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Dear Rabbi, I recently received a local award and was invited to speak at a ceremony honoring me. I am wondering if the concept of honor is something positive in Jewish values or not. Thank you for your guidance.

Question
I do not own a car and there is no public transit where I live. I am poor. I am not a Jew either but I worry that I may offend God. So, I wanted to ask to make sure.   I own one bicycle that is quite expensive by most standards (the cheap ones disintegrate as you put miles on them). But I need to work on it as it is pushing a decade old (mind you it is built with parts that were made to last which is basically the only reason for the cost of it). I wanted to start building another slightly less expensive bike that will be of good quality, but will have more normal, readily available parts on it (my current bike has a Rohloff, for example… and these hubs are fairly rare). This would give me a chance to build up some less expensive wheels and test them to see how well I can build wheels, and this is important because one of the main things I need to do for the current bike is rebuild the wheels. It would also give me a bike that would be easy to repair in a pinch. So I figured building the new bike would give me a chance to practice building less expensive wheels, and would also allow me to have a second bike readily available while I have the current bike taken apart for repair. My question: Would building the second bike be considered “multiplying” and not relying on God?

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Judaism teaches that the greater the person, the greater yetzer hara. However I think that my yetzer hara is small. Do I have to pray to HaShem to make my evil inclination big to be a great Tzaddik? Are there any Jewish sages who became great, even though they had a small yetzer hara?

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Dear Rabbi, I think that Machievelli believed that "The end justifies the means." What does the Torah teach and offer as a possible counter-argument? Thank you!

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Hi Rabbi, why is anger seen as such a negative trait in Judaism? Is it not just another natural human emotion? Thanks Rabbi.

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Our local Torah/Talmud study group has found the following pesukim for which we can find no discussions or explanations by Rashi or other Talmud Sages. Our local Rabbi refuses to discuss Jeremiah 14:10-12 and we would like to find a knowledgeable person to explain which people are being referenced. Jeremiah 14:10-12 "Thus said the LORD concerning this people: “Truly, they love to stray, they have not restrained their feet; so the LORD has no pleasure in them. Now He will recall their iniquity and punish their sin.” And the LORD said to me, “Do not pray for the benefit of this people. When they fast, I will not listen to their outcry; and when they present burnt offering and meal offering, I will not accept them. I will exterminate them by war, famine, and disease.” Your assistance would be greatly appreciated.  

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Someone told me a story that I’d heard before and I really didn’t want to waste my time hearing it again. But I didn’t want to offend the teller who was enjoying telling the story and decided to listen politely. Is that what Judaism teaches?

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If a certain individual has written themselves on social media for all to see that they did something bad, is it lashon hara to talk about the bad thing they did?