10 Jan Speak Your VUES

WATCH YOUR SPEECH

Dear Editor:

I wonder if other people out there feel like me that I am the only one who seems to be tuned in to loshon hara being spoken. I find that I constantly giving people mussar not to say what they would like to say. I fell like a neb. Why am I the only  person telling others to be careful with their speech?

Tzippora Schweid

Editor’s Note: If what you are doing is right, you should be confident and keep doing what’s right. The only way this could be wrong , is if you yourself do not keep to these laws.

NEW BOOK ON TRUMP

Dear Editor:
I heard there is a new book about President Trump. The reports are that it does not depict him a good light. Is it permissible for a Yid to read this book?

Yankel Stern

Editor’s Note: I don’t see it being a problem for a Jew to read. However, we do daven for the welfare of our president and if in this book there are disparaging reports that are not true, perhaps you should stay away from it.

TIPS REQUESTED

Dear Editor:
I recently made a bar mitzvah and was the delighted recipient of some beautiful miniatures sent by my friends and relatives. I was completely taken aback when the guy delivering the gifts requested a tip. I felt that it was uncalled for since it was supposed to be a gift to me, not an obligation! I am sure my generous friends and relatives paid a delivery fee. I really got me annoyed and upset. Then I had a similar experience on the day of the big storm last week. I had ordered some fancy baked goods that I planned on giving somebody for Shabbos in honor of their simcha. Foolishly, I didn’t look at the weather forecast and planned on picking the stuff up on Thursday morning. We all woke up on Thursday morning to a blanket of snow. I could not get out to pick up the items. I therefore called the place requesting that it be delivered and I was willing to pay the messenger fee. I was told that the fee was higher than usual since the weather was so bad. I agreed to do it since I felt that I had no choice. Imagine my chagrin when the driver asked for a tip! I was so annoyed. I paid the guy extra money to come out in the snow. Why was he expecting more on top of that?

C.M. Stein

Editor’s Note: You are right. And he’s also right. He’s trying to make a living and a large part of that comes from tips. You are right in the sense that a tip should be something given and not requested. All in all, if you were happy that the guy came to bring you your items in the snow, it would be nice to give him a tip. What would be even nicer, would be if he didn’t request it!

MEDICAL THEORY

Dear Editor:

I found this enlightening piece and wanted to share it with you. 

Rav Avigdor Miller on Current Medical Theory

Q: How much credence should a Torah Jew give to current medical theories in the field of health and proper nutrition?

A: As much as common sense requires. That’s all we can say. If it’s something that one man has recently propounded, and it’s not accepted by the body of medical men, so why should you bother? But if it’s already so widely accepted, that it has become sensible to follow the advice, then you should do it.

For example, smoking. Today, more or less, most knowledgeable people say that smoking is dangerous to the health. Therefore, it’s common sense today. And if a person persists in smoking, so he is transgressing what the Torah says, and therefore he is guilty. There’s no question that a person who smokes today is guilty.

Only that there are some ignorant people who don’t understand these things. They think that what their father did, holds forever. And because their father didn’t know about germs, they think they could also drink from a dirty cup. There are people like that. They’ll drink from a public drinking cup because their father also did! And they think, “My father also smoked; why not?” And the fact that this father might have died from smoking, that doesn’t occur to them. Well, he’s just an ignoramus. But those people who have some intelligence are required to take into account the accepted medical opinions of the time.

Tape # 13 (June 1973)

Boruch G

Editor’s Note: How wise are our gedolim!

THANK YOU

Dear Editor:

The past inclement weather made it impossible for meals on wheels to deliver . Much thanks to the anonymous person who dropped off six meals in bags over a three day period. This was much in spirit of the TOMCHEI SHABBOS program. Please ring the handicapped person on your block. It may be a real lifesaver for them.

Editor’s Note: Mi K’amcha Yisroel! No one does more chessed than Yidden.

SMOKE DETECTORS NECESSARY

Dear Editor: 

This is the time we start thinking of the summer in the Catskills. Those of you that run Summer camps or Bungalow colonies, REMEMBER TO PLACE SMOKE DETECTORS IN ALL BUILDINGS, INCLUDING BUNK HOUSES IN SUMMER CAMPS!
HARRY TABOR

Editor’s Note: I am not sure that this is the right time for your reminder since people are not upstate now at all. Perhaps you should write this letter around Pesach time when people are starting to get ready to go up to the mountains.