Volume 42 Number 74
Produced: Thu May 20 7:00:53 US/Eastern 2004
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Drinking water
[Moshe Koppel]
Guidelines for Tzedaka (2)
[Meir, Laurent D. Cohen]
Marriage Depends on Consummation?
[Martin Stern]
Rav Ovadiah Yosef
[Yael Levine Katz]
Summer Time All-Year Round
[Steven White]
Zchus or curse??
[Eitan Fiorino]
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From: Moshe Koppel <koppel@...>
Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 16:28:34 +0300
Subject: Drinking water
>From: Michael Rogovin <rogovin@...>
>
>As if the controversy over sheitlach wasn't enough, we were told this
>Shabbat that there was a ruling from one of the hareidi councils in
>Brooklyn (where else) that NYC water was asur because it had crustaceans
>that were visible through a magnifying glass.
This past Purim a poster went up on this topic (see
http://www.usajewish.com/pure-water.pdf). It was supposed to be a
joke.This is why one can't do parodies any more.
Moish
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From: <meirman@...> (Meir)
Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 19:36:16 -0400
Subject: Guidelines for Tzedaka
Aiui, some variation on these rules is possible, but you probably
recognize the names of the editors, and the compiler is an impressive
guy. Some of these lines are probably worth discussing, here or with
your rabbi.
I scanned this, so I blame any errors in formatting on that! It
originally came on one page and can probably still be printed in columns
and reassembled on one page. Meir (<meirman@...>)
Reprinted by permission. One should not reprint this or any part of it
without quoting the first three lines with the names below. (or without
this paragraph reminding the next guy to do so?)
Ma'aser Dinim At A Glance
Compiled By Dr. Bert Miller; Edited By Rav Mendel Feldman and Rav
Moshe Heinemann
Note: The starred (*) income items are computed in "real dollars".
As inflation erodes the buying power of income, it erodes the Maaser
obligation as well.
Income: Maaser Liable
1. Wages, salaries, and tips; net business profits.
2. Bonuses, royalties, commissions, honoraria, etc.
3. Payments from Social Security retirement and disability,
pensions, and IRA's (in cxcess of tithed contributions).*
4. Payments to IRA's (fairly evaluated). Professional services
donated to a qualifying organization for Tzedaka purposes.
5. Withdrawn interest* on savings accounts, checking accounts, or
money market accounts less annual fee (if any); stock dividends.*
6. Zero coupon bond, U.S. savings bond and Israel bond interest
when cashed in (principal too, if not previously tithed), CD interest
when withdrawn.*
7. Prize money; monetary gifts for birthdays, Bar Mitzvahs,
weddings, etc.; dowries.
8. Lottery and raffle winnings in excess of losses (that year).
9. Net proceeds* from the sale of a home less capital improvements.
10. Found money that had belonged to someone else.
11. Life insurance death benefits, monetary inheritances.
12. Life insurance cash value (in excess of premiums) when received.
13. Casualty insurance payments in excess of current year's
premiums and actual damage.
14. Jury awards in excess of actual damages, legal costs and
recovery expenses; payments for airline overbooking.
15. Rental income (in excess of costs and decrease in value) from
property, equipment, etc.
16. Profit (net)* from the sale of any item (capital gains).
17. Children's allowances and other income from babysitting, chores, etc.
18. Income tax refunds; earned income credit.
Income: Not Liable:
1. All shoppers' coupons; all discounts; all refunds; all life
insurance dividends; credit card purchase rebates.
2. Non monetary gifts and non monetary inheritances.
3. Insurance reimbursements which are less than losses plus
current year's premiums.
4. Social Security tax and all other income taxes.
5. Automatic pension contributions.
6. Monetary gifts given for the expressed purpose of buying a
specific item or service, etc.
7. Proceeds from the sale ofsecond hand poperty sold without profit.
8. Home grown vegetables and fruits.
9. Received payments for child support.
10. Found items other than money.
11. Perquisites such as employer paid insurance programs, company car, etc.
12. Reimbursements for actual expenses.
13. Monies held in trust accounts for boys (less than 13) or girls
(less than 12).
Deductions From Income Include:
1. Estimated tax payments; self-employment tax.
2. "Balances due" on tax forms.
3. Income tax penalties; alimony payments in excess of Chiuvei Kesuva.
4. Job related expenses such as transportation, child care, etc.
5. Expenses realized in the course of renting property or equipment.
6. Bad loans* to rich people.
7. Losses* from the sale of any property.
But DO NOT Include:
Real estate tax on one's home, non business expenditures for sales
tax, excise tax, gasoline tax, personal customs duties, unreimbursed
casualty and theft losses and medical expenses.
Donations:
Maaser Qualifying
1 Monetary contributions to Orthodox religious institutions
and organizations including day school PTA's and Ladies Auxiliaries.
2. Monetary contributions to non Jewish or Jewish non religious
humanitarian organizations; American Cancer Society, Israel
Emergency Fund.
3. Monetary and (fairly evaluated) non-monetary gifts
to poor people; Hachnosos Kallah; donations for a poor
person's medical treatment.
4. Funds spent to strengthen community observance of Torah and Mitzvos.
5. Dues paid to Shuls and other qualifying organizations;
Aliyah pledges, Yizkor charity vows.
6. Non-monetary (fairly evaluated) gifts to qualifying organizations.
7. Expenses incurred when doing volunteer work for qualifying
organizations.
8. Banquet ticket expenditures (qualifying organizations) in
excess of the value of the meals to you.
9. Journal ads (less advertising value) and benefit
performance tickets (less the value of entertainment) for
those qualifying organizations; raffle tickets. (1f you
win, ask your Rav who owns the prize.)
10. Day school tuition payments for a poor person's child or the
child of a person who refuses to pay, tuition payments to
support someone (besides your dependent child) who is
learning Torah.
11. Ksivas Sefer Torah-"letter writing fee", Maos Chitin;
wine (etc.) purchase expenses from a Mosad in excess of the
value of the wine.
12. Children's religious youth group dues.
13. All expenses related to the upbringing of an adopted child.
14. Cost of stamps affixed to business reply Tzedaka return envelopes.
15. Cost of sponsorship of Shul activities (not primarily family
Simchas) such as Sholosh Seudos or Kiddush; Yayin
L'Kiddush V'Havdala, etc.
16. Bad (not collectable) loans to poor people.
17. Forgiven interest on loans to qualifying organizations (with Heter
Iska).
18. Funds set aside for a free loan fund (Gemach).
19. Monetary support of someone learning in Kollel (including
one's own children).
Not Maaser Qualifying:
1. Expenses incurred purchasing one's own Tashmishei
Kedusha: Seforim (that no one else will borrow), Talis,
Tefillin, Mezuza, Lulav, Sefer Torah, etc.; wedding expenses
and Bar Mitzva expenses of one's own child.
2. Mikva fees, day school tuitions for one's biological child;
nursery school and play group costs.
3. Portion of one's income taxes allocated for welfare programs.
4. Time spent doing volunteer work.
5. Amounts (minimum) spent for Matanos L'evyonim, Machris
Hashekel.
6. Expenses for Mishloach Manos, Bris Mila, Pidyon Haben, Mezuza &
Shatnes checking, family member's funeral; cemetery plots; Kopores Gelt
7. Fees for your child to attend youth group trips or activities.
8. Donations to organizations like SPCA, Save The Whales, etc.;
"advertisements" and greetings in Bais Yaakov and Yeshiva year-books.
9. Donations to Israeli political parties, ZOA, AIPAC; non
orthodox educational or cultural Institutions (including
Holocaust memorials); JCC dues.
Notes: Generally, children who are old enough to receive an allowance
should be taught to pay Masser on their liable income.
Many optional payroll deductions such as those for health and life
insurance, loan repayment, etc. reduce one's net pay but not one's
Maaser liability.
In any given year, once one has given his first tithe according to
Halacha, one may use funds from a second tithe (Bli Neder) to pay
personal Chiuvim such as day school tuitions for one's own children and
expenses for Talesim, Tefillin, Mezuzas, Arba Minim, etc.
----end quote---
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From: Laurent D. Cohen <yldcohen@...>
Subject: Re: Guidelines for Tzedaka
There is an excellent book by R. Azriel Rosenfeld Z"L Maaser Kesafim at
feldheim I think.
David Cohen
<yldcohen@...>
Planning to be in Paris? Have a look at my kosher restaurant page:
kosher.online.fr or http://www.geocities.com/yldcohen
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From: Martin Stern <md.stern@...>
Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 13:49:42 +0100
Subject: Re: Marriage Depends on Consummation?
on 19/5/04 12:03 pm, Yisrael Medad <ybmedad@...> wrote:
> Seems the opposition of the Prisons' Service to Yigal Amir's wedding
> is Halachic:
>
> "Representatives of the State Prosecutor's Office, which is
> representing the Prisons Service, claim that the position of the chief
> rabbi of the Prisons Service is that "it's preferable not to hold such
> weddings" if the prisoner is not allowed to consummate the marriage."
>
> Anyone competent to comment on this aspect of Halacha, that is if the
> Chief Rabbi of the Prisons Service was reliably quoted?
The halachic question might be that, should consummation be forbidden by
the prison authorities, the kiddushin might not be effective since they
would be kiddushin she'einam mesurin lebiah.
I can't help thinking that this is not really a halachic question but a
reflection of the institutionalised hatred of the young man. After all,
Palestinian terrorist murderers serving multiple life sentences have
been allowed to marry and consummate the union, one of them, I believe,
twice. Sodomitic justice!
Martin Stern
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From: Yael Levine Katz <ylkpk@...>
Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 09:17:08 +0200
Subject: Rav Ovadiah Yosef
For quite a few years, Rav Ovadiah Yosef spoke on the radio on Friday
afternoons at the end of the Kabbalat Shabbat program on the first radio
channel, in what was known as "Pinnat ha-Halakhah". Many of these
teshuvot were published in "Yehaveh Da'at". However, "Pinnat
ha-Halakhah" was also published as a newspaper column in one or more of
the weekly religious newspapers. I was wondering if someone could bring
to my attention which this was or which these were.
Yael
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From: <StevenJ81@...> (Steven White)
Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 11:09:05 -0400
Subject: Re: Summer Time All-Year Round
In MJ 42:71, Akiva Miller writes:
> From what I see in two different sources, sunrise in Paris can get as
> late as 8:44 AM -- and that is WITHOUT an extra hour. I have to wonder
> how they cope even now. And then with the extra hour, the sun won't be
> visible until 9:44!!! Yow, that must be difficult! Anyone here from
> France who can tell us more?
Je ne suis pas français, mais ...
The longitude of Paris is just 2 degrees (and change) east of Greenwich.
Therefore, its local time zone ought to be the same as that of London,
GMT (or UT or Z or 0 or whatever). (Side note: French maps, for quite a
long while, showed longitude based on Paris, not Greenwich!)
It turns out that when the Germans occupied France in 1941, they imposed
the standard time zone of Central Europe, GMT+1, on France. After the
war, France never changed it back; over time, I suppose, it became clear
that having all of Western Europe on a single time zone had a number of
advantages in terms of convenience and coordination. So France (and
Spain) effectively have year-round summer time, and double summer time
in the summer, though they don't call it that.
The UK, Ireland and Portugal, all "naturally" located in time zone GMT
(or farther west), and none of which were occupied by the Germans,
retain GMT.
Along the same lines, the time zones in the Soviet Union had long been
set at an hour farther east than the longitude would justify. Hence,
the principal time zone of European Russia, that of Leningrad, Kiev and
Moscow, was GMT+3, even though Leningrad and Kiev should "naturally" be
at GMT+2, and Moscow would be a borderline case. Since the fall of the
Soviet Union, the former Soviet republics in the west have moved to
GMT+2, but Russia's 11 time zones are still, for the most part, one hour
to the east of what they "should" be.
Finally, both Western and Eastern Europe start summer time the last
weekend of March (a week earlier than North America), and end the last
weekend of October, same as North America. That arrangement is now
open-ended, but is only about two years old. For a while prior to that,
Continental Europe "fell back" the last week of September, a full month
before North America and the British Isles.
I can't imagine how permanent summer time would work well for Israel at
its latitude (J'lem, Casablanca and Savannah, GA about the same).
Steven White
Highland Park, NJ
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From: Eitan Fiorino <Fiorino@...>
Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 08:50:14 -0400
Subject: Zchus or curse??
> From: Carl Singer <casinger@...>
> Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 06:38:04 -0400
> Subject: More on Sheitels
>
> As I recall (and my memory is often faulty) There is mention
> made in the Gemorah of a woman who always covered her hair --
> as I recall the phrase is that the beams of her home never
> saw her uncovered head -- she then had the zchus that all of
> her sons became Cohain Gadol. This would seem to imply
> reasons NOT associated with male strangers seeing her hair.
It does seem like the gemara is praising what sounds like an act of
piety, but let's not forget in order for a woman to see all 7 of her
sons become kohen gadol, she must have buried at least 6 of them!
The obligation for married women to cover their hair does not only
derive from the prohibition of men to pray in the presence of erva; if I
recall dat moshe and/or dat yehudit requires some kind of head covering
for married women when in a public place. This obligation does not, to
my knowledge, apply to one's own home, but it would apply outside the
home regardless of whether men are present or not.
-Eitan
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End of Volume 42 Issue 74
