Volume 42 Number 20
Produced: Mon Feb 23 6:31:44 US/Eastern 2004
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Afternoon Megilla reading
[Tzadik Vanderhoof]
Bet and Ballon
[Batya Medad]
Boat or Cruise Ship on Shabbat
[Gil Student]
Broomfield CO
[Carl Singer]
Dedicating one's life to Torah
[Batya Medad]
Disney, et. al
[Heshy Zaback]
Gedolim SHOULD go to Disney world
[Russell J Hendel]
Influences of Galut
[Gershon Dubin]
Kosher Shopping
[Hillel (Sabba) Markowitz]
Musical Instruments on Shabbat
[Deborah Wenger]
Red Sea "Crossing"
[Yitschak Maser]
Special Prayers on Yom Ha'atzma'ut
[Shmuel Himelstein]
Torah in the Midbar
[Michael Kahn]
Visiting Japan
[Yehoshua Berkowitz]
Women reading Megilla
[Yisrael Medad]
Yom Ha`assmaout
[Batya Medad]
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From: Tzadik Vanderhoof <tzadik.vanderhoof@...>
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2004 23:02:35 -0500
Subject: Afternoon Megilla reading
Several shuls in Baltimore offer an afternoon Megilla reading. The
Agudah of Park Heights (corner of Park Heights and Pinkney) certainly
does.
If I remember correctly, the halacha does not require a minyan for
Megilla reading... you could bring a Megilla to Colorado and read it for
yourself.
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From: Batya Medad <ybmedad@...>
Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 17:19:43 +0200
Subject: Re: Bet and Ballon
> "bais is for balloon." There's nothing wrong with a little girl with
I forget the technical word, but balloon is used, because it's the same
in both languages, so it makes it easier for the students to remember.
I teach English to Israeli students, and (during my training) we had to
go throughout the entire ABC trying to find objects starting with the
letters that the kids already know.
Batya
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From: Gil Student <gil_student@...>
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 13:59:03 -0500
Subject: Re: Boat or Cruise Ship on Shabbat
About a month or two, we were discussing the issues involved with
sailing on a ship on Shabbos. I came across the following online
resource from the most recent issue of Kashrus Kurrents. "Don't Miss the
Boat: Halachic Guidelines of Kosher Cruises" by Rabbi Zvi Goldberg. The
article disucsses a number of practical issues involved with traveling
on a boat on Shabbos.
http://www.star-k.org/kashrus/kk-trav-cruise.htm
Gil Student
<gil_student@...>
www.aishdas.org/student
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From: Carl Singer <casinger@...>
Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2004 07:26:28 -0500
Subject: Broomfield CO
Jay -- According to my map program Broomfield CO is only 20 miles and
30 minutes from the Denver Yeshiva (mostly South on I-25) I don't know
if there are any closer congregations, etc. -- but you should be able to
make it in time for Migillah on Motzei Shabbos.
You might do a google search on "Denver Yeshiva" and get phone number
and call to get more information.
Carl A. Singer
70 Howard Avenue; Passaic, NJ 07055-5328
(973) 472-2531
<casinger@...> ; www.mo-b.net/cas
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From: Batya Medad <ybmedad@...>
Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 17:22:53 +0200
Subject: Re: Dedicating one's life to Torah
>picture, which is that frum Jews should DEDICATE their lives to Torah
Not only "frum" Jews. All Jews, and we should try to include those less
religious to expose and encourage.
Batya
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From: Heshy Zaback <heshyzaback2@...>
Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 18:48:26 -0500
Subject: Disney, et. al
Warren Burstein <warren@...> wrote in mail-jewish Vol. 42 #16
> > The point was that somehow, Chol HaMoed has become *about* Disneyland.
>I'm afraid I don't see how Chol HaMoed has become "about Disneyland" if
>one happens to go there on Chol HaMoed.
>
> > There's nothing wrong with a little girl with a balloon in her hair.
>The objection wasn't to balloons. He just felt that something has been
>lost when *that's* the association the teacher is teaching with aleph-bais.
>
>I don't understand this either. What has been lost?
Honestly, now... Yiddishkeit is so rich, exciting... do we really need
the balloon to illustrate the letter 'beis' and generate the childrens'
interest in learning the alef-beis? When we look back at last year's
Sukkos, do we think of the trip to Hershey Park, or the Sukkah, the
Zmiros, the Simchas Beis Hashoevah? Something is missing in our
lifestyles if we *need* to incorporate their culture into ours to make
Yiddishkeit more attractive to us.
Personally, I have been to Disney over half a dozen times with my family
over the past 20 years. Yes, we spend time together as a family without
the pressures of everyday living, and that's the main idea. But when we
come away from each trip we remember a lot more about the parks and the
attractions than the familial events surrounding the trip, the time
spent with each other.
Heshy
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From: Russell J Hendel <rjhendel@...>
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 22:41:58 -0500
Subject: Gedolim SHOULD go to Disney world
I cant disagree more with Ester and Tzvi. Gedolim should go to Disney
world; I expect to see them there; and they should encourage their
children to go.
One source for this is a beautiful essay by Rav Hirsch entitled THE LADS
GREW. In this fundamental essay Rav Hirsch explains that the Patriarch
Isaac made a mistake in bringing up his two children. Esauv loved the
hunt and the wild. IT WAS ISAACS JOB TO SHOW ESAUV HOW TO FIND GOD IN
THE HUNT. By failing to do this Esauv turned out badly. By contrast,
continues R Hirsch, Jacob did not make this mistake. EACH CHILD WAS
BLESSED BASED ON HIS NEEDS (one was a shipper, one was an orator, one a
farmer etc).
Now back to Disney world. The challenge is not how to avoid disney
world---the challenge is how to redeem it. Let the Gedolim go there, let
them study its attractions, and let them make similar educational tools
for Jewish study!!
As a simple example, a local Baltimorian (Fishel)has been popularizing a
Jewish version of Rubiks cube---the goal in Fishel's cube is to order
the Parshiyoth(and the kids love it).
To continue....if a kid really wants disney world and his rebbe does not
encourage him to find God there then God forbid this student might turn
out like Esauv.
A powerful verse in proverbs states WISDOM IS A HIGH STONE FOR THE
FOOL. Indeed by making Yidishkeit HIGH we destroy it. Not so are the
words of the Torah....do we not say twice a day AND YOU SHALL SPEAK
ABOUT TORAH WHILE TAKING WALKS...The Torah was meant to apply each
individuals situation
Russell Jay Hendel; http://www.Rashiyomi.com/
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From: Gershon Dubin <gershon.dubin@...>
Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 14:22:10 -0500
Subject: Influences of Galut
From: <Yisyis@...> (Ira Bauman)
<<My father-in-law A'H told me of friends, fellow holocaust survivors,
who would not attend a wedding in a synagogue. The reason is that
Christians have theirs in a church. They were so afraid of
Christianizing influences that they avoided the mitzvah of hachnassas
kallah. I somehow doubt that many would fall prey to Christianity if
they attended the chasunah. No doubt, we should avoid deleterious
influences, but thought and sound reasoning should prevail.>>
The origin of this practice is in reaction not to Christianity, but to
Reform Judaism adopting the Christian practice. Same reason for
insisting on having the bima in the center of the shul instead of up
front; the Reformers copied that practice as well from the Christians.
So we should not dismiss a practice which originated with the much
beleaguered Orthodox community in Germany some 200 years ago; it is not
something these friends of your father's came up with on their own.
Gershon
<gershon.dubin@...>
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From: Hillel (Sabba) Markowitz <hsabbam@...>
Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 14:57:54 -0500
Subject: RE: Kosher Shopping
>From: Carl Singer <casinger@...>
>The same should be cautioned when shopping in the United States in
>"Kosher Stores" -- just because the store has "kosher" in its name or is
>located in predominantly Jewish neighborhood, say in Brooklyn, or
>because the merchant is frum doesn't alleviate you of your
>responsibility as an educated, alert shopper. Mistakes happen. I'm
>sure that a "things that I found in the 'Kosher Store" would fill
>volumes."
Here in Baltimore, one of the stores has a warning to customers to check
the hechsher symbol on the products. Even though every product does
have a hechsher, some of the hechsherim may be "not reccommended". It
turns out that the store cannot reject some kosher symbols without being
open to a suit.
Hillel (Sabba) Markowitz - <sabbahillel@...>
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From: Deborah Wenger <deb.wenger@...>
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2004 20:03:42 -0500
Subject: Musical Instruments on Shabbat
What is the specific prohibition against the use of musical instruments
on Shabbat? That they were used in the Beit HaMikdash? That there's the
issue of carrying them? That there might be a need to repair them?
A definitive answer is eagerly awaited...
Kol tuv,
Deborah
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From: Yitschak Maser <simone.maser@...>
Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 17:26:29 +0100
Subject: Red Sea "Crossing"
> There are references that the Red Sea was "crossed" from one bank in an
> arc arriving back at the same bank, making a semi-circle. Is there any
> indication in the chumash to this?
A source might be found in Bamidbar 33:7-8 where the itinerary is given
as:
SUCCOTH - ETHAM - (back to Pi-HaChirot - before Migdol - before
HaChirot) - THE CROSSING - ETHAM - MARAH.
i.e. from Etham back to Etham
Another possible source in the Chumash may be found in comparing two
verses in Shemos as explained by Ibn Ezra and Chizkuni:
Shemos 13:20 SUCCOTH - ETHAM
Shemos 15:22-23 the Crossing - SHUR - MARAH
If ETAM = SHUR, as is mentioned by Ibn Ezra on Shemos 15:22, then B'nai
Yisroel returned to the same bank, making a semi-circle. See also
Chizkuni on 14:23.
The Zohar teaches that Shur means contemplation. On this and the
identity of Etham and Shur, see the Call of the Torah by Rabbi E. Munk
zatsal on Shemos 15:22.
Yitschak Maser
Montpellier, France
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From: Shmuel Himelstein <himels@...>
Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2004 06:07:14 +0200
Subject: Special Prayers on Yom Ha'atzma'ut
I don't know where Joseph Mosseri davens in Jerusalem when he claims that
it's hard to find as Minyan which recites the Yom Ha'atzma'ut prayers. I
possibly know of dozens - if not more - which do recite them. Of course, if
one looks in Meah Shearim and other such Chareidi areas, he won't find such
Minyanim, but there are many other locales in Jerusalem.
Shmuel Himelstein
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From: Michael Kahn <mi_kahn@...>
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2004 22:41:14 -0500
Subject: RE: Torah in the Midbar
>Hakadosh Baruch Hu (The Holy One Blessed Be He) did not intend for us to
>keep the Torah in the Midbar but this is the Torah of the Land of
>Israel!!!
Then why did He give it to us in the midbar?
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From: <RYehoshua@...> (Yehoshua Berkowitz)
Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 16:20:44 EST
Subject: Visiting Japan
My daughter is leaving soon for a week on a business school sponsored
trip to Tokyo. If anyone has any ideas of how to survive on a kosher
diet (other than brining a suitcase of tuna fish cans with her) please
let me know directly at <RYehoshua@...> All information is apreciated.
(Rabbi) Yehoshua Berkowitz
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From: Yisrael Medad <ybmedad@...>
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2004 23:13:23 +0200
Subject: Women reading Megilla
Rav Aviner has an article in this Friday's HaTzofe ( the site hasn't yet
put it up but use search at http://www.hazofe.co.il/ ) very anti-women
reading Megilla for women.
His reasons:
a) since one enters a "safek" for the bracha, why not be sure and listen
to the reading by a man.
b) reading should not be for many women.
c) and even if a woman would want even to read for just herself, there
are poskim (Magen Avraham 589:6 and others) who prohibit.
d) the "best" is to listen from a man
e) don't change prayer customs (Responsa Rashba I, 323)
f) if changes come from "protest", they are prohibited not from their
essence but from the motivating factor (Igrot Moshe, IV, 49).
g) Bruriah didn't read out the Megilla so why should anyone today?.
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From: Batya Medad <ybmedad@...>
Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2004 06:43:57 +0200
Subject: Re: Yom Ha`assmaout
You're welcome to celebrate Yom Haatzmaut in Shiloh, just north of
Jerusalem and southeast of Tzomet Yarkon. We have full chag dovening.
Erev Yom Haatzmaut is the one time of the year that we can all get to
the same beit keneset. Very moving. In the morning all minyanim doven
with Hallel, etc.
Batya
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End of Volume 42 Issue 20
