Volume 36 Number 14
Produced: Mon Mar 25 2:36:46 US/Eastern 2002
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Birkat Ilanot
[Yisrael and Batya Medad]
English Tehillim
[Saul Davis]
follow-up re chametz on day after Pesach (if shabbat)
[Leah S. Gordon]
Friday night davening
[Yitz Weiss]
Kitniyos
[Akiva Miller]
Kitniyot
[Mike Gerver]
Kitniyot on (Ashkenazi) Pesach plates
[Perry Zamek]
Maot Hitim
[Mark Steiner]
Modim Anachnu Lach
[Gilad J. Gevaryahu]
Muksah question
[Frank Silbermann]
tal Umatar
[Zvi Greenberg]
Wine
[Josh Hexter]
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From: Yisrael and Batya Medad <ybmedad@...>
Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 20:31:47 +0200
Subject: Birkat Ilanot
Re: the question of pronouncing the blessing over the new fruit trees on
Shabbat, I did a follow-up.
a) my Rav [Elchanan Bin-Nun] at Shiloh said that even if the Kabbala
extends an imagery of borrer (selecting) that is not permitted on
Shabbat, if it becomes a matter of whether to follow the Kabbalistic
custom as an individual during the week or participating at a mass
assembly on Shabbat, one should perfer the latter.
b) Rav Ovadiah Yosef deals with another issue - if one blesses on
Shabbat, he may then smell the new blossoms and he then may come to rip
them off which is prohibited. But although he brings several opinions
including Rav Chaim Palachi who distinguishes between Istanbul, where
they did make a blessing on Shabbat and Izmir where they didn't, Rav
Ovadiah perfers to say it on Shabbat nevertheless (see Responsum
Yechaveh Da'at, Vol. I, Siman 2) He also mentions that there is another
matter, that since we select food on Shabbat, we do borrer anyway, so
what's the Kabalah getting concerned about but he replies that since the
blessing can actually be done all of Nissan, the matter of borrer on
Shabbat is more relevant.
c) in a footnote there, he brings the opinion of the Chatam Sofer who
writes that those who combine words of Kabbala and decided Halachot is
like one who violates the injunction of "do not plant your vineyard with
k'laim"
Yisrael Medad
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From: Saul Davis <saul9728@...>
Date: 24 Mar 2002 13:15:18 -0800
Subject: English Tehillim
Rabbi Eli Cashdan wrote an excellent modern translation of Tehillim. You
can check it out at
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1861063245/qid=1017003949/sr=1-14/ref=sr_1_2_14/026-3110072-7874011.
It is well recommended. Before he passed away Rabbi Cashdan also wrote a
translation, to English, of the (Aramaic) Targum to Tehillim but this
is, as yet, unpublished.
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From: Leah S. Gordon <leah@...>
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 06:22:59 -0800
Subject: follow-up re chametz on day after Pesach (if shabbat)
In the case where shabbat is the first day after Pesach, it occurs to me
that there might well be a case when you could eat chometz. Obviously,
it wouldn't be your old (sold) chometz, since the contract is still in
force. However, didn't we have a discussion on m-j a few years back
about companies delivering free samples of cereal in the paper on Pesach
(and how not to take ownership)? In such a case, i.e. the newspaper
people drop off some free wheaties on shabbat morning after Pesach, I
bet you could eat it. (But woe unto anyone who would eat it near the
Pesach dishes!) Likewise, if your nonJewish buddy bought some Oreos and
just happened to invite you over.... :) (And yes, Batya, one more day
of Pesach food is kind of daunting! Though kitniyot would mitigate that
significantly.)
--Leah
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From: <YitzW@...> (Yitz Weiss)
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 00:08:07 EST
Subject: Friday night davening
Any idea where the minhag not to say "baruch hu uvaruch shmo" in the
chazzan's mini-repetition of shemoneh esrai on Friday night comes from?
I'm having trouble locating a source for it.
Thanks!
Yitz Weiss
<yitzw@...>
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From: <kennethgmiller@...> (Akiva Miller)
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 17:52:33 -0500
Subject: Re: Kitniyos
Several people have pointed out that the first Seder cannot fall on
Thursday night. Some included the point that this is according to how
our calendar is set up nowadays. Some readers may have missed that
detail.
The calendar was not always set up the way it is now. There are some
passages in the Gemara (sorry, I don't remember where) which talk about
what to do when Yom Kippur falls on Friday. (I think the question might
have been if an Eruv Tavshilin is required or if it even helps.) In any
case, we know that Yom Kippur never falls on Friday or Sunday according
to our calendar.
I think the most famous example of the First Seder being on Thursday
night might have been in the year in which Jesus died. The famous "last
supper" was actually a Thursday night Seder, and he died the following
day, Erev Shabbos, the first day of Yom Tov.
Akiva Miller
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From: <MJGerver@...> (Mike Gerver)
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 20:56:15 EST
Subject: Kitniyot
Rose Landowne says (v36n13)
> In Israel you can buy kosher l'pesach kitniot.
Yep, it's easy to buy kosher l'pesach kitniyot in Israel. The hard thing
(esp. outside Bnei Brak and Jerusalem) is buying kosher l'pesach
non-kitniyot. It's a lot easier to do THAT in Brookline.
Mike Gerver
Raanana, Israel
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From: Perry Zamek <jerusalem@...>
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 16:09:12 +0200
Subject: Kitniyot on (Ashkenazi) Pesach plates
Rose Landowne wrote:
>In Israel you can buy kosher l'pesach kitniot. Then you can eat it on
>the shabbat after pesach . I think, however, that there is a problem
>with using it on your pesach kelim if you do not eat kitniot on pesach.
I believe that the opposite is true. Since there is no issur regarding
the kitniyot (they're not hametz), there should not be a problem with
using your Pesach dishes for kitniyot. Also, if there is a problem with
Ashkenazim eating from dishes used for kitniyot, Ashkenazim would not be
permitted to eat in a Sefardi house on Pesach (and I have not heard of
that chumrah :-)
Wasn't there a case in 19th century Europe where, because of a shortage
of wheat, kitniyot were permitted (as a Hora'at Sha'ah, which probably
would have been more difficult to effect if kitniyot were hametz)?
Perry Zamek
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From: Mark Steiner <marksa@...>
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 00:48:10 +0200
Subject: Re: Maot Hitim
I would like to thank all who sent in checks for maot hitim. It was
heartwarming to see the generosity of the Jewish people. We are sending
receipts by mail according to the addresses on the checks, or as
otherwise indicated in letters.
Thanks again and a hag sameah--kosher it is, since there is no more
kosher a hag than one in which we take care of the poor first, as the
Rambam says.
Mark Steiner
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From: <Gevaryahu@...> (Gilad J. Gevaryahu)
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 09:47:41 EST
Subject: Modim Anachnu Lach
Eric W Mack (MJv36n12) asks the reasosn for <<why is the nikud [vowel]
beneath the shin in the fourth word of this t'fila [prayer] a 'kamatz'
and not a 'segol'. (The fourth word is "sheh-atah" or, perhaps,
"shah-atah".)>>
I deat with this very issue in MJv33n99, and comments were made about it
by Mark Steiner (MJv34n01) and by Matthew Pearlman (MJv34n07)
Gilad J. Gevaryahu
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From: Frank Silbermann <fs@...>
Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2002 16:46:51 -0600 (CST)
Subject: Muksah question
I have a hypothetical situation that I would like to analyze, to better
help me understand the laws of Muksah (things which should not be
touched on Shabbas).
Shmeryl is very allergic to bee stings, to the point that, if stung he
is quite likely to die without prompt medical attention. He lives in a
rural area, and is in the habit of carrying an adrenalyn injection and a
can of insecticide whenever he walks outdoors (even though it has been
years since he was last stung).
If he goes for a walk on Yom Tov, is he allowed to carry his kit? Or,
without a special heter, is Shmeryl forbidden on the grounds that these
items are muksah?
Insecticide has only one purpose -- the killing of insects -- which I
presume is not shabbasdik. Adrenalyn is a medicine, and one is not
permitted to take medicine on Shabbas. Of course, one can do all these
things for Pikuach Nefesh (saving of life), but pikuach nefesh would not
come into play unless Shmeryl were actually to be stung (which, on any
_given_ day, is unlikely).
Violating a Shabbas prohibition is very serious, and only a qualified
rabbi can decide whether the danger is serious enough to warrant a heter
to carry life-saving tools. Because he's not _likely_ to be stung on
any given day, on Shabbas it seems to me that Shmerly probably should
refrain from carrying and trust in Hashem's protection, or, if he feels
the danger is too great -- stay home.
But on Yom Tov it is understood that one can carry things if one does so
for the sake of enjoying the festival, and the security provided by his
kit when walking to visit neighbors would help Shmeryl's enjoyment of
the Yom Tov immensely. Is Shmeryl forbidden to carry them (without a
special private heter) on the grounds that these items are muksah?
Can equipment whose only purpose is the saving of life be considered
muksah -- on the grounds that unless one is in fact saving a life they
have no legitimate shabbasdik purpose? If so, would permanently
attaching, say, a compass or house key to each item free these objects
from their muksah status -- making each item a vessel with both
permitted and non-permitted uses?
Frank Silbermann
New Orleans, Louisiana
<fs@...>
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From: Zvi Greenberg <harold.greenberg@...>
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 13:56:43 +0200
Subject: tal Umatar
"....but it is odd that Jews haven't adjusted to the Gregorian calendar."
Back around 18 July, 2001 we had a similar discussion. As I see it, in
1582 a pope in Rome changed the solar calendar. Your great,
great......grandfather and mine used a solar calendar (approved by the
Rabbis of the Talmud) that every fourth year is a leap-year. They would
not change the date of saying "tal Umatar" because of an event in Rome.
For those who are troubled that they are not saying "tal Umatar" 60 days
after the fall equinox, there is a simple solution. Move to Israel where
we begin to say it on the seventh of Marcheshvan - no problem.
Zvi Greenberg
Eilat, Israel
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From: Josh Hexter <josh@...>
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 13:44:11 +0200
Subject: Wine
At what point does wine become halachikly wine and thus have the problem
of non-shomrie mitzvos handling it (e.g. post crushing, post pressing,
etc.)?
Joshua Hexter
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End of Volume 36 Issue 14
