Volume 32 Number 58
Produced: Sun Jun 18 22:19:03 US/Eastern 2000
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Bulmos (5)
[Gilad J. Gevaryahu, David and Toby Curwin, Yisrael Medad,
Robert Israel, Rabbi Tzvi Liker]
Buying Chometz After Pesach
[Danny Skaist]
Candle caused fires, rachmuneh L'tzlan (4)
[Jeanette Friedman, Aliza Fischman, Yisrael Medad, Joseph
Gilboa]
Gas ovens
[Aliza Fischman]
Kiddush for Daughter
[Moish Gluck]
Moled this month
[Chaim Shapiro]
Napster
[Eliezer Kwass]
Request for software information
[Shmuel Himelstein]
Weekday Weddings
[Carl Singer]
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From: Gilad J. Gevaryahu <Gevaryahu@...>
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 09:52:41 EDT
Subject: Bulmos
Andy Goldfinger asks (v32n53)
<<The Mishnah in tractate "Yoma" speaks of a physical condition
called "bulmos" in which a person has extreme hunger. Does anyone know
if this is etymologically related to the word "bulimia" (perhaps through
a Greek root)?>>
Bulimia [L.; Gr. 'bous' =ox + 'limos' =hunger]. Abnormal increase in the
sensation of hunger. (Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, 23rd
edition, 1957, p. 209). The same etymology also in Stedman's Medical
Dictionary, 25th edition, 1990, p. 218. The Aramaic 'mos' ending is
closer to the Gr. 'mos' ending than the English ending without the 's',
and the 's' disapperance in English is common. Jastrow traces the word
to Gr. boulimos (bulimus) with the same meaning (p. 146). So indeed
these two words are related - they are the same word, the same meaning,
with slighly different spelling.
Gilad J. Gevaryahu
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From: David and Toby Curwin <curwin@...>
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 18:22:36 +0300
Subject: Bulmos
According to Rabbi Klein in A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of
the Hebrew Language, bulmus literally means bulimia, or ravenous hunger.
It comes from the Greek "boulimos", (literally "ox hunger") from
"bous"=ox and "limos" = hunger.
David Curwin
Kvutzat Yavne, Israel
<curwin@...>
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From: Yisrael Medad <isrmedia@...>
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 20:38:18 +0300
Subject: Bulmos
Jastrow thinks so.
It also has an extended meaning of ravenous sexual appetite:
Breishit Rabbah, 51:11,: Amar Rabi Nahman bar Chanin 'kol mi sh'hu lahut acher
bulmos shel arayot...'.
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From: Robert Israel <israel@...>
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 13:14:15 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Bulmos
I would suspect it is the same word. "Bulimia" comes from the
Greek bou (meaning ox) + limoi (hunger), and originally described a morbid
hunger (not necessarily the disease called bulimia today). Thus the first
English reference quoted in the Oxford English Dictionary, from 1398:
Bolismus is inmoderate and vnmesurable as it were an
houndes appetyte.
Robert Israel <israel@...>
Department of Mathematics http://www.math.ubc.ca/~israel
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z2
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From: Rabbi Tzvi Liker <liker@...>
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 13:14:04 +2
Subject: Re: Bulmos
Rav Steinzaltz in his g'mara Yoma and the Jastrow dictinary both state
that bulmos is indeed from the Greek "bulimus", and is connected to
"bulimia" (the opposite of anorexia, which is starving onessself).
Tzvi Liker
<liker@...>
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From: Danny Skaist <danny@...>
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 13:57:06 +0200
Subject: RE: Buying Chometz After Pesach
<<Carl M. Sherer
Probably not helpful in a lot of other places, but in Yerushalayim it is
possible to get bread products during the first couple of weeks after
Pesach that carry a special hashgacha that the wheat was ground after
Pesach. That solves an awful lot of problems. >>
I've wondered about that. Is the wheat shmurah [watched from the time
of cutting] or could it have become hametz, and not sold. Or do they
sell the wheat anyway.
danny
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From: Jeanette Friedman <FriedmanJ@...>
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 09:37:17 EDT
Subject: Re: Candle caused fires, rachmuneh L'tzlan
Dear Carl:
I appreciate your thoughts, since it was my cousins who were nifter in
that tragic Yom Tov fire in Williamsburgh. She lit 16 candles in the
kitchen.
I cannot understand why 16 candles had to be lit. They were on a
counter, UNDER the cabinets. In addition to a fire extinguisher, I was
thinking that perhaps a fire safety course should have been given.
I have seen shabbos candles drip and melt in the summer. When candles
are improperly arranged, and there are many of them, the candles can
melt each other. I learned this when I was a child, and my mother did
that--b"h, we caught it when only the dining room table was on fire, and
not before it had spread to the whole room.
[I can fully appreciate how frightening it can be. We only light about 5
candles, although I think there may have been 7 that shabbat as we had a
guest for shabbat, and with the overhead fan, it tends to cause the wax
to melt quickly. Somehow the melted wax that was on the base that all
the candles were placed on caught on fire. Very scary. Baruch Hashem,
easily put out and no one was hurt, but it was scary. Mod.]
There is also possibly oil in glass that can be used. But fire safety rules
should be at the top of the list. You can't light candles UNDER cabinets.
Especially in such numbers.
Jeanette Friedman
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From: Aliza Fischman <fisch.chips@...>
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 10:43:54 -0400
Subject: Re: Candle caused fires, rachmuneh L'tzlan
>From: Carl Singer <CARLSINGER@...>
<<We periodically hear of tragic fires caused by candles (Shabbos, Yom Tov
or Hanukah) associated with mitzvahs. No amount of afterthought and "if
only's" will help the grieving families. But I have an idea -- perhaps
someone with a more appropriate engineering background might make it
reality -- It is, to me, inappropriate to exploit this for commercial
gain (i.e., I don't want to get rich with this idea) but would just like
to see it widely used with positive consequences.>>
They now make these great candles that come in little glass cups. The
cups fit directly into the candlesticks. They fit so well that they
will not tip over. The candles are smaller than normal Shabbat candles,
but they don't just melt the wax. The wax melts to liquid, and then the
liquid wax is consumed. After Shabbat all you have left is the little
metal disk from the bottom of the candle. This is much easier to clean
up than regular candles. Occasionally, the wick leans against the glass
and turns it black, but I have never, in 5 1/2 years of wonderful
marriage, had one break or even have a thought of starting a fire. You
can just clean it with some dish soap and water.
Hoping that none of us, our friends, or family ever have to deal with
such a tragedy,
Aliza (Novogroder) Fischman
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From: Yisrael Medad <yisraelm@...>
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 20:31:52 +0300
Subject: Candle caused fires, rachmuneh L'tzlan
<Fire Safety issue same as Jeanette's posting, deleted. Mod.>
One Israeli paper had the burial of the Satmar victims on the Chag. Was
that true?
[From a conversation in shul today, my understanding is that Satmar is
one of the few groups that paskin that Kavod Hames takes precedence and
requires kevurah even on Yom Tov. Anyone with further information is
encouraged to elaborate. Mod.]
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From: Joseph Gilboa <bfgilboa@...>
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 15:06:18 +0300
Subject: Re: Candle caused fires, rachmuneh L'tzlan
Another good reason to use the clever windproof "Yerushalmi"
candelabra. These are specially designed for hanukka candles that many
yerushalmim place outside their doors. They can also be used for Shabbat
candles and, because the candles are enclosed, the danger of
conflagration is greatly minimized.
Yosef Gilboa
Rehovot
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From: Aliza Fischman <fisch.chips@...>
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 10:32:17 -0400
Subject: Gas ovens
One Shabbat recently, my husband and I ran into an interesting predicament.
We have a gas powered stove and oven. The oven has it's own pilot
light. On the stove, the two left burners share one pilot light, and
the two right burners share a pilot light. When any of the three flames
go out, gas leaks, and you can smell the gas. On a recent Shabbat the
left burners' pilot light went out.
As we saw it, we had a few options:
1. Relight the pilot with a tranfered fire (light the match from the right
burner).
2. Relight it with a new flame (strike the match).
3. Try to move the oven and shut the gas valve. (But the stove is very hard
to move).
4. Try to block the gas leak and then relight it after Shabbat.
My husband came up with the last one. I was a little bit worried about
that one with a 20 month old in the house, aside from the two of us. I
was nervous that it would just block the smell and lower the amount of
gas leaked, but that it might build up and explode when we tried to
relight it.
As it happens, we went with that option (#4) anyway, and it worked.
In your opinions, what should we do if it happens again?
Tizku L'Mitzvot,
Aliza (Novogroder) Fischman
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From: Moish Gluck <moish@...>
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 03:02:59 -0400
Subject: Kiddush for Daughter
<<From: Shlomo Pick <picksh@...>
<<The "rebbe" in question re: kiddush for a daughter, was R. Ya'akov
Yisrael Kanyevsky, the Steipler, zt"l. Lema'aseh, the question arose
concerning one of my daughters if I had to make a kiddush (she was a
preemie and it was after a ceasarian) and I heard the story in Bnei
Brak. So I asked, the Steipler's grand-nephew, who said the story "lo
hayah ve-lo nivra1" (never was nor ever created). and that's that!>>
I heard the story from Rabbi Elchonon Halpern Shlita from London, who
heard it first hand from the person who had the story with the Steipler!!
How can one say that it NEVER happened just because HE didn't think it
did! Does he know for a SURE? It doesn't matter if he is the Steipler's
nephew!
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From: Chaim Shapiro <Dagoobster@...>
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 14:32:17 EDT
Subject: Moled this month
What was the point of announcing the moled in shul this month
(Sivan), when in fact, the moled for the month had already passed? Is
it because the announcement is still the minhag (custom)?
Chaim Shapiro
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From: Eliezer Kwass <kwass@...>
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 13:32:26 +0200
Subject: Napster
Shalom For a discussion of copyright and halakha, please have a look at
http://www.darchenoam.org/ethics/copyright/copyright.htm on the Darche
Noam website. You'll find a number of articles on halakha's perpective
on copyright protection, as well as a couple of links to get to the
basic secular material.
About Napster: What makes Napster a special case of the standard
copyright moral/halakhic issue? The illegality or immorality of copying
software, media, or books does not seem to change when it is done to
individual copyrighted mp3s using Napster technology. However --
A. Napster's technology makes illegally copying mp3s so easy. Even
though it is not a new moral issue, it poses a new moral challenge. In
the privacy of one's home, at the touch of a button, acheiving an equal
quality reproduction with such ease for free -- it makes it so simple to
infringe on copyright.
B. Napster (the company) itself is not illegally copying mp3s, but has
set up a system that makes it so easy for so many others to. Let's say,
for example that the accusation is correct, and that most people use
Napster for copyright infringement. Can Napster hide behind the legal
uses of the software or is their enterprise one big lifnei iveir? What
about marketing some weapon that is primarily used for gang fights and
only sometimes used for self defense?
Also: 1. Similar software has been developed (pointera) that allows
sharing but filters out copyright protected material. 2. One of the
editorials on Napster saw it as a message to the recording industry that
they are not marketing properly. The industry should learn that people
want to be able to create their own personalized music collections, not
have them dictated by what is stuck together on an album. This is an
important business point but seems to be irrelevant to the ethical
question. Just because something is unavailable the way we want it does
not justify obtaining it illegally. We must wait until the market comes
up with a legal alternative.
be well
Eliezer Kwass
Darche Noam website
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From: Shmuel Himelstein <shmuelh@...>
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 12:12:16 +0300
Subject: Request for software information
Is anyone aware of (or has anyone written) software for the PC that can
keep track of Aliyot, etc., in Shul - i.e., a Gabbai's tool of some
kind?
I'd be interested in any such software that can help any aspect of Shul
management.
Shmuel Himelstein
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From: Carl Singer <CARLSINGER@...>
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 08:26:10 EDT
Subject: Re: Weekday Weddings
The duration and ending time of weekday weddings seems problematic.
1) somehow my system tells me that it's not too healthy to eat a slab of
prime rib or a plate of chicken at 10:30 or 11PM.
2) I find that many people (myself included) "skip out" before the group
benching / shevah brochas -- all sorts of informal mizumins take place
as people bench helter-skelter, etc.
Does anyone have any suggestions for dealing with this -- other than the
generic make things shorter and stick to a schedule.
We (my wife and I) are now frequently go to the schmorg (usally arriving
late) and the chupah but forgo the seudah -- for some weddings. It lets
us get home by 10 or 11PM, bright eyed and bushytailed for work the next
day.
Also - on a partly related topic --
In Edison several years ago, we pushed partly by example, and partly in
discussion with others for smaller Bar Mitzvahs. A very touch subject,
especially in more affluent communities. I'm wondering if other communities
have found creative approaches.
[I don't think it worked to well in Edison / Highland Park. I was part
of the group that put together the proposal that was given to the
Vaad. I have not heard much about it in the last few years, and I do not
think it is being effectively pushed by the Vaad. Mod.]
Carl Singer
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End of Volume 32 Issue 58
