Volume 54 Number 67
Produced: Fri May 11 5:07:37 EDT 2007
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Bowing for Shabbat (3)
[Ken Bloom, Michael Gerver, Sam Gamoran]
The Cost of Joining a Synagogue
[Marilyn Tomsky]
Psychologist resources for sexual issues for religious patients
[Tzvi Stein]
Turning for L'Cha Dodi (2)
[Jonathan Baker, Yisrael Medad]
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From: Ken Bloom <kbloom@...>
Date: Wed, 9 May 2007 09:02:47 -0500
Subject: Re: Bowing for Shabbat
> From: Ben Katz <bkatz@...>
> According to Rabbi Dr. Sperber, because the sun sets in the west, the
> new day is thought to arise in the west, and thus the west is the
> direction from which shabat "comes from" friday eve. in tzefat where
> kabalat shabat originated, people davened outside an would turn west.
> when shuls were built, since they usually faced east, we turn to the
> back to greet our newly arrived guest. that being said, as i write
> this i am unsure what is done in israel in shuls that do not face
> east.
This is the practice perscribed by the Ben Ish Chai (Year 2, Vayera,
n.2), by the Kaf HaHayyim 262:32, and Yalkut Yosef Shabbat Alef p 199
(267:6). The Ben Ish Chai says that kabbalat shabbat should preferably
be done in a field (making the location of doors completely irrelevant),
and Yalkut Yosef mentions that one should face the west even if one's
back is to the Aron HaKodesh when doing so. This suggests to me that
it's even less problematic to face the west if the Aron HaKodesh is in
the west. One faces the west from Mizmor L'david (Tehillim 29) thru the
end of L'cha Dodi.
--Ken
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From: Michael Gerver <mjgerver@...>
Date: Fri, 11 May 2007 02:40:29 +0300
Subject: Bowing for Shabbat
Since this topic has come up before in mail-jewish, I paid attention to
this when I spent Shabbat in Maalot a few months ago. There they face
south, toward Jerusalem, when they daven, of course. But for the last
verse of Lecha Dodi, they face west.
Mike Gerver
Raanana, Israel
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From: Sam Gamoran <SGamoran@...>
Date: Wed, 9 May 2007 14:16:33 +0300
Subject: RE: Bowing for Shabbat
From: Ben Katz <bkatz@...>
> According to Rabbi Dr. Sperber, because the sun sets in the west, the
> new day is thought to arise in the west, and thus the west is the
> direction from which shabat "comes from" friday eve. in tzefat where
> kabalat shabat originated, people davened outside an would turn west.
> when shuls were built, since they usually faced east, we turn to the
> back to greet our newly arrived guest. that being said, as i write
> this i am unsure what is done in israel in shuls that do not face
> east.
>From what I recall most shuls in Tzefat face south towards Jerusalem.
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From: Marilyn Tomsky <jtomsky@...>
Date: Thu, 10 May 2007 16:55:27 -0700
Subject: The Cost of Joining a Synagogue
Nearly forty years ago in order to join our temple in Northern
California, my husband and I had to pay $10,000 towards the Building
Fund. So we had to wait some time before we could join and put our son
in the classes. But we always attended the services. When we finally
paid off the Building Fund we had to pay a yearly Maintenance Fee that
today is a flat $250. We have a sliding scale for membership payment
based upon salary, savings, stock bonds etc. but it is expensive. We
used to pay all tuition costs for Hebrew and the separate Torah study
classes too per a child. This continues for others still.
Every year membership costs go up. It is supposed to be voluntary, but
suddenly we are told, that we all need to pay from $500 the next year
and we are presented with a new scale of payment. The purpose is to
create a pre-school on the temple property and hire a new rabbi-educator
just for that school. My husband and I didn't feel this was fair.
There is always a young couple group with children coming in, but the
bulk of the temple is aging parents with adult children, who live
elsewhere like us. There's little for us there. Nearly everything is
for the children. We have a senior rabbi and an assistant rabbi. We
have a full time educator and two assistants for the kids. A number of
teachers. A full time rabbi/educator for adults only. A full time
cantor and two assistants because there are B'nai mitzvahs almost every
Saturday all year and the kids even double up to save costs. There are
1,4?? members or units (a unit is either a single person or a family -
parents and young children).
We have a number of buildings and many classrooms. We have a chapel,
conference room, a huge sanctuary, dinning hall with a stage for plays,
a kitchen and a large landscaped patio to take the overflow. We also
have a summer ark outdoors under shady trees. Below the hill a separate
dividing second sanctuary with many classrooms around.
We have an area in a Jewish cemetery in a distant city for our members
where my son is buried.
Last week the new president of the temple wrote everyone a letter, that
the temple has outgrown its parking lots, classroom and offices. They
need more offices for the staff. They need to build more buildings in
the future. We had 91 new student this year to join about 6?? others.
An acre of land might become available on one side of the property and
to be prepared, he wanted some of the temple members to get together and
arrange to buy the land and hold it for one year. If the temple decided
not to buy the land, then they would be free to develop or sell it. If
the temple decided to buy it, then the group should sell it back to the
temple and the temple would pay their expensives.
Nothing was discussed with us or voted upon before. It was all just
delivered. I don't think that this is right. Many members are still
recovering after the computer bubble burst and they lost their jobs for
a long period of time. Some still haven't found a job. Some are too
old to be rehired by companies that want brilliant young energetic
professionals. Many of us are retiring or are retired. Nothing is
being said about limiting temple membership. It is something to think
about before you join.
I've began to wonder just how much it costs at other temples and shuls.
Marilyn Tomsky
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From: Tzvi Stein <Tzvi.Stein@...>
Date: Thu, 10 May 2007 07:31:23 -0400
Subject: Re: Psychologist resources for sexual issues for religious patients
From: Joseph Ginzberg <jgbiz120@...>
> In my first career I was in that field, and grappled mightily with the
> issues that the above will face, in an attempt to formulate a "kosher"
> approach that would also be therapeutic and effective. I was unable to
> do so, because too frequently cases arise wherein the halacha mandates
> actions that would not be appropriate from a psychological (and
> sometimes legal) point of view.
>
> For example, dealing with confessions of spousal extramarital issues,
> masturbation, failure to act in accord with halacha when the spouse
> wasn't around, and so on- could require condemnatory comments or
> notifying the spouse of this behavior, not a good idea for a therapist
> and certainly legally problematic.
I'm really surprised that you were "unable" to work this out! These
days there are quite a few frum people working in the social work /
counseling / psychology field, so it would seem that there are
halachically viable approaches.
I'm not familiar with any halacha that would require notifying someone
about their spouse's behavior, if that behavior doesn't affect them
(i.e. the examples you cited of "masturbation, failure to act in accord
with halacha when the spouse wasn't around"). On the contrary, it would
seem that it would be forbidden to notify the spouse, due to the
halachas of loshon hara.
As for "extramarital issues", that would only bring up a possible issue
if a married *woman* had admitted to actual adultery (not just fantasies
or any behavior short of actual adultery), since that may affect the
husband halachically. But even in that case, I don't think thre is any
halachic mandate to inform the spouse.
As for "condemnatory comments"... I don't know of any halacha that
requires "condemning" anyone! If you are referring to "rebuke", that is
supposed to be constructive and likely to lead to a change of behavior.
Also, if you know that the rebuke won't be effective, you are not
required to give it.
Finally, there is the matter of "law of the land", which halacha
requires you to follow, and may exempt you from many of these concerns.
It just seems to me these issues you raise have solutions, and it would
not be necessary to abandon a career in this field.
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From: Jonathan Baker <jjbaker@...>
Date: Wed, 9 May 2007 12:04:17 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Turning for L'Cha Dodi
From: <dtaragin@...> (David Taragin)
> This is more of a sociological observation rather than an halachic
> question: I have noted often that in Shuls where the door is not in the
> rear of the shul, but near the front, everybody seems to turn around and
> face the rear anyway and bow to greet the Malka, even though she is
> probably entering from the front. I guess this another example of
> people doing something they are accustomed to doing before thinking
> about what they are actually doing.
What they are actually doing? Turning away from the Torah to greet
an abstraction.
Does an abstraction need a door?
(paraphrasing Capt. Kirk: Does God need a starship?)
Is there perhaps a greater problem in turning one's back on the Torah?
R' Riskin once reprimanded a founding member of his shul who, following
his German custom, turned completely away from the Kohanim during
duchening, thereby also turning his back on the Aron, containing the
Torahs. Said member thereafter turned away, but not completely around.
And also, what are we doing in turning for L'cha Dodi?
- turning to the door to greet the Queen?
- turning away from the Aron, if the queen approaches the Aron?
- turning to the West, since the sun sets in the west, which signals
the beginning of Shabbat?
Moshe Hallamish, in his recent "Kabbalistic Practices on Shabbat",
considers the question on pp. 228-230.
It seems to have started with the Tzfat group, with the terse notation
"they go out to the field to greet the Shabbat, facing west." Later,
that seems to have glommed onto just the last stanza of Lecha Dodi.
By 17th-century Galicia, a source notes "they turn towards the western
door". Other late teshuvot note "turning towards the door" or "turning
to the west, because the Shechina is in the west".
The Mishna Brura (turn to the west to greet the shechina which is in the
west) and the Aruch haShulchan (turn to the door) (both c. 1900) differ.
R' B. Zilber (Oz Nidberu) tries to reconcile them, in terms of synagogue
construction. He brings a third opinion explaining the "turn to the
west" as non-literal, rather practical, to signal the mourners who are
sitting in the western doorway that they can come in. He notes that
shuls in the North of Israel, which should turn from South to North,
actually turn to the West. So the reason must be to greet the Queen,
Extra Soul, etc. from the kabbalistic reasons.
(MB and AhS deal with this in ch. 262).
The Yad Beit HaLevi notes that Sefardim in Tzfat would go out to the
courtyard and turn to the West; in Galut this doesn't happen, but they
still turn to the West, so it's clear that the whole thing is symbolic.
R' Zilber notes that since the Torahs are more than 10 tefachim above
the ground (I know shuls where they are not), and turning away is only
prohibited to greet a friend, because it's like bowing to the friend
(and away from the Torahs) it is not a problem to turn away from the
Torahs for this (citing Levush 150; this Levush is also cited by R'
Ezriel Hildesheimer, OH #22).
Hallamish concludes with a passage from the siddur Tikun Shabbat by R'
Moshe b. Gershom of Zalshin, 1827, saying that one should say the last
verse with great joy, facing west from which one gets the Extra Soul,
and the Sabbath Queen, adornment of Her husband. This implies that the
Shechinah/Sabbath Queen nourishes us with the Extra Soul.
name: jon baker web: http://www.panix.com/~jjbaker
address: <jjbaker@...> blog: http://thanbook.blogspot.com
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From: Yisrael Medad <ybmedad@...>
Date: Wed, 09 May 2007 22:34:07 +0300
Subject: Turning for L'Cha Dodi
David Taragin highlights an issue that has been discussed here a good
few years ago when he notes that
>in Shuls where the door is not in the rear of the shul, but near the
>front, everybody seems to turn around and face the rear anyway
and suggests
>I guess this another example of people doing something they are
>accustomed to doing before thinking about what they are actually doing.
Well, in a sense, true. The bowing should be towards the West where the
S'chinah is, not to any door, front, rear or otherwise. I always get a
kick of watching the reactions of guests here at Shiloh when they get up
for the last verse and realize that everyone is facing the "wrong" way
and they either continue facing the rear or slowly realize that perhaps
they are in the "wrong" direction.
Yisrael Medad
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End of Volume 54 Issue 67
