Volume 26 Number 41
Produced: Wed May 7 6:59:18 1997
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Ahare Mot-Kedoshim, cont.
[Baruch Schwartz]
Jewish Calendar
[Saul Mashbaum]
Maror at the beginning of the meal?
[Joe Slater]
R Dr Haym Soloveitchik's Article
[Simcha Edell]
Rare Haftorot
[Steven White]
Rare Haphtorot
[Jeff Fischer]
Repeating Words in Tefillah
[Irwin Keller]
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From: Baruch Schwartz <SCHWARTZ@...>
Date: Tue, 06 May 97 12:59:18 IST
Subject: Ahare Mot-Kedoshim, cont.
Jeff Fisher rightly corrects my math; the Hebrew year 5784 is of course
2024 and not 2014. This is the next time that both Ahare Mot and
Kedoshim will each require a separate haftarah.
Dov Teichman's post seems to me to be in error. There are in fact no
other calendric configurations in which this occurs. True, in the year
5760 (2000) Ahare Mot and Kedoshim will be read on separate shabbatot,
but Kedoshim will coincide with Rosh Hodesh, and so once again only one
haftarah will be read--in the accepted Ashkenazi practice, the one from
Amos 9. This happens when Ahare Mot and Kedoshim are read together too,
i.e. in a non-leap year: only the haftarah from Amos 9 is read.
To clear this up: Ahare Mot and Kedoshim are read on separate shabbatot
only in leap years. There are only seven leap year configurations:
1) 2 S 7 (Rosh Hashanah Monday, Heshvan and Kislev maleh, Pesah Shabbat)
2) 2 H 5 (Rosh Hashanah Monday, Heshvan and Kislev haser, Pesah Thursday)
3) 3 K 7 (RH Tuesday, Heshvan haser Kislev maleh, Pesah Shabbat)
4) 5 S 3 (Rosh Hashanah Thursday, Heshvan and Kislev maleh, Pesah Tuesday)
5) 5 H 1 (Rosh Hashanah Thursday, Heshvan and Kislev haser, Pesah Sunday)
6) 7 S 5 (Rosh Hashanah Shabbat, Heshvan and Kislev maleh, Pesah Thursday)
7) 7 H 3 (Rosh Hashanah Shabbat, Heshvan and Kislev haser, Pesah Tuesday)
In configurations 1 and 3, when Pesah begins on Shabbat, Ahare Mot
requires a haftarah (Amos 9) and Kedoshim is mahar hodesh. In the
diaspora, Ahare Mot is mahar hodesh and Kedoshim gets a haftarah of its
own (Amos 9). In configurations 2 and 6, when Pesah begins on Thursday,
Ahare Mot requires its own haftarah (Amos 9) and Kedoshim is Rosh
Hodesh. In configurations 4 and 5, Ahare Mot is Shabbat HaGadol, and
only Kedoshim requires a haftarah (once again, Amos 9). Therefore only
in configuration 7, namely zaha"g or 7 H 3, which is what we have this
year, do both parashiyyot require separate haftarot.
Many thanks to Saul Mashbaum for his post, referring to sources in
addition to the one that I mentioned.
In the shul where I am a gabbai (Rimon Central Synagogue, Efrat) we
opted to go by the custom of veteran Jerusalemites, advocated by Rav
Soloveitchik zt"l in the article mentioned by Saul Mashbaum and followed
by the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem as well as many others: to read the
haftarah from Amos 9 twice, for Ahare Mot (this past Shabbat) and again
for Kedoshim (this coming Shabbat). Some minyanim in town chose other
options. We did stress, for community solidarity and understanding, that
all of the possible customs are acceptable and each shul should feel
confident that whatever custom it adopts is perfectly kosher.
Baruch Schwartz
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From: Saul Mashbaum <mshalom@...>
Date: Wed, 07 May 1997 11:22:01 GMT-2
Subject: Jewish Calendar
I) Acharei Mot and Kedoshim each has its own haftara read in *only one*
of the 14 types of year in the Jewish calendar. In all other years,
either the parshiot are combimed, or although each parsha is read
separately, another factor prevents both haftarot from being read:
- Kedoshim is Rosh Hodesh
- Achrei Mot (diaspora) / Kedoshim (Israel) is Erev Rosh Hodesh
- Achrei Mot is Shabbat Hagadol
In all these cases, the 'special' haftara is read, not the 'regular'
one of the parsha, and the haftara from Amos is read for the other
parsha.
This year's calendar, in which both haftarot are read, is designated
zayin-chet-gimmel: a leap year in which Rosh Hashana is on Shabbat and
Cheshvan and Kislev each has 29 days. The indefatigable Phil Chernofsky
(editor of Torah Tidbits, the weekly parsha publication of the OU/NCSY
Israel center in Jerusalem, which often contains information on the
Jewish calendar) has calculated that this type of year appears on the
average only once every 17 years. Thus, according to Ashkenazic
practice, each person hears the haftara from Yechezkel only a handful of
times in his entire life, if at all (some communities never read this
haftara).
II) Baruch Shapiro's designation of 5784 as 2014 is obviously a
typographical error; 5784 corresponds to 2023-2024, and this is indeed
the next time the zayin-chet-gimmel calendar appears, and we will read
the haftara from Yechezkel once more.
III) Wendy Baker wrote:
>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.
Matot-Masei are indeed read separately more rarely than Acharei
Mot-Kedoshim; however, the point of Baruch Shapiro's posting related to
the haftarot, not the parshiot themselves. The frequency of separate
readings for Matot and Masei is greater in Israel than in the
diaspora. This is because when the first day of Pesach falls on Shabbat,
in the diaspora the eighth day of Pesach is also on Shabbat, of course,
while in Israel this is a 'regular' Shabbat, when the regular parsha of
the week (Shmini or Acharei Mot) is read. When the first day of Pesach
falls on Shabbat in a leap year, Israel and the disapora are 'out of
sync' until 2 Av, when those the diaspora read Matot-Masei together, and
Israel reads Masei alone (having read Matot alone the week before).
Anyway, Matot-Masei will be read separately in the following years:
5765 5768 5771 5774 *5776
*5779 *5782 5795 5798 *5803
*5809 5812 5822 5825 *5833
5836
* Israel only
Thus those in the diaspora will read Matot-Masei separately 10 times in
the next 80 years, and those in Israel will read do this 16 times in
that period.
Saul Mashbaum
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From: Joe Slater <joe@...>
Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 17:22:56 +1000 (EST)
Subject: Maror at the beginning of the meal?
Why do we eat maror (the bitter herbs) at the beginning of the meal?
Surely in the times of the Temple it was eaten with the korban pesach,
the Paschal sacrifice, and was therefore eaten only at the end, together
with what is now the afikomen? The same goes for the korech (Hillel's
sandwich).
jds
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From: Simcha Edell <acvideo@...>
Date: Tue, 06 May 1997 10:28:29 +0300
Subject: Re: R Dr Haym Soloveitchik's Article
<micha@...> (Micha Berger) wrote
> According to a footnote to R Dr Haym Soloveitchik's famous article in
> the Spring '73 issue of Tradition,
<cut>
> The article as a whole is tangentially related, as it discusses the
> transition from reliance on memetic to textual tradition. I don't
> agree with much of his thesis, but that's a different topic.
Do you have any alternate/additional explanations which could account
for the major changes which have occurred in the pattern of jewish
observance in the last generation? Anybody else who has read the article
- in the Tradition of Spring 1993, I believe- who has something to add?
I found the article to be a real eye-opener. I recommend it to everyone
who has not yet seen it; and I think a discussion of its main ideas
would be fascinating.
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From: <StevenJ81@...> (Steven White)
Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 11:21:41 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Rare Haftorot
In #36, Wendy Baker writes:
> 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.
Not often at all, I don't think; perhaps once or twice in a 19-year cycle.
(They are read separately a little more often in Israel, because this
is the catch-up parsha for at least one of the configurations where 8
shel Pesach or 2 shel Shavuot falls out on Shabbat.) But the haftarah
that gets left out is not that of Matot or Masei, which are invariably
two of the three Haftarot read prior to Tisha B'Av. Instead, the
haftarah that gets left out is the proper haftarah to Pinhas, which is
read only only when Pinhas precedes 17 B'Tamuz -- and that happens only
when Matot and Masei are read separately. Otherwise the haftarah of
Matot is read on Pinhas.
Speaking of rare haftarot, the haftarah of Miketz is also very rare. It
is read only when Hanukkah starts on a Friday; when Hanukkah starts on
any other day of the week, one of the haftarot of Hanukkah comes out on
Miketz.
Steven
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From: <NJGabbai@...> (Jeff Fischer)
Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 23:49:41 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Rare Haphtorot
>From: Wendy Baker <wbaker@...>
>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.
The only time that Mattos and Massei are read separately is if the first
day of Pesach falls on Sunday and it is a leap year.
Jeff
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From: <keller@...> (Irwin Keller)
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 12:31:26 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Repeating Words in Tefillah
On the second night of Seder, the ba'al ha'Seder did not allow my
children to 'sing' the song, Dayeinu, as he said "assur lekapel otiyot'=
'one is not allowed to repeat letters' in the Tefilah. I think I
remembera 'string' of discussions regarding repetition of words in the
tefilah in general. When I grew up in an Orthodox Young Israel, it was
quite common for the Ba'al tefilah to repeat words. Now, it is apparent
that ba'alei tefilah go out of their way in most cases not to repeat
words and I understand that there are some serious restrictions with
regards to this, particularly as it may change the meaning of that
tefilah. I would like to have a better definition of when one is allowed
to repeat words, stanzas, etc? Also, is the Hagadah in the same
catergory with respect to repetition, specifically the Dayeinu? I
thought we go out of our way in design and presentation of the Seder to
keep the interest of the 'Ketanim'= young children, and it was always my
understanding that these 'songs' help to accomplish that. Are there
conflicting opinions on this subject?
Irwin A. Keller, MD
UMDNJ-RWJUH (Robert Wood Johnson University Hospita)l
One Robert Wood Johnson Place - New Brunswick, NJ 08903-2601
(908) 235-7721 - <keller@...>
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End of Volume 26 Issue 41
