Volume 31 Number 27
Produced: Mon Jan 31 5:54:45 US/Eastern 2000
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Berkovitz Book
[Yisrael Medad]
Catching Up - Assorted messages
[Menashe Elyashiv]
Eliezer Berkovits: Not in Heaven
[Saul Davis]
Finding a Book
[Efraim Davidson]
Homeschooling
[Rivkah Tuttle]
Mishloach Manot Manager
[Art Werschulz]
Playing ball on Shabbos
[William J Scherman]
Pollard (2)
[Kenneth H. Ryesky, Esq., Chaim Shapiro]
Rashi Worksheet Resource for Elementary Level Home Schooling
[Russell Hendel]
Saying 'I like ham but God forbade me'
[Hillel (Sabba) Markowitz]
Using a Camera on Shabbat
[Sam Gamoran]
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From: Yisrael Medad <isrmedia@...>
Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2000 10:21:48 +0200
Subject: Berkovitz Book
>The English book called "not in heaven" is an english abridgement and
>adaptation of a hebrew book published by Mossad Harav Kook called
>ha-halacha- kocha v'tafkidah.
Rav Eliezer's son is my next-door-neighbor so if anyone has any specific
inquiries about the Halachic approach and philosophical underpinnings of
Rav Berkovitz z"l, I might be able to help.
Yisrael Medad
Shiloh
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From: Menashe Elyashiv <elyashm@...>
Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2000 09:16:27 +0200 (IST)
Subject: Catching Up - Assorted messages
My 2 cents from back messages
FREE PHONE - one of the Yeshivot monthlys had some letters about this.
Someone wrote to the Israeli phone co. -bezek- & asked them if calling
people early in the mournig to wake them up for a minyan, knowing that
they will not answer the phone, is this gezel(steeling). The answer he
received was - that they did not know what he was talking about! However
since the law of a pruta is no differnt than 100 shekel, some Rabbanim
gave different p'sakim there.
Tircha Sibbura - as a gabbai, I try to minimize this. When I "run the
show" I sell the Aliyot very quickly, never add an Aliya, and make 1 or
2 mi sheberach for each Aliyah. As this is an early minyan it leaves us
much time for Torah study with our kids before the morning seuda.
EIRUV - the point I made in a previous posting is that if in N.Y. year
2000 there is no Reshut Harabim(public demain) then it is not logical
that aside from the mahane israel in the wilderness that there ever was
a reshut harabim. Eiruv is only for a Carmalit, the only way to carry in
a r. harabim is to fence or wall it. So, why did Hazal cancel Shofar &
Lulav - unless they held that every 16 amot wide place is r. harabim,
and an eiruv won't help. See Mishne Brura on this ( beur halacha O"H
365).
Menashe
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From: Saul Davis <sdavis@...>
Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2000 08:25:55 +0200
Subject: Re: Eliezer Berkovits: Not in Heaven
I found the book at the publisher's (Ktav) web site and they also said that
I can get it at Pomerantz bookshop in Yerushalayim. So, I will not need to
go as far as Australia. [One of the replies to Saul. Thanks to all who
responded to this request. Mod.]
Thank you very much for the help I got from forumists. I hope to get the
book soon.
Shabbat Shalom,
Saul Davis
Beer-Sheva, Israel
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From: Efraim Davidson <efraimd@...>
Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2000 18:24:43 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Finding a Book
[While no longer relevent for the Berkovitz book, I thought it might be
a useful resource for others on the list looking for books in similar
situations. Mod]
Try searching the web for Ezra the Bookfinder. He works out of Eugene,
Oregon, is a fine fellow, and has found books for me that are long out
of print. Search for Aardvark Books, too.
Efraim Davidson
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From: Rivkah Tuttle <chcorp@...>
Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2000 11:01:36 -0500
Subject: Homeschooling
Even though I do not have children of my own as of yet, I always have
had a great interest in homeschooling. I hapenned to find a wonderful
magazine called Natural Jewish Parenting at a Jewish bookstore last
night. They had some articles about homeschooling. They mentioned some
of the resources that others have already mentioned, as well as the
following:
Jewish Homeschoolers e-mail list
www.geocities.com/Athens/Agora/7633/jewishhomeschoolers.html
Jewish Homeschoolers Webring
www.screamingmeemies.com/homeschool
Jewish Homeschooling Education Network
www.snj.com/jhen
as for Jewish curriculum sites:
www.torahtots.com/hom.htm
Torah Aura Production
torahaura.com
a non-Jewish homeschooling page
www.home-ed-press.com
The issue that I have is issue #8. There were also some articles about
homeschooling in issue #1. Back issues are available from the publisher.
Her e-mail address is <njpmail@...>
Rivkah Tuttle
<rivkaht@...>
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From: Art Werschulz <agw@...>
Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2000 11:12:31 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Mishloach Manot Manager
Hi all.
This coming Shabbat, we bentsch Rosh Chodesh Adar Rishon, so I am
happy to announce the following:
A new version of Mishloach Manot Manager [MMM] is now available at
http://www.mail-jewish.org/mmm. MMM is a program that can help manage
an organization-wide Mishloach Manot Project.
MMM allows automatic reciprocation. For example, suppose that Reuven
says he'll reciprocate. Suppose further that Shimon wasn't on Reuven's
recipient list, but that Reuven was on Shimon's recipient list. Then
Shimon will be added to Reuven's recipient list.
MMM produces raw basket tags (lists of who gave to each person, in plain
text format). It also can produce the following:
(1) A global recipient list. This is a list of the people to whom
each person gave, accounting for reciprocation. Again, this is in
plain text format.
(2) Nicely formatted basket tags, to be attached to the individual
baskets. Please note the following:
(a) I use (plain) TeX as my typesetter. It's free software, which
runs on everything imagninable. I don't know how to
automagically generate basket tags for the various word
processors out there.
(b) The specific formatting was done with our shul's basket tag
format in mind. This is easily changeable if you have
somebody around who understands TeX macro hacking. If you
don't, you can opt for a plainer formatting by deleting or
commenting out a few lines in the formatting macro file.
MMM was originally written to run in a Unix environment. However, a
Perl version is now available, which means that MMM can run on any
platform for which Perl is available (including MS-DOS, Windows,
Macintosh and [of course] Unix).
Please feel free to send questions (or complaints!) to my home e-mail
address (<agw@...>).
Art Werschulz (8-{)} "Metaphors be with you." -- bumper sticker
Internet: <agw@...><a href="http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~agw/">WWW</a>
ATTnet: Columbia U. (212) 939-7061, Fordham U. (212) 636-6325
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From: William J Scherman <zscherman@...>
Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2000 03:25:45 -0500
Subject: Re: Playing ball on Shabbos
Sefer Hilchos Shabbos, by Padawer, using the input of the Debrezin and
Rav Moshe Feinstein, (and then replacing the latter with Rav Y.Y.
Weiss), prohibits ball playing on Shabbos
Z'ev Scherman.
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From: Kenneth H. Ryesky, Esq. <khresq@...>
Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2000 08:27:54 -0500
Subject: Pollard
There is another aspect to the Pollard issue which few have really
attempted to express.
Putting aside the issues of the personal worthiness of Jonathan Pollard,
and the issues of whether the United States government had honored its
obligations to Israel in the first place, there remains the fact that
"Pollard bashing" has become a socially-acceptable substitute for Israel
bashing and Jew bashing among certain elements of society and
government. It is not Pollard whom they seek to attack, but rather, it
is Israel and the Jewish people who are the real objects of the
"Pollard-bashers'" agenda.
In view of the foregoing, there are certain things at stake which are
greater than Jonathan Pollard the man, and which, in my humble opinion,
call for support by the Jewish people of Jonathan Pollard the symbol. I
would be interested in discussion of the halachic implications from that
standpoint.
[Disclosure regarding my personal perspective: I formerly had security
clearance when I was employed by the Department of Defense and can well
appreciate the implications of Pollard's actions. Even now, my ability
to remain gainfully employed in my profession depends in no small part
upon my ability to keep client confidences confidential. It is my view
that if Jonathan Pollard were to be sprung from prison and sent to
Israel next week, his prospects for securing gainful employment would,
for good reason, be quite limited on account of his past indiscretions.]
-- Ken Ryesky
P.O. Box 926, East Northport, NY 11731
631/266-5854 (vox), 631/266-3198 (fax)
E-mail: <khresq@...>
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From: Chaim Shapiro <Dagoobster@...>
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2000 01:08:45 EST
Subject: Pollard
Joe Geretz explains the Pro Pollard camp thustly:
<< Well, there are those who feel that
Pollard's sentence, when compared to others who have committed far worse
infractions, is a bit ridiculous, as well. This leads them to conclude
that Pollard, is still being held after all these years, not on the
basis of his infraction, but as the target of some anti-Semitic or
anti-Israel bias. Thus they conclude that he is a Shavui, a captive. >>
I must ask anyone who makes this argument a simple question; delineate
for me what Pollard did. If you wish to claim that he was treated
unfairly, you must tell me what he did and then compare that to other
similar cases. Unfortunately, no one has ever been able to answer that
question for me. The reason is simple; Pollard's crimes are not common
knowledge! In fact, few if any, American citizens are privy to the
classified files that describe what the Pollard's did. More Damning is
the fact that those who are, stand in unison against Pollard (Joe
Lieberman, David Luchkins Etc).
Arguments that Weinberger was a self hating Jew, spurning a broad
conspiracy holds little more water than Black helicopters and Trilateral
Commission babble. I find it hard to believe that the Clinton
Administration wouldn't jump at the chance to embarrass his predecessor,
given his own scandal ridden Administration. And yet, Clinton stands in
strong opposition to Pollard's Pardon, even after Pardoning 12 FALN
Terrorists.
To put it simply, if you don't know, you can't talk!
Chaim Shapiro
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From: Russell Hendel <rhendel@...>
Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2000 22:57:48 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Rashi Worksheet Resource for Elementary Level Home Schooling
Andy Levy-Stevenson in Mail Jewish v31n22 asks for resources for Jewish
Home Schooling.
I had the privilege of participating in Home-Schooling in South Carolina
and Kentucky (in addition to my University appointments there). In fact
I produced about 100 4-page worksheets, each with 20 questions, on Rashi
and Chumash (Braishith). This work of mine done in 1993-1995 laid the
groundwork for my Rashi Website.
I also dealt with the problem of giftedness. Although I have been
repeatedly told that my Rashi methods are too advanced for high
schoolers I can assure you that I had 7 year olds coming up with
advanced explanations in Rashi (I used a question-answer method).
The 400 pages of worksheets are available--they have 20 questions per
sheet with answers on bottom and lead the student interactively to
advanced analysis of Rashi. They are designed for both 7 and 11 year
olds. I have tried to get it published. The Rabbis I worked with assured
me there was a market for it but no one has taken me up on it. Many of
the sheets are on disk (WP 5.1)
If anyone wants sample sheets for their home schooling or their schools
please write me off line. If there is a strong need I can post them
(either on the mail jewish home page or better yet on the Rashi website
home page or on both)
Russell Hendel; Phd ASA; Math; Towson
Moderator Rashi is Simple
http://www.shamash.org/rashi/
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From: Hillel (Sabba) Markowitz <sabbahillel@...>
Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2000 23:27:52 -0500
Subject: Re: Saying 'I like ham but God forbade me'
> From: Daniel Cohn <dcohn@...>
> I have always had trouble accepting this. For example, a man who is so
> in love which his wife that he cannot even think of being with another
> woman, is at fault, according to this dictum, and should strive to be
> attracted to other women, but, grudgingly, stick to his wife because the
I think that the key word here is "grudgingly". That is not what we
want this statement to mean. Rav Moshe Feinstein Z'tzl is reported to
have said that may Jews who suffered in keeping the Shabbos (such as a
new job every week) actually caused their children to stop keeping
shabbos by the way they expressed their situation. The children would
say, my father could be moser nefes (Suffer?) for Judaism but I am not
as strong. I think that the way someone speaks about ham (in the
original example) is that I might have a desire for this forbidden item,
but I am keeping away because I wish to fulfill the will of Hashem.
Similarly, one would say I am so in love with my wife that I do not see
other women because this is the ratzon (will) of Hashem and this is what
how we behave. One keeps the Shabbos because of the joy of following
the halacha. It is a positive, not a negative.
Said the fox to the fish, "Join me ashore" | Hillel (Sabba) Markowitz
Jews are the fish, Torah is our water | Zovchai Adam, agalim yishakun
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From: Sam Gamoran <gamoran@...>
Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2000 08:53:53 +0200
Subject: Using a Camera on Shabbat
What prohibition is one violating in the use of a conventional still
camera on Shabbat?
Assume that the camera is completely mechanical - no light meter, flash,
autofocus, or electric winding mechanism. Assume further that the
camera is of the "disposable" variety so that there would be no
temptation to repair it should it fail.
The film remains, if inspected by eye, unchanged after its exposure (or
complete fogging if you do choose to inspect it! :-))
Regards,
Sam
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End of Volume 31 Issue 27
