Volume 11 Number 81
Produced: Sun Feb 13 23:23:11 1994
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Anti-Semitic Database
[Sam Lieblich]
Halachic Approach to Mental Illness and Kel Adon
[Jay Denkberg]
Jews and Dogs
[Zishe Waxman]
Kiddush
[Aryeh Blaut]
Obligations in Mitzvot
[Anthony Fiorino]
Pronunciation in K'riat HaTorah
[Alan Mizrahi]
Shemittah Tzedaka
[Rabbi Freundel]
The 'Yom' of Breshit (was: Re: Massorah of Pronunciation)
[Michael Shimshoni]
Using Software from Nachrim.
[Warren Burstein]
Women
[Aryeh Blaut]
Women and mitzvos
[Mitch Berger x3144]
Yosef and his Dreams
[Mechael Kanovsky]
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From: Sam Lieblich <samli@...>
Date: Thu, 10 Feb 94 00:25:51 -0500
Subject: Re: Anti-Semitic Database
Hi,
I am after some information, is there a database accessible over the
internet, which contains details of all terrorist acts commited against jews
in Israel and overseas?
This is for a students project and any assistance would be greatly
appreciated.
Thanks, Sam Lieblich - Melbourne Australia
<s.lieblich@...>
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From: <JDENKBERG@...> (Jay Denkberg)
Date: Sat, 12 Feb 1994 22:30:08 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Halachic Approach to Mental Illness and Kel Adon
There is an organization run through the OU office and through NCSY
called YACAHD which is NCSY-like for those with mentally ill. You could
probably contact the OU/NCSY office directly tofind out more about it a
thereby the halachic aspect of it as well.
Re : Kel Adon, my understanding was that it is not a problem per se of
adding prayers as long as they fit the theme. We certainly add tefilos
on shabbas and yom tov between baruch sh'amar and yishtabach. (which is
considered one bracha).
The fact that we add tefillos (again my understanding) is derived from
the shir shel yom (song of the day) which for shabbos states "tov
le'hodos la'hashem" (it is good to praise Hashem) we even quote it just
after we sing Kel Adon.
Re: women
In the article by Seth Magot. The logic is applied that since women are
busy in the household they are not masters of theriir time and for this
reason they are exempt from time-related positive commandments. My question is
what is the source for applying this logic. It was my understanding that
no reason was ever given and therefore no logical could really be applied
to change those laws.
Shalom,
JD
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From: <waxman@...> (Zishe Waxman)
Date: Sat, 12 Feb 94 09:57:10 -0500
Subject: RE: Jews and Dogs
With respect to the question regarding jews and dogs, it seems to be
echoed even in the chumash. When the Jews went out of Egypt, the pasuk
says that "lo yechratz kelev leshono", i.e. 'no dog will sharpen his
tounge', It is as if to say that even those antisemitic dogs would not
protest yeziat mizrayim.
Zishe Waxman
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From: Aryeh Blaut <ny000592@...>
Date: Sun, 13 Feb 94 19:38:36 -0500
Subject: Kiddush
Has anyone every heard of making kiddush on frozen wine?
Can one be yotzei kiddush by filling the kos with frozen wine, making a
bracha, and then spooning a swallow into other cups and taking a swallow
himself?
Aryeh Blaut
<ny000592@...>
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From: Anthony Fiorino <fiorino@...>
Date: Tue, 8 Feb 94 19:36:04 -0500
Subject: Obligations in Mitzvot
The short answer to Seth Magot's query regarding men who stay at home
performing household tasks versus women working outside the home vis a
vis their respective obligations in mitzvot is "no" -- a man who stays at
home taking care of the house does not become exempt from mitzvot
she-hazman grama because chazal do not give a definite reason why women
are exempt from these mitzvot and men are obligated. Though many have
speculated that such an exemption is related to child-rearing and
household obligations, the fact is that chazal do not say this and thus
the applicability of such a distinction between household obligations of
men and women has little or no halachic significance.
Eitan Fiorino
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From: <amizrahi@...> (Alan Mizrahi)
Date: Sun, 13 Feb 94 14:15:14 EST
Subject: Pronunciation in K'riat HaTorah
I noticed something this past Shabbat during k'riah that troubled me. One
of the people laining who normally pronounced the taf without a dagesh as
an "s" sound, sometimes pronounced it as a "t". I am not trying to make a
statement about which is correct, but if one holds that the "s" is the
correct pronunciation, then the "t" should be an invalid reading for that
particular person. What are the laws about this?
-Alan Mizrahi
<amizrahi@...>
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From: <dialectic@...> (Rabbi Freundel)
Date: Wed, 9 Feb 94 04:52:52 -0500
Subject: Re: Shemittah Tzedaka
Sam Saal writes of this tzedaka that sells a few square inches of Israel so
that people can "keep" shmitta.
It is this stuff that makes halachah look like a legalistic
joke. The Torah says " 6 years shall you plant your field... and in the
seventh you shall rest" Land which you can't and never will plant may legally
be part of shmittah but it is a meaningless enterprise akin to the empty
sacrifices condemned by the prophets.
To put it another way. I'll sell anyone a newly planted tree of mine for the
next three years so you can keep Orlah. Anyone interested??
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From: Michael Shimshoni <MASH@...>
Date: Sun, 13 Feb 94 17:00:55 +0200
Subject: The 'Yom' of Breshit (was: Re: Massorah of Pronunciation)
Rabbi Freundel writes towards the end:
>A note to Marc Warren:
>Yom in Biblical hebrew means Period or better a clearly defined era of Time.
>There are many examples. Check a concordance. This translation solves all the
>Genesis vs. scientific chronology problems without quantum mechanics and in
>logic simpler is better
Even if one accepts that "yom" is a clearly defined era of Time, would
not the "yom" of Breshit (Genesis) indicate that at least in that case
a *day* is meant, as it is each time preceded by the phrase vayehi
erev yayehi boqer (there was an evening and a morning) yom ehad (or
any other number), (day one or one day). I am not referring here to
to the other well known problem, what meaning evening and morning had
before the creation of the Sun.
Michael Shimshoni
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From: <warren@...> (Warren Burstein)
Date: Sun, 13 Feb 1994 13:29:23 GMT
Subject: Re: Using Software from Nachrim.
M C Katzenelson writes:
>A psak was given by a reputable Rabbi that it is not permitted
>to rent a house from a nazirite organization.
Why can't we be told who said this, and while we are at it, what a
"nazirite" organization is? I thought Hebrew terms were to be
translated into English in mail-jewish.
If for some reason nazirite was written instead of notzri (Christian),
do large portions of Jerusalem which are rented from the Greek
Orthodox Church have to be evacuated?
|warren@ But the farmer
/ nysernet.org is not hungry at all.
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From: Aryeh Blaut <ny000592@...>
Date: Thu, 10 Feb 94 00:26:02 -0500
Subject: Re: Women
>From: Seth Magot <MAGOT@...>
>As I have come to understand, women are basically exempt from time
>related mitzvot. In many ways it makes sense. Women, because
>they run the household are quiet often not the masters of their time.
>But, there has been a change in society. There are households now
>in which it is the man is the one who stays home doing what one
>might classify as 'women's work' - keeping the household going. On
>the same theme, obviously, there are women who work strictly in
>business (ie - not household work). What happens in these
>situations? Are the men still obligated to perform the time related
>mitzvot, though they are performing a class of work that in the past
>has been freed of some obligations? And of course the reverse, are
>those women mentioned above now obligated?
One possible answer to your question is that your premise is incorrect.
A reason that men are obligated to all 613 Mitzvos (commandments) &
women are not obligated to a number of "Mitzvos 'asey sh'hazman grama"
(positive time bound commandments) is that women are by "nature" created
on a higher spiritual plain than men. In other words, men need these
mitzvos to come closer to Hashem. Women already are there.
Aryeh Blaut
<ny000592@...>
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From: <mitch@...> (Mitch Berger x3144)
Date: Tue, 8 Feb 94 14:51:15 EST
Subject: Women and mitzvos
Seth Magot wants to know (v11n72) if in these days of working wives and "Mr.
Mom"s, would the same rules apply about time-related mitzvos: that men are
obligated, but women are exempt. He bases the question on the idea that the
original exemption was for the reason that "Women, because they run the
household are quiet often not the masters of their time."
One of the principles of Cantor's theory of Transfinite Numbers is that no
mapping can exist that will map an infinite set (of any cardinality) to a
finite one. There is no way to model the infinite with the finite.
G-d's "Mind" (to be anthropomorphic) is infinite. There is no way we can
estimate any one of His "Thoughts" with our finite intellects. We must
therefor conclude that any reason we may find for a mitzvah (or, for that
matter, a historical event) is at best only part of the answer.
So, the reason you were given for women's exception from time-specified
obligations is at best only part of the real Reason. Halachah would not
change just because one small peice is different.
I sugested in an earlier posting that chiyuvim (obligations) are cures to
personal flaws. As such, women's exemption from these commandments would be
because there is something about time that women need less work on then men.
Becuase of their biology, women are more in tune with the flow of time than
men. In truth, they actually are more capable of feeling that biological
clock than men are. This innate understanding of the passing of time,
in turn stresses its value and potential. Therefor, a woman has an inborn
understanding of the sanctity of time that man must learn artificially.
This kind of sevara [reasoning] would not change with the changing mores
and economy.
Perhaps this added awareness on the part of women is what makes them more
able to deal in a situation where they are not masters of their schedule.
This would justify Judaism's support of the traditional gender roles.
(Although Shlomo Hamelech's "Aishes Chayil" [King Solomon's "Woman of Valor"]
ran a home, manufactured goods, and sold them in the market.)
,---------------v-----------------------v------------------------. ---. -.---.
| Micha Berger | Voice: (201) 916-0287 | On Torah, worship, and | | | |
| <mitch@...> | Fax: (212) 504-4581 | supporting kindness | | | |
`---------------^-----------------------^------------------------' ----- ' --'
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From: <KANOVSKY@...> (Mechael Kanovsky)
Date: Thu, 10 Feb 94 00:25:32 -0500
Subject: Re: Yosef and his Dreams
The Abravanel has a very lengthy discussion on the subject of dreams in
general and he quotes from all over the talmud and at the end he makes a
coherent picture of all the conflicting statements in chazal (especialy
those in the last perek of tractate brachos). It is long but well worth
reading.
mechael
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End of Volume 11 Issue 81