Volume 26 Number 36
Produced: Mon May 5 22:35:01 1997
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Aveilut during Sefira
[Elanit Z. Rothschild]
Haftora of Acharei Mos
[Dov Teichman]
Haftorat of Acharei Mot and Kedoshim
[Jeff Fischer]
Hametz in Two Time Zones and Is Charlie Chaplin Jewish
[Eli Clark]
Kosher for Pesach Vinegar (3)
[Steve Wildstrom, David Charlap, Joshua W. Burton]
Question on the Seder
[Scott D. Spiegler]
rare Haftorot
[Wendy Baker]
Returning Two Sifrei Torah to Ark
[Searle E. Mitnick]
Sheva Brochos
[Gershon Dubin]
Sheva brochos on Pesach
[Gershon Dubin]
Sukkah on Shemini Atseret
[David I. Cohen]
Who is a Goy (for chametz)?
[Ranon Katzoff]
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From: <Ezr0th@...> (Elanit Z. Rothschild)
Date: Sun, 4 May 1997 11:41:47 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Aveilut during Sefira
I have heard many opinions on what one can and can not do during
the time that they keep Sefira (1st 30 days/last 30 days or the whole
49). I assume that many already know that taking a hair cut and
listening to music is not allowed, but there are many conditions to the
issur. I have heard that one can not listen to music in public but in
private one is allowed.
Some say that going to the movies is also not allowed, so what about
watching TV? What is the difference here? What is the exact point of
aveilut during sefira? Is it the same type of aveilut that one keeps
when, chas veshalom, one's parent passes away? Is it just a public
showing of aveilut and in private one can do what he wants, or is it
both?
Elanit Z. Rothschild
<ezr0th@...>
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From: <DTnLA@...> (Dov Teichman)
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 19:59:23 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: Haftora of Acharei Mos
<< Baruch Schwartz wrote:
> This year, for the first time since 5733 (1973), Ahare Mot and Kedoshim
>will be read separately AND neither of them will be Rosh Hodesh, Mahar
>Hodesh or Shabbat HaGadol. Thus, for the first time in 24 years, it will
>be necessary to read a regular haftarah for each of these parashiyot.
>This is extremely rare, and will not happen again, I think, until 5784
>(2014). >>
If I'm not mistaken Acharei Mos will be read alone and with its regular
haftora again in only three years from now in the year 5760 (2000). What
is being confused is that 5784 is the next year that has the exact same
structure (e.g. combined parshios, leap year, day of the week Yom Tov
falls out on, etc.). However, there are other formats for the year in
which Acharei Mos is still separate and has no unique haftorah.
Dov Teichman
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From: <NJGabbai@...> (Jeff Fischer)
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 13:33:21 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Haftorat of Acharei Mot and Kedoshim
Baruch Schwartz wrote:
> This year, for the first time since 5733 (1973), Ahare Mot and Kedoshim
>will be read separately AND neither of them will be Rosh Hodesh, Mahar
>Hodesh or Shabbat HaGadol. Thus, for the first time in 24 years, it will
>be necessary to read a regular haftarah for each of these parashiyot.
>This is extremely rare, and will not happen again, I think, until 5784
>(2014).
In 2014, we do not read the Haphtorah of Acharei Mot because it falls on
Shabbos Hagadol. It is not until 2024 that we read both haphtorahs.
Jeff Fischer
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From: Eli Clark <ECLARK@...>
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 1997 14:25:57 -0400
Subject: Hametz in Two Time Zones and Is Charlie Chaplin Jewish
In Volume 26 Number 30, Mechael Kanovsky asked about the sale of hametz
by an individual who owns hametz in two different time zones.
Specifically, he wished to know whether it was sufficient for a person
living in Israel to sell hametz located in the US to a non-Jew living in
Israel, with the knowledge that the hametz would revert to its owner
after the conclusion of Pesah in Israel. Of course, In the US, where
the hametz is located, it would still be Pesah.
I have never seen a published answer to this question. However, my
local rabbi operates on the assumption that the prohibition is on the
individual (the gavra, as opposed to the heftza), and therefore, ensures
that the hametz is sold in accordance with the time in which the
indivdiual is located. This position is thoroughly consistent with the
sources of which I am aware. Of course, a person who wished to be
stringent could ensure that the hametz is sold by the appropriate time
in Israel and is not repurchased until the appropriate time in the US.
Andrea Penkower Rosen asks, on behalf of her brother, if Charlie Chaplin
had Jewish ancestry?
See Hannah Arendt, "The Jew As Pariah," in A. Cohen, ed., Arguments and
Doctrines. Arendt states that Chaplin was not Jewish. She then
proceeds to analyze his film persona as a Jewish character. (Of course,
only one of his film characters was explicitly identified as Jewish,
namely the non-title role in his wartime "The Great Dictator.")
Regards and hag kasher ve-sameah,
Eli
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: <swild@...> (Steve Wildstrom)
Date: Fri, 02 May 97 09:01:03 edt
Subject: Re: Kosher for Pesach Vinegar
Jonathan Katz <jkatz@...> writes:
>How can vinegar be made kosher for Pesach? Isn't vinegar by definition
>made from grain products?
Vinegar is made by the secondary fermentation of ethanol to acetic
acid and will work with ethanol from any source. While much vinegar is
made for "neutral grain spirits," the traditional source is wine.
Kosher-for-Pesach vinegar made from apple cider has long been
commercially available.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: David Charlap <david@...>
Date: Fri, 02 May 97 10:53:12 -0400
Subject: Kosher for Pesach Vinegar
Jonathan Katz <jkatz@...> writes:
>How can vinegar be made kosher for Pesach? Isn't vinegar by definition
>made from grain products?
Coincidentally, I was looking at the Vinegar section of the supermarket
last night and noticed no fewer than eight different kinds of vinegar on
the shelf.
While some kinds of vinegar (like the malt vinegar people put on fried
foods) is made from grain products (in this case, barley malt), there
are other kinds of vinegar that are not.
For instance, there is wine vinegar, which is made from grapes. There
is also cider vinegar which is made from apples. (I don't know what
"white" vinegar is made from.) There should be nothing preventing the
manufacturer from making these in a kosher for Pesach manner.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Joshua W. Burton <jburton@...>
Date: Fri, 2 May 97 13:44:56 -0500
Subject: Re: Kosher for Pesach Vinegar
> How can vinegar be made kosher for Pesach? Isn't vinegar by definition
> made from grain products?
Not at all: there are all sorts of different vinegars. In the US, in
fact, the "generic" vinegar for purposes of food labeling is apple cider
vinegar, so a bottle that says simply Vinegar on it can be relied on to
contain no grain products at all. If it's not apple cider vinegar, the
label must say what it actually is: malt, rice, wine, and balsamic wine
vinegars are among the most common. One odd special case is Distilled
White Vinegar", which, unlike all other vinegars marketed for human
consumption, has no restriction whatever on its source: it is simply a
5% solution of acetic acid, free of impurities at any level harmful for
human consumption. Thus, distilled white vinegar can even be (and, I am
told, often is) made from petroleum byproducts. This is one of the few
examples I know of a marketable foodstuff with no (recent!) biological
source: salt, baking powder and soda, and seltzer are also in this
category, and I suppose you could make vodka from purely mineralogical
hydrocarbons as well, though I've never encountered it. Since acetic is
indubitably an organic acid, I bet they could even write something like
"certified 100% organic" on crude-oil derived white vinegar!
Quantum leap (n.): in physics, the +----------------------------------------+
smallest theoretically possible | Joshua W. Burton (847)677-3902 |
change; in marketing, the largest | <jburton@...> |
imaginable jump. No contradiction. +----------------------------------------+
[Similar responses also received from:
From: Michael J Broyde <mbroyde@...>
From: Joseph Geretz <JGeretz@...>
From: Wendy Baker <wbaker@...>
From: <bdcohen@...> (David I. Cohen)
From: Hillel E. Markowitz <hem@...>
From: Michael &Michelle Hoffman <hoffmanm@...>
Mod.]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: <ah222@...> (Scott D. Spiegler)
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 10:01:57 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Question on the Seder
Hi all,
I was thinking about the use of the word 'Seder' in describing the
service we do at home for the first two nights of Pesach. And, what was
bothering me about it was/is why that specific word was chosen for this
mitzvah, since everyday in the life of a frum Jew we live according to a
Seder.
So, why should this night be different from all others?
A good Shabbos, Scott
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Wendy Baker <wbaker@...>
Date: Sun, 4 May 1997 17:40:42 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: rare Haftorot
I notice that Matot-Maase are combined, as usual this year. How often
are they read separately on succesive Shabbatot? I gather that it would
be an even rarer occurance that the pair under current discussion.
Wendy Baker
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From: <smitnick@...> (Searle E. Mitnick)
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 23:49:23 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: Returning Two Sifrei Torah to Ark
>From: Michael and Abby Pitkowsky <pitab@...>
>Can anyone find any source discussing which sefer torah the shaliah
>tzibbur takes when the scrolls are returned to the ark when two or more
>sifrei torah have been used. I know that there are different customs
>but I have yet to find a discussion of the issue in any source.
When I assumed the position of Gabbai, my predecessor told me that our
rule is lo/fi, i.e. the last Torah taken out is the first one put back.
Therefore, if the Chazzan is leading the return procession, he should
carry the second (or third, if applicable) Torah. I would be very
interested in hearing other customs as well as learning the sources
which are requested in the original post.
Searle E. Mitnick, Esq.
Kaplan, Heyman, Greenberg, Engelman, & Belgrad, P.A.; Baltimore, MD 21201
410 539-6967 ; 410 752-0658 (FAX)
<smitnick@...>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: <gershon.dubin@...> (Gershon Dubin)
Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 12:28:12 EDT
Subject: Re: Sheva Brochos
>wondering what the proper thing is to do when the time for a sheva
>bracha falls on yomtov in general, and pesach in particular. I know
AFAIK, you do make sheva brochos on yom tov. I have a friend
who was in the similar situation with Rosh Hashanah and they made sheva
brochos. At the seder, which cup to use, that is a very good question!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: <gershon.dubin@...> (Gershon Dubin)
Date: Sun, 04 May 1997 11:03:39 EDT
Subject: Sheva brochos on Pesach
On the issue of sheva brochos at the seder, there is a tshuva in Igros
Moshe, Even Hoezer, first part, number 95 dealing with this. He says
that the sheva brochos be said over the third cup, that of the bircas
hamozon. He also quotes a Darkei Moshe that they be said over the cup
of the choson rather than that of the leader of the seder.
Gershon
<gershon.dubin@...>
http://pw2.netcom.com/~gdubin/lcs.htm
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From: <bdcohen@...> (David I. Cohen)
Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 21:11:27 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Sukkah on Shemini Atseret
In Volume 26 Number 34, Mechy Frankel wrote:
"To get a jump start on the next litvak-chasidish divergence, it is
likely that for essentially similar considerations the practice of many
chassidim is not to sit in the succoh on the last day of yom
tov....since the proper and required kavonos of shemini atzeres would
get all bollixed up by confusion with succos kavonos.
Rav Zvi Schachter in his sefer "Nefesh Harav" p. 220 quotes Rav
Soleveitchik with an entirely different explanation. He says (my
translation) based on the gemara in Sukkah 47a that one definitely must
sit in the sukkah on shemini atseret outside of Israel. "And the
Chassidic custom of not doing so is definitely a mistake. And perhaps
their mistake came from the fact that the Chassidim had the custom that
their great Rebbeim would have a large "tisch" on Shemini Atseret and
large crowds of Chassidim would visit their Rebbe. As explained in the
gemara Sukka 45b, that a groom and his party are exempt from sitting in
the sukkah, because of lack of space in a sukkah would create
discomfort, and one who is in discomfort is exempt from Sukkah, so to
when the Rebbe made a huge "faberngen" for the huge crowd of chassidim,
certainly there wasn't sufficient space for all of them to sit, so they
are all allowed to sit and eat outside of the sukkah, because of
"discomfort". In the course of time, the reason that they ate outside
of the sukkah was forgotten and the "Chassidisheh custom" not to eat in
the sukkah on Shemini Atseret took hold, in error. And this cannot be,
because it goes against the specific conclusion of the gemara" (that
one eats in the sukkah on Shemini Ateseret but one does not make a
bracha).
David Cohen
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From: Ranon Katzoff <katzoff@...>
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 10:26:22 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Who is a Goy (for chametz)?
People around here seem to intuit that chametz in a large supermarket
chain, such as Kroger's in the midwest, or Shoprite in the east, is not
in Jewish ownership during Pesach, does not become chametz she'avar alav
hapesach, and thus does not require "mechirat chametz" to permit
subsequent sale to Jews. On the other hand, we intuit the opposite about
chametz owned by Supersol/Hypercol in Israel. There we expect to see
signs prominently displayed that the chametz was "sold" before Pesach.
Exactly how should we account for the difference? Is it that the former
is owned by gentile stockholders and the latter by Jewish stockholders?
What, then, would be the status of Osem? A large minority block of stock
of that Israeli pasta and baked goods firm is owned by Nestle, and rumor
has it that Nestle may gain majority ownership. Would Osem then be
considered gentile for the purpose of chametz? Would it go by the number
of shares owned or the number of heads (Rov binyan or rov minyan)? Or
would it go accordig to the management? If so at which level? The CEO of
Nestle in Switzerland, or the managing director of the Osem subsidairy
in Israel?
Surely poskim have addressed these sort of qestions. Can anyone give
references?
Thanks,
Ranon Katzoff
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End of Volume 26 Issue 36
