Volume 32 Number 02
Produced: Thu Apr 6 6:02:38 US/Eastern 2000
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Bringing Sacrifices Today (2)
[Sheldon Meth, Carl M. Sherer]
Doubled Haftarot
[Baruch J. Schwartz]
"Haman"taschen
[Josh Backon]
KAJ Pessach List
[Stuart A. Cohnen]
Noisemaking during Megillah reading
[Rena Freedenberg]
Other Cities on Purim
[Yisrael Medad]
Pharoah's Phate
[Sam Gamoran]
Remembering We were Slaves in Egypt
[Dan Victor]
Seder Activities for Kids
[Wendy Baker]
Shibolet Shual
[Shlomo Pick]
Shushan Purim
[Danny Skaist]
Timcheh et Zecher Amalek
[Sam Gamoran]
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From: Sheldon Meth <SHELDON.Z.METH@...>
Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2000 08:29:31 -0400
Subject: Bringing Sacrifices Today
My understanding is that today, it is forbidden for Jews to bring
Korbanos. Certainly a Bamah Ketanah [private altar] is forbidden, per
the Mishnah in Megillah. It is also accepted today that, in the absence
of the Bais Hamikdash, etc., Bamah Gedola ["great altar", i.e., the
Mizbe'ach of the Beis Hamikdash] is also prohibited.
On the other hand, I understand that it IS permitted today for a Gentile
to construct a Bamah Ketanah and offer a Korban Nedavah [contributary
offering, as opposed to an obligatory offering, which is not applicable
to a Gentiles].
-Sheldon Meth
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From: Carl M. Sherer <cmsherer@...>
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2000 12:09:34 +0200
Subject: Bringing Sacrifices Today
Shoshana Boublil writes:
> BTW, there are plenty of Rabbanim that pasken that Korban Pesach, at the
> least, should be kept today. There was a great Rabbi from Jerusalem, in
> the last generation, that held this way,
The Kapos Tmarim in Succa 34(?) suggests that it might be possible to
bring korbanos (sacrifices) today.
Carl M. Sherer
mailto:<cmsherer@...> or mailto:sherer@actcom.co.il
Please daven and learn for a Refuah Shleima for my son, Baruch Yosef ben
Adina Batya among the sick of Israel. Thank you very much.
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From: Baruch J. Schwartz <schwrtz@...>
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2000 22:52:41 +0300
Subject: Doubled Haftarot
Regarding the reading of Pakadti, the haftara for Shabbat Zachor, twice
in a row in walled cities if Shushan Purim falls on Shabbat, Akiva
Miller writes:
The result is that the exact same Haftara is read two Sabbaths in
a row -- on Parshas Zachor and on Purim Meshulosh. I don't think
that ever happens in any other situation.
The other example was discussed here a few years ago, on one of those
rare instances when Ahare Mot and Kedoshim are read separately and both
come out on "free" Shabbatot (neither of them being Rosh Hodesh or Mahar
Hodesh). In this case, as was discussed then with copious references,
one prevailing custom--though admittedly not the only one--is for the
haftara Halo Khivnei Khushiyim to be read on both weeks. For details and
sources see MJ Vol 26 #32, #34, #36, #41 and #45.
Baruch Schwartz
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From: Josh Backon <BACKON@...>
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 12:54 +0200
Subject: Re: "Haman"taschen
See the Sefer HaChinuch (603) and Minchat Chinuch that the mitzva of
*zecher amalek* is also verbal. Thus, there isn't any problem with
mentioning the name of Haman as someone representative of Amalek.
I agree that the word hamantaschen has absolutely nothing to do with
Haman and that the German word refers to MAN (poppy seeds, "pereg" in
Hebrew) and TASCHEN (hats). My pet theory why of all foods we use poppy
seeds on Purim revolves around its pharmacological properties. The
halacha (Orach Chaim 695:2) mentions that one should eat *maachal
zaronim* (seeds) as a remembrance to the seeds eaten by Daniel and that
one must be joyous.
Opium is collected from the poppy Papaver somniferum. The dry seeds,
though not narcotic,are benzylisoquinoline alkaloids and have a very
high content of the smooth muscle relaxant and vasodilator
papaverine. Though not narcotic or analgesic, papaverine does *relax*
you and make you feel good. [Incidentally, poppy seeds ingestion can
give a false positive reading on urine screening for drug abuse and
people have been falsely accused of drug abuse simply because they ate a
piece of poppy seed cake the day before].
Josh Backon
<backon@...>
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From: Stuart A. Cohnen <cohnen@...>
Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2000 13:48:03 GMT
Subject: KAJ Pessach List
For those interested. The KAJ "Breuers" Pessach List can be found at
http://bullwinkle.rockefeller.edu/kaj Chag Soma'ach
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From: Rena Freedenberg <free@...>
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 20:21:55 +0200
Subject: RE: Noisemaking during Megillah reading
At the Sefardi shul here in Israel that we heard the Megillah in, there
was plenty of noise [noisemakers, foot stamping, hands banging the
tables] when you-know-who's name was read [boooo! hissssss!] but no
firecrackers or cap guns as I have heard in other places/countries.
There were plenty of children dressed up in costumes [but obviously no
women]. The ba'al koreh was a Rav from Venezuela who read in a beautiful
sefardishe chant.
I was amazed to read on this list that there were people who thought
that it was not a sefardi minhag to dress up on Purim; they should come
to our [hareidi] neighborhood on Purim! You've never seen so many Ovadia
Yosefs, Yosef HaTzaddiks, and Moshiachs in your entire life :-)
---Rena
> yeshivas -- my wife and youngest son went to the Spanish Portugese
> Synagogue in Manhattan (where her Grandparents belong.) She was
> cautioned that decorum was observed -- indeed there was virtually no
> noise (groggers, etc.) during the layning -- also a very quick layning.
>
> Question -- how do other sefardic congregations / other minhagim in
> general -- deal with this.
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From: Yisrael Medad <isrmedia@...>
Date: Tue, 04 Apr 2000 12:55:23 +0200
Subject: Other Cities on Purim
>Barry Best <barry.h.best@...> wrote:
> What is the minhag in Chevron? How about T'veriah? Are there
>any other cities that we know had walls in the time of Yehoshua bin Nun
>(how about - in theory - Yericho)?
a) as for Chevron - as Yerushalayim
b) as for T'veriya, ditto
c) as for other cities, like Shiloh my hometown, because of a Safek
(which I'm sure I wrote about years ago having to deal with
basically continuum of residency, exact identity of site not only
based on archeology), we celebrate the first day but then repeat
everything without a Bracha on Shushan Purim but without Al HaNissim.
Yisrael Medad
Israel's Media Watch | www.imw.org.il
POB 6023 Jerusalem 91060 | ISRAEL
Tel.: 972-2-6236425 | Fax: 972-2-6236426
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From: Sam Gamoran <gamoran@...>
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 15:28:05 +0200
Subject: Re: Pharoah's Phate
I recall hearing an Agadah that when Pharoah died (presumably at the Yam
Suf), he went to Gehinom (purgatory, whatever that is in Jewish
theology) where he stands at the entrance to greet all future enemies of
Israel with the message "Why didn't you learn from my example?)
[i.e. learn not to mess with the Children of Israel.]
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From: Dan Victor <dan.victor@...>
Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2000 14:36:02 -0400
Subject: Remembering We were Slaves in Egypt
I have been following the discussions at mljewish for a number of
months, but this is my first submission. I hope you find it
interesting. I am not current with the spelling rules and citation
rules, so please forgive any errors.
Parshat Ra'eh, (Devorim XVI:13) declares: "And you will remember that
you were a slave in Egypt and you will observe and do these
commandments." Are there compilations of the 613 mitzvot that list this
remembering as a mitzvah? (Rambam does not, at least to the best of my
knowledge). If not, then why is remembering that we were slaves in
Egypt not a separate mitzvah?
Earlier in Ra'eh, we are instructed to eat matzah on Pesach "...for in
haste you came out of the land of Egypt in order to remember the day of
your coming out from the land of Egypt all the days of your life."
(Devorim XVI: 3) While Rambam does not list this "remembering" as a
separate mitzvah, he does subsume it under the mitzvah of kriyat shema.
Other times in Chumash, the command "to remember" is given the force of
a separate mitzvah: "Remember what Amalek did to you ...." (Devarim
XXV:17)
My question is prompted by the nearness of Pesach. At the Seder we
mention Avadim Hayenu, and reenact aspects of our enslavement (matzah
and maror), but these activities are in order to fulfill the separate
mitzvah of "Sippur" of the exodus from Egypt (or in the case of matzah,
a mitzvah in itself). I have not seen commentaries that link the Seder
to the remembrance of our enslavement mandated by the posuk quoted
above.
One possible answer is that the remembrance of our enslavement in Egypt
is subsumed within the remembrance of the exodus from Egypt, but I do
not believe that is a very straightforward understanding of the
language, nor is that notion consistent with the Haggadah, which
emphasizes the difference between the enslavement and our liberation.
I would appreciate hearing your views about this.
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From: Wendy Baker <wbaker@...>
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 08:59:28 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Seder Activities for Kids
My grandfather had a game called "Broke or Not" you take some matza and
turn away and either break a bit and replace it or not break a bit. You
then ask if the matza is broke or not-the absence of the n to make
broken reflects the state of my Grandfather's English:-)
There is also a game with the hardboiled eggs in shell. If you knock
the ends of two eggs together generally only one breaks. The game is to
try to be the one whose egg remains whole when all others are broken.
No particulary religious significance here, just some fun for the kids
or those nostalgic for their own pasts
Wendy Baker
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From: Shlomo Pick <picksh@...>
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2000 01:22:19 +0300
Subject: Shibolet Shual
concerning the posting from From: Michael and Abby Pitkowsky
<pitab@...> on Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2000 14:45:40 +0200
>>The Star K website has a convincing article on quinoa as kosher for
>>Pessah. Does anyone have any information on buckwheat [kasha] which is
>>really a fruit related to rhubarb and not a grain at all?
>Dr. Yehudah Felix in his book "HaTzomeh vehaHai beMishnah" (Plant and
>Animal Life in the Mishnah) says that the grain of the five species
>"kusemet" has been misidentified as buckwheat/kasha. He feels that the
>proper identification is rice wheat (pg. 83). I know of no halachic
>authority who has dealt with the apparent misidentification of a number
>of the five species (Felix also claims that "shipon" is spelt wheat and
>not rye, and that "shibolet shual" is not oats but rather two rowed.
>barley).
see the article by Rabbi Efrati and the pesak by Rav Elyashiv in Mesorah
13 (Adar 5757 - Feb 1007), pp. 66-71, who totally disagrees with felix
concerning shibolet shual.
chodesh tov and chag kosher ve-sameiach
shlomo pick
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From: Danny Skaist <danny@...>
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 11:54:30 +0200
Subject: RE: Shushan Purim
<<From: Bill Bernstein <bbernst@...>
With Purim just a memory and a few stale hamentaschen, I wonder about
Shushan Purim: does anyone know of any cities, other than Yerushalayim,
that does or could celebrate Shushan Purim. The only one I can think of
is possibly Damascus. >>
There is always Shushan, I believe that today it is called Susa, in
Iran. Those that could include the "city" Ai. A number of years ago
some soldiers asked the question, and received the p'sak that because it
has no perminent Jewish population they should not keep Shushan Purim.
danny
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From: Sam Gamoran <gamoran@...>
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 15:22:40 +0200
Subject: Re: Timcheh et Zecher Amalek
A question for the linguists among us: Does "Timcheh" mean "to erase" or
could it possibly mean "to protest"? (Hebrew l'mcho vs. l'mchot). Very
closely related.
I offer the explanation: Timcheh et zecher Amalek equals two things:
- To utterly wipe out Amalek (when possible)
- To protest the existence of Amalek (even when it cannot be eradicated)
Thus, in the time of Mashiach, the evil of Amalek will be destroyed.
Nowadays, it cannot be done. Even so, we must protest its existence
wherever we see it.
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End of Volume 32 Issue 2