Volume 36 Number 57
Produced: Sun Jun 30 12:27:42 US/Eastern 2002
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Artscroll (2)
[Ira L. Jacobson, Warren Burstein]
Automation in hotels
[Carl Singer]
Boarding Yeshivot
[Sam Gamoran]
Card-operated Locks
[Janet Rosenbaum]
Cruel to the Kind
[Sam Saal]
Female Prophesy
[Janet Rosenbaum]
Hukat - Balak
[Menashe Elyashiv]
Kadish 50+
[Yisrael and Batya Medad]
Kavuah in Matters of Rov
[Solomon Spiro]
Minchat Yerushalyim Siddur
[Yehuda Landy]
Navi
[Yitzhack Rubin]
Seudat Hodaah
[Ezriel Krumbein]
Tevillas Kelim - Restaurants, etc.
[Immanuel Burton]
Wearing a gartel
[Alan Friedenberg]
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From: Ira L. Jacobson <laser@...>
Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 16:47:44 +0300
Subject: Re: Artscroll
Carl Singer wrote:
>My wife and I have an emotional pull towards the De Sola Pool in that
>not only is it beautifully translated and well laid out with plenty of
>white space as you mention -- but Rabbi & Dr. De Sola Pool were family
>friends and my wife's copy was a gift when she was bat mitzvahed.
In this context it might be interesting to point out that the de Sola
Pools put out a hagada for Pessah for the American Army (JWB, I believe)
in World War II, and the one outstanding thing I recall from it is their
rendering of Tzei ulemad as Tzei v'lamed.
Is this change of meaning based on any precedent, or was it an original
reinterpretation of the de Sola Pools?
IRA L. JACOBSON
mailto:<laser@...>
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From: Warren Burstein <warren@...>
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 11:55:28 +0400
Subject: Re: Artscroll
>From: Mark Steiner <marksa@...>
>... the literal
>meaning of Shir Hashirim is also an article of faith: the Talmud derives
>the laws of modesty from the various descriptions of the female body
>therein, and concludes that one may not recite the Shema in the presence
>of any parts of the female anatomy praised by the lover in the Song of
>Songs.
I didn't remember that a woman's teeth or eyes need to be covered, so I
looked up references to Shir Hashirim in Brachot and found on 24a that
Shmuel mentions a woman's voice from Shir Hashirim 2:14 and Rav Sheshet
mentions hair from 4:1.
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From: <CARLSINGER@...> (Carl Singer)
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 08:12:28 EDT
Subject: Automation in hotels
As technology improves the situation will get worse as rooms are
beginning to get automatic lighting and automatic toilets that
turn on based on motion.
Thank heaven for the ubiquitous post-it (r) note. Most electric eyes
can easily be defeated with same, simply place the post-it over the eye.
As for automatic toilets -- ditto re: post-it notes - also the ones that
I've seen at my workplace have a small button that allows you to
manually flush them -- likely still a problem on Shabbos as this is
electric, not mechanical -- but [from home-owner plumbing 101] you can
always cause a standard toilet to flush (mechanically) by quickly
dumping a bucket of water into the bowl (try the ice bucket). You might
also consult YOUR Posek to see whether it is permissible on grounds of
maintaining human dignity (ala some rulings on tearing toilet paper in
an emergency.)
Kol Tov
Carl Singer
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From: Sam Gamoran <Sgamoran@...>
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 10:59:26 +0300
Subject: Boarding Yeshivot
Someone I know is having difficulties with a their home life and one
child who is taking it particularly hard. In this situation, it may be
appropriate to send the child to a boarding school but close to home
(NYC area) and NOT far away in Israel. Having lived for 18 years in
Israel, I'm not familiar with options, if any, available in the USA.
Please respond directly to me if you can help.
Thanks,
Sam Gamoran
Program Engineer - Interactive TV Projects - NDS
Phone +972-2-589-4588 FAX +972-2-589-4066 Mobile +972-55-66-4588
<sgamoran@...>
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From: Janet Rosenbaum <jerosenb@...>
Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 05:45:19 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Card-operated Locks
Regarding the question of electronic locks, Rav Professor Shlomo
Sternberg wrote a tshuvah permitting them on Shabbat because they use
electricity for a permitted use. I do not know whether anyone follows
his shita in practice, but I would definitely rely on his opinion in a
pressing circumstance. He may be contacted at <shlomo@...>
Janet
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From: Sam Saal <ssaal@...>
Date: Mon, 24 Jun 2002 05:55:26 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Cruel to the Kind
In a recent essay in the Jerusalem Post
(http://www.jpost.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/Full&cid=1023716526230),
Cynthia Ozick quotes (paraphrases?) a line from the Talmud: "Whoever is
merciful to the cruel will end by being indifferent to the innocent."
Can someone post the exact quote (Aramaic/Hebrew and accurate
translation, but most important, the reference (sugya, perek, daf)?
Sam Saal <ssaal@...>
Vayiphtach HaShem et Pea haAtone
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From: Janet Rosenbaum <jerosenb@...>
Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 08:57:56 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Female Prophesy
The lists of prophets posted in earlier issues have had about 7 times as
many recorded male prophets as female prophets. Are there any sources
discussing the reasons for this discrepancy?
Janet
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From: Menashe Elyashiv <elyashm@...>
Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 09:18:17 +0300 (IDT)
Subject: Hukat - Balak
In all non-leap years, and in most leap years, at least 2 summer parshiot
are doubled up. When Shavout falls on Friday, in the Golah 2 more summer
parshiot are doubled up.
In leap years BSZ & GKZ (= Pesah ends on Friday), in Israel no parshiot
are joined, in Golah 2 are.
In leap years HSZ & HHA (Rosh Hashana on Thursday, therefor Berashit
starts early on 24 Tishri adding 1 more Shabbat to the year) no parshiot
are joined.
Question - why do we prefer to join Matot Masai in a year that needs only
2 joint parshiot, and not Hukat Balak?
1- Hukat Balak are shorter than Matot Masai
2- By joining M-M, we must push off Pinhas haftara because of 3 puranuta
(= 3 weeks haftorot), if H-B were joined, then these haftorot would be
be read on their proper parashot.
btw - this is the Yemanite minhag
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From: Yisrael and Batya Medad <ybmedad@...>
Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 00:59:48 +0200
Subject: Kadish 50+
I found a book entitled HaKadish by Rav David Assaf, first published in
1945 and second edition in 1999. Former Rav in Haifa. While not
directly addressing the question of 50+ years to stop or not to stop, he
does mention (p. kuf-pey) that there is no 4th generation in saying
Kaddish. In other words, a great-grandson does not say Kaddish for a
great-grandfather even if he has permission to do so.
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From: Solomon Spiro <spiro@...>
Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 21:48:55 +0300
Subject: Kavuah in Matters of Rov
BSD, yom rishon pinhas, 23/06 02
With respect to the Koppels' learned article on majorities ( ruba d'ita
lekamon and ruba de'leta lekamon) they write that in Kavuah -- Given a set
of objects some of which have the property P and the rest of which have the
property not-P under certain circumstance , we may regard the set itself as
being neither P nor not-P--
The rule of kavuah is that we consider the circumstances as a condition
of safek, doubt. This condition is unique to halakhah. It means not
not P, but both P and not P, more like permutations and combinations
than straight probability.
The classical case of kavu'a is a Jew who throws a stone into a group of
ten people--nine Jews and one non Jew. (He has been warned of the
possibility of killing Jews so that he would ordinarily get the death
penalty for murder.) One man dies, but we do not know whether he is a
Jew or a non Jew. ( Presumably they move on taking the dead man with
them.) Now the bet din must judge the culprit. If we would decide the
matter through rov, the culprit would deserve the death penalty i.e. bet
din determines he killed a Jew because the majority of the group is
Jewish. However, because the non Jew is kavua, i.e. he is ita kamon, we
change the condition of the Jews from rov to mehtza al mehtza, half Jews
and half non Jews. Both possibilities--he killed a Jewand deserves the
death penalty; he killed a non Jew and does not deserve the death
penalty--are considered by the bet din. But bet din has been mandated by
the torah to execute a killer only if it is certain, and in this case it
is not.
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From: <nzion@...> (Yehuda Landy)
Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2002 04:11:12 +0300
Subject: Re: Minchat Yerushalyim Siddur
> I was told recently that the Minchat Yerushlayim siddur was not being
> printed any longer. Can anyone verify this for me? Mine is falling
> apart, and I would love to get a new one.
I happened to be speaking to to Rabbi Naftoli Devorkas (the son of the
original publisher of the Minchat Yerushalayim Siddur) tonight, and I
posed your question to him. He told me that a new edition of the siddur
is on the way and Be"H shall be published in the near future.
All the best.
Yehuda Landy
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From: Yitzhack Rubin <ytzrubin@...>
Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 23:29:16 +0200
Subject: Navi
Shalom from Jerusalem,
It seems to me that the term ''Navi'' refers to''one who brings the words of
God'' to the people.A prophet is not a foreteller but a forthbringer of
'dvar HaShem' to the Jewish people.
Yitzhack Rubin <ytzrubin@...> .il
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From: Ezriel Krumbein <ezsurf@...>
Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2002 13:25:59 -0700
Subject: Seudat Hodaah
I have a copy of the sources for a shiur given on the topic of seudat
hodah. The shiur was given in Brooklyn by Rabbi Shlomo Pearl. The
bottom line was that if one wants to make a seudat hodaah you can,
however Rav Chaim Kanievsky suggested that it was better to donate the
cost of the seudah to tzdaka.
Specifically about the practices at a seudat hodaah the sources are(this
my translation from the sheet):
1) Shut Beer Sarim 3-21, the Chavos Yair 70 who imply that there is no
need for a minyan or zemun
2) The Chayei Adom clal 155-41 that gives a list of things to recite and
do
3) The Sefer Mizmor Lsodah page 16 that says to take care of communal
causes
4) The Kaf Hachaim 218 sif katan 9 and the Meiri on Pesachim 117 amud
beis who discuss tachanun and hallel however the Sefer Mizmor Lsodah
disagrees based on a citation from Rav Scheinberg
Kol Tov
Ezriel
>From: <SSCHWARTZ@...> (S. Schwartz)
>I, B"H, recently survived a hear attack. Someone mentioned to me that I
>should have a Seudat Hodaah. After asking and searching, it seems very
>difficult to find any concrete discussion of this written in Halacha.
>
>Is anyone out there familiar with the source? What are the parameters ?
>Do I need a minyan? Does it have to be on the "anniversary" of the
>event? How is it different from "bentching Gomel"?
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From: Immanuel Burton <IBURTON@...>
Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 14:44:00 +0100
Subject: RE: Tevillas Kelim - Restaurants, etc.
In Volume 36 Number 51 Stephen Phillips asked
>Are there any licensees of Kashrus certificates out there who can tell
>us whether their supervising Rabbinical authority insists on all
>utensils being tovelled [dipped in a Mikveh]? I read an opinion that, as
>the utensils are being used for profit making purposes, they do not need
>tevillah.
Whereas I can't answer this question as such, the matter of whether
utensils in a restaurant require tevillah is discussed in Tevilath Kelim
by Rabbi Zvi Cohen, published by Targum/Feldheim (ISBN 0-944070-06-X).
The Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De'ah 120:8) says that if one buys utensils
for a purpose other than use with food, another Jew may borrow them for
eating without tevillah. The Taz applies this ruling to utensils
purchased for commercial purpose.
Rav Moshe Feinstein, however, in LeTorah Ve'Hora'ah vol 2 no 2 rules
that utensils purchased by a Jew for use with food, or to rent to others
who will use them for food, may not be used without tevillah. According
to this, one should not eat from a hotel's or caterer's utensils if they
haven't had tevillah. Rav Feinstein advises transferring the food to a
utensil that has had tevillah, but that in extenuating circumstances one
may use a metal or glass plate since the plate itself is not necessary
while the food is being eaten. Utensils which are necessary, however,
such as a bowl for soup, should not be used without tevillah.
Contrary to this, Darkey Teshuvah 120:70 allows one to eat from a
hotel's or caterer's utensils which haven't had tevillah on the grounds
that the owner did not buy them to use them, and so they are therefore
commercial utensils. Since the owner has no obligation to do tevillah,
others may use them without tevillah.
Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach gives another reason for leniency in this
matter, namely that the reason behind the prohibition of eating from
utensils which have not had tevillah is to prevent neglect of this
mitzvah. This prohibition only applies when tevillah is possible.
Since the hotelier or restauranteer will surely not allow a customer to
do tevillah, the utensils may be used without tevillah.
This matter is discussed in more detail in chapter 3 paragraphs 10 to 13
of the sefer/book referred to above.
Immanuel Burton.
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From: Alan Friedenberg <elshpen@...>
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 04:37:12 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Wearing a gartel
Can anyone recommend any good reading (either books or internet) about
the minhagim of wearing a gartel?
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End of Volume 36 Issue 57