Volume 12 Number 65
Produced: Tue Apr 19 8:02:52 1994
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Dikduk
[Danny Weiss]
Early Shabbat
[Joe Weisblatt]
Electricity
[Daniel Friedman]
Hotel Electronic Door Openers
[Jules Reichel]
Less Dangerous Substances
[David Charlap]
Minimal Ma'aser?
[Warren Burstein]
Name of Convert
[Sherman Marcus]
Paul and the Three Blessings
[Jeffrey Woolf]
Sechvi
[Gedalyah Berger]
Torah-Gentiles
[Eric Leibowitz]
Wigs
[Yosef Bechhofer]
Yitzchok Alderstein "Interpretation"
[Ezra Dabbah]
Yom Hashoa on 27th of Nisan
[Joey Mosseri]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: <danny@...> (Danny Weiss)
Date: Fri, 15 Apr 1994 11:46:53 -500 (EDT)
Subject: Dikduk
On the subject of Hebrew grammar, it seems that contracted possessive
words (e.g. am-cha have a dagesh in the letter before the possessive
suffix (e.g. in the mem of am-cha). Why is this not the case for the word
shim-cha?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: <jjw@...> (Joe Weisblatt)
Date: Fri, 15 Apr 94 13:45:15 EDT
Subject: Early Shabbat
Now that the season is upon us, I have several questions regarding
starting Shabbat early:
First, assuming one davens in a place where both early and 'on-time'
minyanim are held on Friday night, must one establish a
'minhag' for the season, or can one choose to attend one
or the other on any particular Shabbat? Specifically,
is it problematic to use the on-time minyan as a 'fallback'
in case you're running late on Friday, even though you
generally accept Shabbat earlier? (I assume the other direction
presents no problem as you are certainly permitted to start Shabbat
earlier that you normally would.)
Second, what is the source for shules having an early minyan
which 'drifts' over the season, rather than being at a fixed
time all Summer? I've heard this attributed to davening after
a particular halachic zman or just maintaining the 'feeling' of
having Shabbat change starting time by a few minutes as the
season changes.
--> joe weisblatt
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: <TXDANIEL@...> (Daniel Friedman)
Date: 15 Apr 94 09:54:24 EDT
Subject: Electricity
I do not wish to try to state what the halacha is, nor do I presume to
inform the poskim in matters that I am sure that they investigated far
better than I. Finally, I am neither a rav nor an engineer, but I keep
seeing a reference regarding electricity that I must respond to.
Several people have tried to call it aish-me'aish (fire from
pre-existing fire). I hardly think this is valid. The so called hot wire
in an electrical circuit is not carrying fire. It seems to me that it
just has the potential for fire (or electricity). This potential is only
realized when the circuit is closed at which point a spark is made. I
can assure you, that you can touch the live wire in an electric outlet
and not get a shock, if you do not close the circuit. I do this all the
time (I change light switches, fixtures and outlets without shutting off
the electricity, as do most electricians).
Therefore, I would compare it more to striking a match than to taking
fire from one source of fire to another. One last time, though, I would
like to point out that my opinion (or anyone else's for that matter)
will not affect the halacha.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: <JPREICHEL@...> (Jules Reichel)
Date: Fri, 15 Apr 1994 12:33:46 -0400
Subject: RE: Hotel Electronic Door Openers
Re:Janice Gelb on hotel electronic door openers.
Such door openers are good. They provide safety in a dangerous world.
Unfortunately the tiny tiny less than threshold argument is not valid.
The card is read by a computer which activates an electomagnet. The
process connects circuits. It transfers energy. If the door doesn't
work, as sometimes has happened to me, they reprogram it at the main
desk. Unless you allow the principle of safety to override the
principle of fire you have to sleep in the lobby. No easy threshold
argument seems reasonable.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: <david@...> (David Charlap)
Date: Fri, 15 Apr 94 10:07:19 -0400
Subject: Less Dangerous Substances
<burton@...> (Joshua W. Burton) writes:
>
>Uh, not to join in the '90s wave of smoker-bashing or anything (like all
>addicts, tobacco-abusers deserve compassion and patience, and like many
>drugs, nicotine does not make every user an abuser). But heart disease,
>cancer, stroke, and emphysema are #1, 2, 3, and 7 on the CDC list of
>things most likely to cause you to see the coming of Mashiah the hard way.
>Even if you are comparing it to some other substance that causes motor
>vehicle accidents, diabetes, suicide, AIDS and firearm mishaps, tobacco
>is still not going to qualify as `less dangerous'.
There is still a difference. Tobacco merely damages the user. (And
today people are claiming that anybody who walks near a smoker is in
just as much danger, but I think that is merely scare tactics.)
On the other hand, "hard" drugs are often mind altering. They
completely detroy a person's ability to think straight, destroy a
person's ability to judge right and wrong, and often leads to violent
behavior. This poses a danger, not just to the user, but to the
entire community.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: <warren@...> (Warren Burstein)
Date: Fri, 15 Apr 1994 08:44:27 GMT
Subject: Re: Minimal Ma'aser?
I suppose my question wasn't clear enough, hence the answers by Lon
Eisenberg and Lenny Oppenheimer weren't what I wanted to know. I'll
try again.
Len Oppenheimer writes:
>b) The Rabbanut HaRashit takes at least a minimum of Ma'aser for all
>produce procured through Tnuva
I get the sense from the language "at least a minimum of Ma'aser" that
more could be done, or that what is done is not optimal. Am I correct?
Or does the above mean that they only physically remove Trumah and
Trumat Maaser, all that is required today? If that is the case, it
seems better not to use the word minimum to avoid giving the
impression that there's something sub-optimal with the practice of the
Rabbanut.
BTW, I have heard that Trumot are not always disposed of, but are
sometimes fed to animals belonging to Cohanim. I think that the zoos
give all their animals to Cohanim so they can feed them Trumot.
|warren@ bein hashmashot, in which state are the survivors
/ nysernet.org buried?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Sherman Marcus <mernav@...>
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 1994 12:16:32 +0300
Subject: Name of Convert
A few weeks ago there was a discussion about how a convert's name
should appear on an official document such as a ketuba. In a related
matter, the Igrot Moshe states specifically (Yoreh Dea, Siman 161)
that at the Brit for conversion of an adopted child, there is no problem
in using the name of the adopted parent rather than Avraham Avinu. At the
conversion Brit of my adopted son, however, my LOR preferred using
"ben Avraham Avinu". When I asked him about that in light of what Rav
Moshe Feinstein wrote, he assured me that from now on, my name can be
used in the paternal part of my son's name.
Sherman Marcus
<mernav@...>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Jeffrey Woolf <F12043@...>
Date: Fri, 15 Apr 1994 09:51:28 -0400
Subject: Re: Paul and the Three Blessings
Just as a matter of comment to my friend Rabbi Freundel's
comments...There is no doubt that there is an echo of the three
blessings in Paul (IMHO), however I'm afraid that a second century
citation by R Meir does not clinch the argument for a late dating. As a
recent Masters thesis done in Jerusalem recently on the topic of Birchot
HaShachar shows, there are early form of these blessings in the
Apocrypha and the Dead Seas Scrolls. R Meir may be reflecting earlier
traditions and hence is not a full proof of Rabbi Freundel's contention.
Jeff Woolf
Dept of Talmud
Bar Ilan Univ
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Gedalyah Berger <gberger@...>
Date: Fri, 15 Apr 1994 15:20:13 -0400
Subject: Sechvi
> From: <icb@...> (Israel Botnick)
> the bracha of hanosein lasechvi vina lehavchin bein yom uvein loyla
> [who gives the heart understanding to distinguish between day and
> night].
As far as I know, a "sechvi" is a rooster, not a heart. Is this a
"midrashic" interpretation of some sort?
Gedalyah Berger
Yeshiva College / RIETS
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Eric Leibowitz <el75@...>
Date: Fri, 15 Apr 1994 10:02:22 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Torah-Gentiles
Is anyone familiar with the Halachos concerning teaching Torah to
Gentiles(non-Christian)? What are the parameters? What if they ask
questions on why we do certain things (eg. Mezuzah, Yarmulke)?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: <YOSEF_BECHHOFER@...> (Yosef Bechhofer)
Date: Fri, 15 Apr 1994 10:12:11 -0400
Subject: Wigs
While I certainly am not one to contradict Rabbi Ovadia Yosef shlita,
and that is not my intent, chas v'shalom, I would like to note a
source, quoted in the Yabia Omer as well, that does allow sheitels for
Sefardic women (this is meant as a limud zechus for those who do):
Rabbi Ovadia Hadi'ah zt"l, Rosh Yeshiva of Porat Yosef, in his
Teshuvos Yaskil Avdi.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Ezra Dabbah <ny001134@...>
Date: Thu, 14 Apr 94 21:29:10 -0500
Subject: Yitzchok Alderstein "Interpretation"
Yitzchok Alderstein's claim in V12 #51 that
>to argue, for example, that events never occured, that all the
>narratives were just allegories, is completely foreign to our tradition.
In the Misnah of Rosh Hashana the Tanaim ask "and did the raising of
Moshes hands win the battle aganst Amalek." The question itself tells
us that Aharon and Hur holding of Moshes hands is indeed allegorical.
[I don't see why the quoted Mishnah indicates that the event of Aharon
and Hur holding of Moshes hands is indeed allegorical. The event may
very well have occured (I see no reason to assume not), but the holding
up of the hands was not a magical action that caused the war to be won,
but in some way was related to Benei Yisrael's beleif level in Hashem.
I'm putting this here to prevent a rash of people sending in a reply
along these lines. This Medrash remains very interesting and worthy of
discussion here, by all means. Mod.]
Secondly, in the Gemara Baba Batra daf 14 there is an argument if
Job ever existed! These great Tanaim and Emoraim are telling us that
our Torah is indeed laced with allegory and Divine lessons to be
learned from them. I don't know what tradition you are relaying there.
Ezra Dabbah
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: <JMOSSERI@...> (Joey Mosseri)
Date: Fri, 15 Apr 1994 09:50:50 -0400
Subject: Re: Yom Hashoa on 27th of Nisan
Just wondering where did the day of the 27th of Nisan come to be Yom
Hashoa Vehageboura? Who established it and when? And especially why
such a sad day in the month of Nisan which is all happiness and we say
no vidouyim or tahanounim?
JOEY MOSSERI
[This has been discussed on the list in somewhat great detail some time
ago. At a guess, it may be in the following thread:
Yom Hashoah [v6n100-v6n102, v6n104, v6n108]
Yom HaShoah in Halachic Literature [v7n8]
Mod.]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Volume 12 Issue 65
