Volume 25 Number 13
Produced: Mon Nov 11 22:36:13 1996
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Breadmakers
[Lisa Halpern]
God and Time
[Tszvi Klugerman]
History of Sheitlachs
[Esther Sutofsky]
Old Tzitzit
[David I. Cohen]
Shemoneh Esray on Motza'ay Yom Kippur (8)
[Danny Schoemann, Benjamin Waxman, Freda B Birnbaum, Akiva
Miller, Andy Goldfinger, Richard Flom, Larry Rosler, Sheldon
Meth]
Shtreimels
[<retic@...>]
The Macarena
[Jeanette Friedman]
What Rashi Didn't Know
[Yisrael Medad]
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From: <ohayonlm@...> (Lisa Halpern)
Date: Sun, 10 Nov 1996 20:23:37 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Breadmakers
My husband and I are wondering what opinions exist about whether one may
set a breadmaker to make fresh challah on the 2nd day of yom tov. This
is theoretical and not intended as a she'elah (we don't own a
breadmaker) - we're just curious.
Thanks!
Lisa Halpern
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From: <Klugerman@...> (Tszvi Klugerman)
Date: Sun, 10 Nov 1996 21:39:40 -0500
Subject: God and Time
In response to Dick Fielder's question as to why God must be out of
time, I recall, albeit with a fuzzy memory, Stephen Hawking's "A Brief
History of Time". I probably didn't understand the full implication of
Professor Hawking's theory, but it was my impression that time was
bi-dimensional. The question was posed, I believe, by Carl Sagan in the
preface," why can't I remember what is going to happen tomorrow?"
My take on the subject then was that God was in fact the only being
capable of existing both within and without of time, and this would
explain why for God, our greatgrandchildrens' actions and our
greatgrandparents' actions are viewed at the same time. We however, are
beneath time and only can exist in a subset of time which flows
forward. This for me allows omniscience as well as free choice, as
Maimonides wrote in Hilchot Teshuva, (I forget the exact citation) to
the effect, that God knows all, "havei yodea et hakol" but doesn't
stop,us from making mistakes or proper actions.
I hope this has been of some help.
Tszvi
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From: <Edgm1@...> (Esther Sutofsky)
Date: Sun, 10 Nov 1996 20:58:58 -0500
Subject: History of Sheitlachs
I am doing some research for my father in law as to when woman actually
started wearing sheitlchs. Who was or were the Rabbis who sanctioned it
and if they set any kind of limitations or otherwise as to exactly what
a sheitel should be made of and look like? Thank for your help.
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From: <bdcohen@...> (David I. Cohen)
Date: Thu, 24 Oct 1996 19:56:54 -0700
Subject: Old Tzitzit
In Vol. 25 #05 Yehuda Poch asks about disposing of old tzitzit.
Tzitzit have the halachik status of "tashmishei mitzvah" or items used
to perform a mitzva. Although the item is not intrinisically "kodesh",
like a sefer Torah, it still must be disposed with respect. The common
tradition is to use the worn tzitzit as bookmarks in sifrei kodesh.
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From: Danny Schoemann <Dannys@...>
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 13:56:54 +0200
Subject: Re: Shemoneh Esray on Motza'ay Yom Kippur
In mail-jewish Vol. 25 #12 Digest On 11 Nov 96 at 6:20, Jeff Fischer
wrote:
> On Motza'ay Yom Kippur, we say the regular weekday Shemoneh Esray with
> Ata Chonantanu. How come we say the b'racha of Selach Lanu if we just
> finished an entire day of selicha ulchapparah and fasting? Why not
> skip it?
1) We daven in the plural - it's not the royal we - it's because we
daven for everybody, even the mis-guided souls who didn't spend Yom
Kippur in shul, and other people who may "already" have sinned.
2) If you said every name of HaShem up until then (there are over 40
of them) with appropriate concentration then maybe you could skip
it. :-) But then you wouldn't want to.
Hope this helps.
Danny Schoemann
Setup Software Engineer, Accent Software International, Ltd.
28 Pierre Koenig St., POB 53063, Jerusalem 91530 Israel
Tel +972-2-793-723 Ext 273 - Fax +972-2-793-731
<DannyS@...>
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From: Benjamin Waxman <benjaminw@...>
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 14:13:20 +0200
Subject: Shemoneh Esray on Motza'ay Yom Kippur
I heard a wonderful story from Rabbi Shlomo Riskin which partially
answers your question.
After Rabbi Riskin made aliya, he had to go back to New York for the
High Holidays. It was not a good trip, as he had wanted to be in Efrat
for the chaggim. So, finally Yom Kippur was about to end, the
congregation had just davened nie'llah, and its time to daven Maariv.
Rabbi Riskin then got up and said to the congregation:
"All of my life I never understood why, immediately after Yom Kippur,
we say 'Vehoo rachum vemekapair avon' (He is merciful and forgives
sin...)'. What sins have we done? We just finished Nie'llah two minutes
ago. What did anyone do in the last two minutes? But now I
understand. You all just said 'Next year in Jerusalem' and you know
perfectly well that you have no intention what so ever of moving there".
Ben Waxman, Technical Writer
<BenjaminW@...>, www.livelink.com
Tel. +972-2-6528274, Fax. +972-2-6528356
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From: Freda B Birnbaum <fbb6@...>
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 07:26:14 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Shemoneh Esray on Motza'ay Yom Kippur
I don't know the serious answer to this question, but a young rabbi of
my acquaintance once told his congregation that the reason was --
between the shofar blowing and the beginning of maariv, at least one
person must have said, "Thank God it's over!"
Freda Birnbaum
<fbb6@...>
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From: Akiva Miller <kgmiller@...>
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 12:42:57 -0500
Subject: Re: Shemoneh Esray on Motza'ay Yom Kippur
The common answer to this is that the few minutes between the end of Yom
Kippur and reaching that bracha have an unfortunately high potential for
sinning, such as mumbling the words, not concentrating on them,
conversation during the service, davening despite a need to go to the
bathroom, and on, and on. And so we do have ample need for this bracha.
But in addition, it is very interesting to note that there is an
identical corresponding question on the flip side of that very coin:
Namely, at Mincha on Erev Rosh Hashana, we ask G-d, "barech alenu es
hashana hazos -- bless this year for us". And it means the current year,
not the coming year. So with only a few minutes left, why do we bother
asking for this blessing?
The answer to both questions is the same: Every moment of every day
contains an enormous potential for both good and bad. Let us all be very
careful to minimize the sins we do in any given minute, and at the same
time maximize the blessings which we can bring to the world.
Akiva Miller
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From: Andy Goldfinger <andy_goldfinger@...>
Date: 11 Nov 1996 13:04:51 -0500
Subject: Shemoneh Esray on Motza'ay Yom Kippur
The following was said by R. Benyamin Cohen (ZTz"L) in the name of
R. Bavad (ZTz"l) of Sunderland, England:
We are only really responsible for aveiras (sins) over which we have
control. Now, in principle, we all have absolute free will, but in fact
our behaviors are strongly determined by habits and psychological
forces. Thus, a given person may be able to choose whether or not she
eats chazer (pork) in a non-kosher restaurant, but to give up eating in
non-kosher restaurants entirely may be beyond the psychological
capabilites of this person at this time. The process of tshuvah
(correction of one's actions) that occurs before and during yom kippur
results in an improvement of the personality. On Yom Kippur, we doven
(pray) for forgiveness for all aveiras (sins), but in fact we are
forgiven only for those for which we are liable -- those that lie within
our range of free will (which only G-d knows). At the end of Yom
Kippur, we have moved our level of free will to a higher range, and we
now become liable for aveiras that we previously were not. Therefore,
we begin the year by asking for forgiveness for these, and tshuvah for
them becomes the task of the new year.
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From: <ar943@...> (Richard Flom)
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 11:25:57 -0800
Subject: Re: Shemoneh Esray on Motza'ay Yom Kippur
I have heard two somewhat related explanations. Our teacher, Rabbi
Daniel Gordis, told us just before yontiff that the reason is that, at
the very conclusion of the Yom Kippur service, we may have committed an
aveirah. We say "l'shanah haba'a b'yerushalayim", and if we say that
knowing that we have no intention of making aliyah, or even of visiting
Yerushalayim, we have made a false statement. Thus, we recite Selach
Lanu on Motza'ei Yom Kippur. For this reason, he continued, many people
immediately perform the mitzvah of commencing construction of the
sukkah, as a sort of compensation, as well as out of the normal desire
to rush to perform a mitzvah.
The second explanation I have heard, and I do not recall the source, is
to teach us humility, lest we think that we have made perfect atonement.
The difficulty with this explanation, of course, is, then what is the
point of observing Yom Kippur, if we immediately learn that we have
failed. The answer, I believe, is that we recite Selach Lanu in the
plural, just as we recite all of the confessionals on Yom Kippur itself.
Even if I as an individual have not committed any particular sin, I
nevertheless recite the group confessional because some Jew, somewhere,
has committed such an act.
Rosh Chodesh Kislev Tov!
Richard A. Flom <rflom@...>
University of Judaism - Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies
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From: Larry Rosler <lr@...>
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 13:20:54 PST
Subject: Re: Shemoneh Esray on Motza'ay Yom Kippur
I have been told this reason:
The way Ma'ariv is davened in most congregations after the shofar is
blown (with the congregation streaming for the exits) is an aveirah in
itself! :-)
Larry Rosler
<lr@...>
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From: Sheldon Meth <Sheldon_Meth@...>
Date: 11 Nov 1996 16:22:54 -0400
Subject: Shemoneh Esray on Motza'ay Yom Kippur
In v25 n12, Jeff Fischer asks why we say Selach Lanu at Ma'ariv on
Motza'ay Yom Kippur, after finishing a day of selichah u'kapparaha.
I heard two reasons:
1. Our haughtiness in thinking that because we think we have finished a
fullfilling day of selichah u'kapparah, "es kumt unz" [we deserve it] to
deleting Selach Lanu Avinu, is a sin for which we require selicha.
2. After purifying ourselves with a night and day of fasting and
prayer, we come to the climax of Ne'ilah. In the afterglow of that,
having shed all the kelipos [shells], we come to the crystal clear
realization of the enourmity of our sins before Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
That new insight and clarity, requires us to ask for selicha at an even
deeper level.
Of course, there is also the straightforward reason:
"We do not alter the coin which the Chachamim have minted."
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From: <retic@...>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 96 21:41:43 IST
Subject: Shtreimels
Greetings,
Have requirement for details on the care, lifetime and history of the
Shtreimel? Of what particular fur or furs is it made, are synthetic
materials (Monsanto) an acceptable alternative? Are there Halachic rules
regarding its origins and manufacture? Is it specifically Jewish as an
item of dress? Why is it de rigueur in Israel? is it not extremely
uncomfortable in the heat? Are they mass- produced, today, and part of
the production line of manufacturers of other headgear? What is
considered a "normal" lifetime for a shtreimel?, are they handed on in
families? Would a one-hundred year old shtreimel be considered unique?
or 'treiffe' and unclean for the performance of ritual tasks? Where can
they be bought in Israel and abroad.
Information is required for essay and study paper in preparation. Any
information on the subject would be greatly welcomed and
appreciated. Sincerely,
<retic@...> (shillel)
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From: <FriedmanJ@...> (Jeanette Friedman)
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 08:08:10 -0500
Subject: Re: The Macarena
Re: The Macarena, also known at The Macaroni:
We have always taken tunes from the non-Jewish world for color war and
stuff like that, and I do remember the Hustle, the Bunny Hop and other
line dances that were absorbed into our culture being played at
weddings. Did we also do the one from three years ago--another Latin
line dance?
I guess the only thing to do is listen to the Macarena only when they
give you money to do so. This week, if you hear it on a New York radio
station, and you're the 103rd caller, they will give you
$50,000. (They've been giving away $100,000 a week for the last three
weeks.) That's a lot of latkes, folks, and can do a lot of good,
considering you have to give 10% away to Tzedaka.
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From: <isrmedia@...> (Yisrael Medad)
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 96 20:22:35 PDT
Subject: What Rashi Didn't Know
A short Dvar Torah for this week's Parsha, in honor of my son's Bar
Mitzvah - Aviyah Ganiel Medad:
On the verse (28:5) "Betuel the Arami, brother of Rivka, *the mother of
Yaakov and Esav*", Rashi writes that he doesn't know what is the
intention of the words "the mother of Yaakov and Esav". Two possible
explanations are:
a) a confirmation of Yaakov as the 'oldest', as he is mentioned first,
even though according to the birth-order Esav was the eldest;
b) Two verses on, 28:7, it is recorded that Yaakov heard/listened to his
father and mother and therefore went to take a wife from Charan. But
only his father spoke with him!? The Torah perhaps indicates here that
Yaakov *heard* in Yitzhak's words his mother talking (as recorded in
27:46) and understood the spiritual message. Esav, on the other hand,
*saw* that Yitzhak had blessed Yaakov and subsequently took a
non-Canaanite wife not because of the spiritual demands but the material
ones - the blessing. Therefore, while Rivkah was the mother of the two
sons, the two sons were not equally the sons of the same mother, on the
value-quotient scale.
Yisrael Medad
E-mail: isrmedia
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End of Volume 25 Issue 13
