Volume 24 Number 53
Produced: Tue Jul 2 22:03:53 1996
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
A Simultaneous Davening-Laining error//With Source
[Russell Hendel]
Airplane Kashrut
[Eli Turkel]
An-eem Z'mirot (mj 24 #47)
[Chaim Wasserman]
Beracha on Corn Bread
[Yeshaya Halevi]
Bracha over cornbread?
[Joshua W. Burton]
Collecting of Tzedakah during Davening
[Yitzchak Kasdan]
Davening Errors
[Doron Shalmon]
Shidduchim
[Russell Hendel]
Tefillah error (YA)
[Richard Schultz]
Two pashta on a single zaqef
[Israel Pickholtz]
Women Learning Torah
[Michael & Bonnie Rogovin]
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From: <rhendel@...> (Russell Hendel)
Date: Sun, 23 Jun 1996 11:46:48 -0400
Subject: A Simultaneous Davening-Laining error//With Source
While I helped "contribute" to starting the search for laining errors
which then led to an (exhaustive) search for davening errors I decided
to retire from the contributors. But then I realized that there is one
mistake---it occurs in both laining and davening---I correct people on
it all the time (or try and prevent them from making it) and it even has
a halachic source. So I decided to return to the contributors.
The mistake I refer to is the so-called silent aleph. In benching the
proper pronunciation is "YERU eth hashem kedoshauv"; NOT "YIRU eth
hashem kedoshauv"(The aleph is silent). (See Psalms 34:10). Similarly
the correct pronunciation is "HARUVANI" not "HAREUVANI" (Num 26:7;
34:14; ) and also in Deut 5:43 it is "LARUVANI" and not "LAREUVANI".
Good balay Keriah pronounce these correctly. In terms of sources for
this pronunciation: (1) Most Chumashim correctly omit the shevah under
the RESH so as to create one syllable: RU; (2) The Minchath Shai on the
above mentioned verses explicitly mentions the pronunciation; (3) I have
not yet found a grammatical reason for why the aleph becomes
silent...maybe someone out there has an idea.
Russell Hendel, Ph.d. ASA, <rhendel@...>
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From: <turkel@...> (Eli Turkel)
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 1996 17:45:31 -0400
Subject: Airplane Kashrut
I recently flew from Israel to the U.S. on TWA. I noticed that the
Hebrew and English versions of the certificate are quite different.
Combining the two it says that the food is under the hechsher of Rabbi
Suissa the rabbi of the Ben Gurion airport and approved by the Chief
rabbinate of Israel. All the utensils are new (actually plastic) and it
relies on the heter mechirah for shemitta. It also mentions that the
rolls require a blessing of Ha-motzi.
The dates are from the day after Pesach (1996) until the day before
Rosh Hashana.
I am not clear why El Al cannot get the same hechser in Israel.
Eli Turkel
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From: <Chaimwass@...> (Chaim Wasserman)
Date: Mon, 24 Jun 1996 08:36:59 -0400
Subject: An-eem Z'mirot (mj 24 #47)
<< Yisrael Medad posted the following:
>the final Shabbat morning song is "an-eem z'mirot"
>and not "anim zm'irot". "An-eem" = I will make pleasant.
I don't understand what he is saying. One thing is sure - the same vowel
appears in both words, so if it is an-eem it must also be z'meeroth. But
on whose authority do we say that an-im is an error?
Perets Mett >>
What Medad is talking about is a grammatical issue of how syllables are
divided in the presence of a "sheva". There are basially two kinds: one
which opens a syllable the other which closes it (sheva na and sheva
nach respectively.)
The only problem is that virtually all of the frum community and most
all Israelis don't begin to know what that is all about. True there are
exceptions in these community but they are a pitiful handful.
As for the halachic issue of these matters in reading the Torah and
davening: it is clear that the RaMBaM and R. Yosef Caro, author of the
Shulchan Aruch would probably seek to reread the parashat hashuvah if
they were present in our "frum" shuls for a Shabbat.
The halacha is equally as clear when it comes to reciting the Shma in a
manner which is grammatically sloppy. Anyone hear a good shiur on these
halachot lately? Anything about this in print emanating from those
authorized, standard, hashkafically-correct publishing sources which hit
the English speaking market? Hardly.
Nonetheless, it is a language skill which should be learned especially
by those who hold themselves to be meticulous mitzvah observers. Anyone
want the sources in RaMBaM and ShulchanAruch for these matters?
chaim wasserman
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From: <CHIHAL@...> (Yeshaya Halevi)
Date: Mon, 24 Jun 1996 13:42:01 -0400
Subject: Beracha on Corn Bread
Shalom, All:
Jacob Lewis asks, << Can one say a Motzi over cornbread? In one
place I looked, maize was listed as one of the five grains which make "real"
bread. In another place (Shulchan Aruch?), maize was replaced by rye.>>
Before anyone rushes to answer this, may I throw 2 monkey
wrenches into the works?:
1. Corn was unknown to our Mideast ancestors, as it is a New
World food. Ergo it was never considered one of the original grains,
which I seem to recall being wheat, spelt (a hard-grained kind of
wheat), barley, oats and rye. These are the grains which produce hametz
on Pesah.
2. Since S'fardeem permit corn on Pesah, can even
Ashkenazeem truly label it "real" bread requiring a Motzee?
<Chihal@...> (Yeshaya Halevi)
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From: Joshua W. Burton <jburton@...>
Date: Thu, 27 Jun 96 15:28:21 -0500
Subject: Re: Bracha over cornbread?
Jacob Lewis inquires:
> Can one say a Motzi over cornbread? In one place I looked, maize
> was listed as one of the five grains which make "real" bread. In
> another place (Shulchan Aruch?), maize was replace by rye.
How do you make your cornbread? If you're talking about corn muffins or
other soda-leavened bread, you should realize that it's at least a third
(and usually half or more) wheat flour. Wheat has a special protein
matrix called gluten in it that makes proper risen bread hold in the
bubbles as it expands. Rye protein is similar but inferior, and the
other grains basically don't rise at all. If you try to make cornbread
with just cornmeal, you'll end up with tortillas.
Anyway, maize can't possibly be one of the five minim, for the simple
reason that the Tannaim never made it to the New World.
A day without a cup of tea |==================================================
is...like a...something... | Joshua W. Burton (847)677-3902 <jburton@...>
without...something else? |==================================================
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From: <IKasdan189@...> (Yitzchak Kasdan)
Date: Wed, 26 Jun 1996 01:51:00 -0400
Subject: Collecting of Tzedakah during Davening
For sources regarding the collecting of tzedakah during davening see
generally "Bishvilai HaMinhag" chelek aleph (p.14-15) by R. Elyakim
Devorkim (published by Machon Imrei Dovid; taph shin nun dalid) who
cites, among others, the Mishneh Berurah (siman 92, siman katan
36)(disapproving collecting during krias hatorah); Ben Ish Chai
(Parashas Vaeira sieph 13) (disapproving collecting during krias shema);
Mishneh Halachos (chelek yud siman 14) and Sidur Rabeinu Shlomo
Migermizah (at the end of aos 27) (permitting one to interrupt his
davening from Yishtabach until Shema "l'mi sheba l'hisparnas" min
hatzedakah).
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From: Doron Shalmon <doron@...>
Date: Wed, 26 Jun 1996 21:21:57 -0400
Subject: Davening Errors
Here is a favorite of my 9th grade rebbe (Rav Kushner) ...
In the beginning of the Amidah, the phrase should be "mechaye metim atah
-- rav l'hoshiya". Many people do not pause and instead run on "atah
rav" (which, as Rav Kusher would say, almost sounds like they're
audaciously giving Hashem smicha!).
Doron
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From: <rhendel@...> (Russell Hendel)
Date: Sun, 30 Jun 1996 20:57:43 -0400
Subject: Shidduchim
There have been several posts by [Gelb, e.g. vol 24 # 49] and others
regarding the need and the virtue of "increasing" respectable
opportunities for Shidduch's among young people.
First of all, besides praising the idea I think Janice should also be
praised for the detailed methods which she provided. I would like to
add a short halachic encouragement to her idea which is not often made
explicit.
The Rambam and *all* other Poskim explicitly list ---food, water,
shelter, *and* finding a mate---as requirements and fulfillments of the
great Jewish Mitzvah of Tzedakkah. In other words, it is equally
important to give a person food if he is hungry, or shelter if he is in
the cold or a mate if (s)he is single. This suggests that Jewish
Philanthrophists and Jewish Charitable Organizations can equally
manifest their concern by giving money for food, shelter or Shidduchs.
If these halachic views were more widely publicized perhaps people like
Janice could get "funding" for their idea.
Russell Hendel, rhendel @ mcs . drexel . edu
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From: <schultr@...> (Richard Schultz)
Date: Thu, 27 Jun 1996 17:15:50 +0200
Subject: Tefillah error (YA)
I hope you folks won't mind one more instance of a rather blatant error.
Once, when I was in a shul in a town ------, some guest of the person
who sponsored the kiddush was asked to make kiddush on Shabbat morning.
Apparently, this person was under the impression that the way to turn
Ashkenazic pronunciation into modern Israel is to turn every "s" sound
into a "t" sound (or else he was speaking a really strange dialect of
Hebrew). So naturally, his brachah included the line "ki sheshet yamim
atah [!!!] HaShem. . ." [For six days you are God, as opposed to the
correct "asah" with a sin which means "for in six days God made. . ."]
This really happened; I'm not making it up.
It was pretty clear that the person making kiddush didn't understand what
he was saying. I think. We were wondering (as I recall there was no
rabbi present at the time) if this was a case where the person should have
been stopped forcibly, or if we should just have assumed that he meant to
say what he should have. What I did (and this might not have been the
right thing) was to decide that this was one kiddush from which I wouldn't
be yotzei, and made my own.
Richard Schultz <schultr@...>
Department of Chemistry tel: 972-3-531-8065
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel fax: 972-3-535-1250
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From: Israel Pickholtz <rotem@...>
Date: Thu, 27 Jun 1996 15:50:39 +0300
Subject: Two pashta on a single zaqef
I am the poster who wrote about the two pasta on a single zaqef as an
aberration only found in some versions of the haftara. Having been
quoted back to myself incorrectly half-a-dozen times (in the digest and
privately), let me make it clear - two pashta on a single zaqef *without
a preceding revi'a* is not a known construction in tanach.
With a preceding revi'a it is fairly common.
Israel Pickholtz
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From: Michael & Bonnie Rogovin <rogovin@...>
Date: Thu, 27 Jun 1996 20:30:19 -0500
Subject: Women Learning Torah
Tzvi Cohen writes:
> 2- Is a women who sits and learns Torah in her every spare moment
> greater than a women who involves herself in projects of chessed, or is
> there any way for us to measure this?
>
> 3- What if this same women learned in every spare moment only those
> topics which pertained to Mitzvot to which she is obligated to keep?
> Would this change any part of the above question or answer?
Without going into specific halachot, I wonder why no-one asks the same
questions about men learning Torah. After all, I have always understood
the purpose of revelation to be a gift from HaShem, instructing us on
how to live our lives, become holy and teach humanity about the one-ness
of G-d and how all humanity should live. Of course, one must learn
Torah in order to know how to do all this, but that is the means to an
end, not an end unto itself. The goal is to live a life of Torah.
Therefore, can it not be said that a man (or woman) who involves
him/herself in projects of chesed (and otherwise emulating the midot of
HaShem) is fulfilling HaShem's purpose better than one who spends "every
spare moment." (unless of course, every spare moment being those times
when one is _not_ involved in projects of Chesed, etc...)
Should men only learn those topic which pertain to them? And if you say
that men have to pokin for others, why could it not be the case that men
poskin for men and women for women? I am not advocating any particular
result, but feel that it is odd that many men get uncomfortable with
committed, Shomer Mitzvot women who want to expand their intellect and
understanding of G-d. What are we so afraid of or uncomfortable with?
Michael Rogovin
See wedding pictures at: http://tribeca.ios.com/~rogovin
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End of Volume 24 Issue 53
