Volume 11 Number 8
Produced: Wed Jan 5 21:13:58 1994
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
A comment of the Rav's on adoption
[Alan Zaitchik]
A wish for good health
[Art Kamlet]
Amalek and Other Anti-Semites
[Elie Rosenfeld]
Being Motzi someone with a Bracha
[Lawrence J. Teitelman ]
Dikduk (Hebrew grammar)
[Danny Weiss]
Hazon Ish on Moshe Rabbenu's Torah
[Shalom Carmy]
Lecture Series in Brooklyn
[Eli Benun]
Mechitza court case (2)
[Aryeh Frimer, Anthony Fiorino]
Medicines and Kashrut
[Danny Weiss]
Open Letter from Rav Tendler - Where to
[Aryeh Blaut]
Rav & Musar Movement
[Shalom Carmy]
Sons of Rav Papa
[Pinchus Laufer]
Travelling on Shabbos
[Jonathan Katz]
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From: Alan Zaitchik <ZAITCHIK@...>
Date: Thu, 30 Dec 93 21:07:34 -0500
Subject: A comment of the Rav's on adoption
A propos both the discussion of the Rav AND of adoption--
I had the privlege of talking to the Rav z"l shortly after my wife and
I adopted our son. After the "mazel tov" etc., I shared with him that
I was "somewhat upset to read some halachic discussions about whether
my wife -"
I got no farther than that when the Rav interrupted me and said,
as dramatically as only the Rav could, "I know what you are referring
to and I FORBID YOU TO READ IT! I FORBID YOU TO READ IT!". (I was
referring to some halachic discussions concerning the "issur yichud"
(prohibition of being alone with a member of the opposite sex) between
adoptive parents and their (post-puberty) adopted children of the opposite
sex. I had seen this in a Lubavich publication, but I am not sure whether
it originated with the Rebbe or not.)
Anyway, the Rav went on to add, "You should know-- there are many crazy
people in the world. Some become shoe makers and some become rabbonim."
Vintage Rav, no?
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From: <ask@...> (Art Kamlet)
Date: 31 Dec 1993 16:23 EST
Subject: A wish for good health
[My apologies on not getting this out in time, I'm working on getting
through the email backlog. My wishes for a Refuah Shelama to Sam. Any
update on his condition? Mod.]
I just had phone call from Sam Goldish's sister. Some of you may know
Sam, a reader of mail.jewish who recently began to contribute a few
articles. The last article I saw was a nice anecdote of the time he was
in a meeting, the only Jew, and someone noticed his tzitzit and asked
about them. When he explained, a woman who said she knew the whole
bible and there was nothing in it about tzitzit and handed him a KJV to
find it. Not being familiar with KJV chapter/verse organizations, and
working with a book that didn't have the parshiot marked, he worried how
to find it. So he opens it up and right there on the page he opened to
was the verse!
Anyway, Sam appears to have had a heart attack, is doing reasonably
well, but will have an angiogram, at least, this Monday, January 3.
I asked his sister for Sam's name for a Mi Sheberach -- it is Shmuel
Yitzchak ben Shaina.
Obviously Sam can't read email in the hospital (it's in Tulsa, OK)
but his email address is <00058912690@...>
Art Kamlet AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus <ask@...>
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From: <er@...> (Elie Rosenfeld)
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 94 17:33:57 -0500
Subject: Amalek and Other Anti-Semites
I am confused by the recent thread where the attempt is made to equate
modern-day anti-Semites, and in particular the Nazis, with Amalek. In
the halachos dealing with the extermination of Amalek, where we are
commanded to kill even newborn babies, it is clear that the law applies
only to actual members of that specific genealogical nation. As the
Talmud states, the roots of all the ancient nations, e.g., Canaan, Moab,
Ammon, as well as Amalek, have been lost. Therefore, there is no
concept today of fulfilling the mitzvah of destroying Amalek.
There may be some homiletical value in equating today's Jew-haters with
Amalek, but it should be taken as just that - homiletics. In fact, even
on a homiletical basis, I would argue against looking upon Amalek as the
archetype for all anti-Semites. They were singled out even in their own
day from all other enemies because they were precisely the _first_ to
attack the Jews. By definition, nobody since - even the Nazis - can
claim that "distinction".
Elie Rosenfeld
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From: Lawrence J. Teitelman <csljt@...>
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 94 14:44:14 EST
Subject: Being Motzi someone with a Bracha
For the interested, Rabbi Forst's book on "brachos" (Artscroll) has a nice
collection of sources related to the issue of being "motzi" someone else
with a berakha. One interesting example which he brings (in the name of
the Peri Megadim) is that the "mesader kiddushin" (person officiating at
a wedding ceremony) recites the birkat erusin for the groom (and bride?)
despite the fact that the mesader himself is not fulfilling his own
obligation at that particular moment.
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From: <danny@...> (Danny Weiss)
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 1994 11:46:00 -0500
Subject: Dikduk (Hebrew grammar)
For all you Hebrew grammar experts out there -- what is the correct
vowelation for the name Elana (pronounced ee-lah-nah, accent on the
lah).
In Hebrew - aleph, yud, lamed, nun, heyh. The aleph gets a hiriq, the
nun gets a qamats. What about the lamed? Qamats or Patah? And does the
lamed get a dagesh? This word/name is not quite analogous to the usual
femininization of a masculine noun (eg, ayal to ayala) since usually the
accent goes to the last syllable (the la in ayala), but not in Elana (it
remains on the lamed). In fact, why does the accent stay on the lamed?
Thanks.
Danny Weiss <danny@...>
Baltimore, MD
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From: Shalom Carmy <carmy@...>
Date: Thu, 30 Dec 93 21:07:44 -0500
Subject: Hazon Ish on Moshe Rabbenu's Torah
See article by S.Z.Leiman (TRADITION, Winter 1981), who maintains that
Hazon Ish would NOT reject Moshe Rabbenu's real Sefer Torah even if it
diverged from ours. The definition of Torah miSinai would be no more and
no less than the Torah given to Moshe.
(How someone would establish that a newly discovered codex is indeed the
Mosaic text is another problem...)
For Hazon Ish's approach to textual emendation in general, see the
extensive study by Moshe Bleich (TRADITION, within the last year).
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From: <EBENUN@...> (Eli Benun)
Date: Mon, 03 Jan 1994 11:02:59 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Lecture Series in Brooklyn
Some of the Mail-Jewish readers in the Brooklyn area might be interested
in a few lectures coming up at the Sephardic Institute.
1. Rabbi Irving (Yitz) Greenberg January 8, 9:00pm
Topic: Torah:The Vision and the Process-Addressing the Gap Between
Perpective and Contemporary Realities.
2. Rabbi Aaron Rakefet January 15, 9:00PM
Topic: Zionism:A Halachic Imperative
3. Professor Sid Leiman February 5, 9:00PM
Topic: To Be Announced
The Sephardic Institute is located at 511 Avenue R (off Ocean Parkway).
Admission is $3.00. Men and women are welcome. Please send me inquiries for
further information.
Eli Benun
<ebenun@...>
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From: Aryeh Frimer <F66235@...>
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 94 10:31:08 -0500
Subject: Mechitza court case
The Book on the Mechitza Court case is "The Sanctity of the Synagogue"
by Baruch Litvin. If my memory serves me right the shul involved was
in Mt. Holyoke NY.
Aryeh
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From: Anthony Fiorino <fiorino@...>
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 94 10:31:05 -0500
Subject: Mechitza court case
The book about the court case re: mechitza in an Orthodox synagogue is
"The Sancity of the Synagogue" ed. Baruch Litvin, NY: Spero Foundation,
1959. A third edition, ed. by Jeanne Litvin, is published by Ktav
(Hoboken, NJ).
Eitan Fiorino
<fiorino@...>
[Book identification was also made by Harry Weiss. Mod.]
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From: <danny@...> (Danny Weiss)
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 1994 09:26:56 -0500
Subject: Medicines and Kashrut
I recently had a bad cold and cough and my doctor recommended Robitussin
with codeine. I remember hearing that there was a problem with its
Kashrut. Does anyone know what the problem is? Also, while in the
subject, what are the relevant sources for the opinions that forbid the
use of "non-kosher" medicines and for those that allow it (i.e., say
that kashrut applies to achila - eating - and not ha'na'a - pleasure,
benefit - and that since taking medicine is, at worst, ha'na'ah but not
achila, even "non-kosher" medicines are OK)?
Danny Weiss
Baltimore, MD <danny@...>
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From: Aryeh Blaut <ny000592@...>
Date: Thu, 30 Dec 93 21:08:17 -0500
Subject: Open Letter from Rav Tendler - Where to
In vol. 10 #71 there was mention of an open letter from Rav Tendler on
the subject of the Rav. Where is this open letter located? I would
like to read it.
Thanks,
Rabbi Aryeh Blaut
<ny000592@...>
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From: Shalom Carmy <carmy@...>
Date: Thu, 30 Dec 93 21:07:39 -0500
Subject: Re: Rav & Musar Movement
In the footnote to the passage in HALAKHIC MAN where the Rav zt"l
criticizes the Musar movement from the perspective of the "ideal"
Halakhic Man (as approximated by his grandfather), the Rav goes on to
explicitly exempt Slobodka Musar.
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From: <plaufer@...> (Pinchus Laufer)
Date: Mon, 03 Jan 1994 08:57:16
Subject: Sons of Rav Papa
I can not claim to be a talmid of "The Rav" insofar as I only attended a
few of the yahrzeit shiurim and one year's Tuesday night classes. This
forum is enlightening me as to the wild and dangerous results of evry
"talmid" quoting "The Rav". I can't believe that Rav Soloveitchik
zatzal (even in jest) would say that the sons of Rav Papa do not appear
in the Talmud. Even a cursory glance at an index (such as the one
contaned in the Soncino shas) will show dozens of references to these
amoraim.
Pinchus
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From: Jonathan Katz <frisch1@...>
Date: Sun, 02 Jan 94 17:54:59 EST
Subject: Travelling on Shabbos
I was curious as to what people are suppossed to do when taking a boat
trip (longer than a week) which requires them to be at sea over one or
more Shobbos'es. I am pretty sure that this is discussed in the Talmud,
so if someone could point me there or give me a summary of it, asa
well as a practical decision, I'd appreciate it.
I am concerned primarily with two facets of being on the boat during
Shobbos:
1) If the boat is moving, does this violate the prohibition against
travel on Shobbos?
2) Assuming the boat is anchored, are there problems with just
being on the boat itself?
Thank you.
Jonathan Katz
<frisch1@...>
410 Memorial Drive - Room 251B
Cambridge, MA 02139
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End of Volume 11 Issue 8