by Joel Rich Münchausen syndrome is a psychiatric factitious disorder wherein those affected feign disease, illness, or psychological trauma to draw attention or sympathy to themselves Question: Would the description somewhat fit a community whose implementation of its vision results in large pockets of poverty which it then seeks to ameliorate to an extent with chesed institutions? Question: When davening ...

by Joel Rich Question: The Gemara (Shabbat 146) is clear that R’Chanania held “yesh mazal l’yisrael” (certain fates can’t be changed). The Meiri on the spot says those who hold that position did so due to personal experiences and are totally wrong. As in many cases, there are situations in Tanach and Talmud which seem to support one side or ...

by Joel Rich The torah has basic rules about inheritance. For all those who say halacha determines ethics, how does one justify arranging their will to bypass the halachic default rules? How does “malach hamavet ma li hacha , ma li hatam” (bava metzia 36b) fit in with hashgacha klalit vs. pratit for animals? Rabbi Moshe Taragin -Monday Night Mussar ...

by Joel Rich Question: What if a prophet came to you and told you it’s really true that for most of us there’s only hashgacha klalit (no specific intervention from HKB”H), that there is no reward in this world and HKB”H expects you to be a good soldier and do as you are told with no promise of intervention or ...

by Joel Rich Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin asked his teacher, the Vilna Gaon: “Perhaps I should put on Rabbenu Tam Tefillin….. The Vilna Gaon said: “Why are you asking specifically about Rabbenu Tam Tefillin? There are twenty-four [some say: sixty-four] different opinions on the proper way to make Tefillin. Are you going to put on twenty-four [sixty-four] different pairs?!” Rabbi ...

by Joel Rich Question: Do non-bnai brit have hashgacha pratit or klalit? Discuss with sources if you can. The Signal and the Noise – Nate Silver “This need of finding patterns, humans have this more than other animals,” I was told by Tomaso Poggio, an MIT neuroscientist who studies how our brains process information. “Recognizing objects in difficult situations means ...

by Joel Rich There’s a famous medrash (R’YBS seemed particularly enamored with it) that an angel teaches all the Torah to a fetus in utero and then taps it so it forgets all of it at birth. Question – Does this apply to babies of both sexes? FWIW (probably not much) I am feeling that if we can ever get ...

by Joel Rich LZ”N Reuvain Ben Eliezer Yonasan z”l – my F-I-L who was admitted to the heavenly academy on the 18th of Cheshvan – Now he has the answers to his parsha questions. From a recent WS Journal article: Gary Rosenblatt, the editor of Jewish Week, wrote recently that the program may give young Jews the impression that participation ...

by Joel Rich We recently were in a town in the Northeast for Shabbat in a shul that easily could sit 750 people. Shabbat morning there would not have been a minyan without us. At first I was saddened but then realized “chochma bagoyim taamin” – And on the pedestal these words appear: `My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: ...

by Joel Rich From R’ Aviner: Overcoming One’s evil inclination Q: How great is the reward for someone who overcomes his evil inclination? A: Very, very great. Me- Hmmmmm- 1. What was the questioner really getting at? 2. Where do I get a copy of the relative value book for rewards (the one I got from green stamps seems a ...