Volume 15 Number 7
Produced: Mon Aug 29 0:05:11 1994
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Dairy Products (Good for the Jews?)
[Richard H. Schwartz]
Judaism and Vegetarianism
[Richard H. Schwartz]
prayers for the sick on Shabbat 14/84
[Neil Edward Parks]
Rosh Hashanah Humor
["David A. Seigel"]
The Efficacy of Community Prayer
[Yitzchok Adlerstein]
The Hidden Prophecies of the Verses
[David Sherman]
YU Environment
[Barry Freundel]
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From: Richard H. Schwartz <RHSSI@...>
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 94 12:55:15 EDT
Subject: Dairy Products (Good for the Jews?)
There have been many recent postings on the issue of dairy products
from treyf (?) cows. I believe that the best response, the one most
consistent with Jewish values is simply to stop consuming dairy products
(or at least to sharp -ly curtail their use. After you recover from
your shock at this radical proposal, please consider the following:
1. No other mammal bsides human beings consume milk from another
species of animal and no other mammal consumes milk after its weaning
period.
2. Milk is a wonderful product -for calves. It is designed to take an
infant calf weighing 90 pounds at birth, to a weight of 2,000 pounds in
two years. So, I suppose that if one wishes to gain weight very rapidly,
dairy products would be wonderful.
3. Dairy products are high in fat and cholesterol and completely devoid
of fiber. Lowerfat versions are very high in protein, and most people
get far too much protein.
4. Diets high in fat, cholesterol and protein have been linked to heart
disease , several types of cancer and other degenerative diseases.
5. Cow's milk causes more mucus than any other food that you can eat.
Dairy products are a major contributor to hay fever, asthma, bronchitis,
sinusitis, colds, runny noses, and ear infections.
6. There is much cruelty related to the dairy industry (possibly in
violation of tsa'ar ba'alei chayim, the Torah mandate to avoid causing
unnecessary harm to animals). Cows are artificially impregnated
annually, so that they will constantly be able to give milk. Male
calves are taken away from their mothers after only one day of nursing,
to be kept in cramped, confined spaces where they are denied exercise,
sunlight, fresh air, or any emotional stimulation, to create veal.
7. There are many nutritious kosher substites for dairy products,
including soy milk, rice milk, and tofu.
I hope that this posting will help to start a respectful dialogue on the
many health and ethical questions related to our diets.
Richard Schwartz
Author of Judaism and Vegetarianism
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From: Richard H. Schwartz <RHSSI@...>
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 1994 16:38:46 -0400
Subject: Judaism and Vegetarianism
I am relatively new to Jewish-mail, and have been enjoying the
varied interesting postings. I am the author of a book, Judaism and
Vegetarianism, and for a long time I have been trying to start a
respectful diet on this issue. Since there are clearly some very
knowledgable and committed people on this network, I hope that this will
be a great place for that dialogue. I would like to begin by pointing
out why vegetarianism provides a way to be more completely involved in
the splendid goals and values of Judaism.
While Judaism mandates that we be very diligent in protecting our
lives and our health, meat-centered diets have been strongly linked to
heart attacks, various types of cancer, and other degenerative diseases.
While Judaism emphasizes tsa'ar ba'alei chayim, compassion for
animals, animals are raised for food today under horrible conditions,
in crowded, confined cells, where they are denied exercise, fresh air,
sunlight, and emotional attachments.
While Judaism stresses that we should share our food with hungry
people, over 70% of the grain produced in the United States is fed to
animals destinred for slaughter, while an estimated 20 million people
die annually due to hunger and its effects.
While Judaism teaches that "the earth is the L-rd's" and that we
are to be co-workers with G-d in preserving the world and seeing that
the earth's resources are properly used, livestock agriculture results
in extensive air and water pollution, soil erosion and depletion, the
destruction of tropical rain forests and other habitats, and the
wasteful use of water, fuel, fertilizer, and other resources.
While Judaism stresses that we are to seek and pursue peace and
that unjust conditions contribute to violence, flesh-centered diets, by
wasting valuable resources, contribute to the widespread hunger and
poverty that often eventuallu lead to instability and war.
In summary: In view of the strong Jewish mandates to preserve our
health, treat animals with compassion, share with hungry people, protect
the environment, conserve resources, and pursue peace, and the very
negative impact that meat- centered diets have in each of these areas,
shouldn't Jews be vegetarians today?
Respectfully submitted,
Richard Schwartz <rhssi@...>
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From: <aa640@...> (Neil Edward Parks)
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 1994 13:45:02 -0400
Subject: Re: prayers for the sick on Shabbat 14/84
>>: "Maslow, David" <MASLOWD@...>
>>There appears to be a great proliferation in the number of prayers for the
>>sick (misheberachs l'cholim) at the time of the Torah reading. ...
>> ... delaying the service (tirchei d'tziburah)? I have seen
>>these last more than 15 minutes in a large congregation.
Why does it take 15 minutes? Do they make a _separate_ misheberach for
each individual?
The way we do it at Heights Jewish Center in Cleveland is to make _one_
misheberach for all the cholim. Even if there is a large number of
names, the whole thing only takes a couple of minutes.
NEIL PARKS <neil.parks@...>
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From: "David A. Seigel" <dseigel2@...>
Date: Sun, 28 Aug 1994 18:29:34 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Rosh Hashanah Humor
Many people have the custom to eat certain foods on Rosh
Hashanah, such as the head of a ram, sheep or fish, carrots, lentils,
etc. These foods have names that are similar to good things we want
Hashem to give us for the coming year. Some people say a 'yehi ratzon'
for each food that they eat, asking Hashem to give us these good things.
I heard this humorous piece in the name of Rav Heinemann (sp?)
from Baltimore. Some people added various foods and yehi ratzons because
the name of the food in the language of their country sounded like
something good in that language or in Hebrew. So in America (and other
English-speaking countries), we should eat a piece of lettuce, half of a
raisin and a piece of celery. Before we eat these foods, we should say:
"Let us have a raise in salary" (lettuce half-a-raisin celery :-).
-- Dave Seigel
<dseigel2@...>
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From: Yitzchok Adlerstein <ny000594@...>
Date: Sat, 27 Aug 94 22:06:38 -0800
Subject: The Efficacy of Community Prayer
As the hour for Selichos draws closer, I was struck by what may be an
incongruity in some recent postings on m-j. Ostensibly, we ask for
selicha [forgiveness] BEFORE the Yomim Noraim begin, rather than on Rosh
Hashanah itself, because of our appreciation of the potency of prayer.
Realizing how important the quality of our davening will be for
ourselves and Klal Yisrael, we ask Hashem for enough forgiveness, enough
purity that we should be successful in couching our thoughts in a manner
that will surge through the Shaarei Rachamim.
Now, while we are pursuing this strategy, some of us are wondering about
enhancing kavod hatzibur [the honor of the congregation] by streamlining
the Misheberach process. I am certainly sympathetic to this (and daven
in a shul where several score of names are handled in a minute or two,
by combining all names, male and female, into one long misheberach. And
this in one of the blackest shuls in LA). However, I think that it is
important not to lose sight of just how crucial tefillah is, and how
valuable the zechus hatzibbur [merit of the many] is in general, and for
the unfortunate person who has been taken ill.
I am reminded of the Zohar [cited in Nesivos Shalom (Slonim), vol.2,
pg. 111 - the sefer is an EXCELLENT way to "get into" the spirit of any
Yom Tov] regarding Elisha and the Shunamite woman. Elisha, in gratitude
to the woman, asks her, "What can be done for you? Do you need to speak
directly to the king, or to the general?" The Zohar sees a reference to
Rosh Hashanah, the Day of Judgment, and an offer for her to speak, as it
were, directly to the King. Her response is astounding. "[No, thanks -
] I dwell among my people." Explains the Zohar: on Rosh Hashanah we
should not attempt to make private deals, to speak separately to the
King. Our most effective strategy is to implore Divine compassion,
which is "extended to the entire people as a whole, as one."
When we consider those who are sick, chas v'shalom, we certainly want to
do what is best for them. We would gladly inconvenience ourselves to
assist them in a cure. We should not reject profound approaches of our
people to the mechanics of securing Divine help, including focusing on
the tzibbur, not the individual prayers of those in their seats, each
one individually reciting the names of those whom he or she know. I
suggest that this is the reason why we have never adopted this procedure
in the past, and we should think and think again before tampering with
the holy customs of our people. They all have far more significance
than we can immediately appreciate, often drawing from deep and mystical
sources beyond the grasp of most of us.
May the zechus hatzibbur stand by all of us in the approaching Yemai
HaDin [Days of Judgment].
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From: <dave@...> (David Sherman)
Date: Sun, 28 Aug 1994 03:52:21 -0400
Subject: The Hidden Prophecies of the Verses
I'm responding to a posting from July 18 here. Howard Reich wrote:
> An article published in a Satmar magazine about 5 years ago (which
> R. Irons is no longer able to locate), mentioned that each of the 5,845
> psukim (verses) in the Torah according to the Masoretic text,
> corresponds to its numerical year (e.g, verse one corresponds to year
> one, etc.). R. Irons tested this theory and found an uncanny
> correlation between events in Jewish history and allusions to those
> events in the corresponding verses in the Torah.
> ...
> 5708, the creation of the State of Israel (1948), corresponds with
> Deuteronomy 30:6, "And the L-rd thy G-d will circumcise thine heart and
> the heart of thy seed, to love the L-rd thy G-d with all your heart and
> with all your soul, that you may live."
> ...
> 5727, the Six Day War (1967), corresponds with Deuteronomy 31:5,
> "And the L-rd shall give them up before your face, that ye may do unto
> them according to all the commandments which I have commanded you."
How interesting. I heard of this 20 years ago (when a teenager at a
summer camp in Israel), but the verses were different. I checked it
once using the count at the end of each sefer plus the counts for each
perek [chapter in Deutoronomy and it seemed to be right.
For 5708, the creation of the State of Israel (1948), I had Deutoronomy
30:5, "And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy
fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and He will do thee good
and multiply thee above thy fathers." Seems a better match than the one
quoted above.
8 psukim later, for the 1956 war, when Britain and France went over the
Suez Canal to attack Egypt on Israel's behalf, we have: (Deutoronomy
30:13) "Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say: 'Who
shall go oer the sea for us, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear
it, that we may do it?'."
Then, for 1967 (11 psukim later), we get what will happen to Syria and
Egypt... (Deutoronomy 31:4) "And the Lord will do unto them as he did to
Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and under their land; whom he
destroyed." Again, perhaps a better match than the one quoted.
Are there various versions of the counts of the number of psukim in the
Chumash? Do the numbers printed (with the "siman" [mnemonic for
remembering]) at the end of each sefer correspond exactly to the counts
of psukim for each chapter? What do we do with two psukim that are
lained [read masoretically] as one (such as Bamidbar 25:19 and 26:1)?
David Sherman
Toronto
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From: <Dialectic@...> (Barry Freundel)
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 1994 18:30:41 -0400
Subject: YU Environment
Michael Broyde says:
> Yeshiva University by its definition involves a certain intuitive balance
> of Torah and madda that comes from a long association with (the two). I
> doubt that a person who is only recently accepted the yoke of commandments
> has that balance, and can function well in such a place without being
> overwhelmed by all the secular pursuits...
One of YU's greates acheivements long before others did it was JSS the
Jewish studies dept. for those of weaker Judaic backrounds. As the
former director of Shanah year of Jewish studies (which served older
baalei teshuva primarily) and instructor in some of Stern Colleges lower
intermediate and Beginner's courses I can't disagree with my friend
Michael more.
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End of Volume 15 Issue 7