far. Originally, it was just handwritten manuscripts so there was still a lot of oral learning. The printing press changed some things, and the internet goes even further. Perhaps its too much?
Jun 2	comment	Why do we say God will be one when we also say He already is? See Pesachim 50a for a discussion of this Passuk: “On that day will the Lord be One and His Name One” - Is the Lord not One now? …This world is not like the Next World. In this world we say the blessing, “The Good and Beneficent” on good news and “The True Judge“ on bad news. But in the Next World, we will say “The Good and Beneficent” on everything. Though in the context of aleinu, it may be referring to the universal recognition of God's Oneness.
Jun 2	comment	Walking Between 2 Women - Relatives Its part of the zugos ("pairs") customs, which the rishonim already observe are no longer kept.
Jun 1	comment	Second day of Shavous Not only shevuos, but also other days. The gemara says some places only needed to keep on sukkos, but kept on pesach because of Lo Plug. I assume the same would have to apply to the last days of both yomim tovim. Though that would leave a lot of lo-plug days.