Volume 57 Number 68
Produced: Thu, 31 Dec 2009 02:25:12 EST
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Agunim
[Rabbi Meir Wise]
Ba`al HaTurim on the Torah, Hiddushim on the mainstream
[Ira L. Jacobson]
Book Review Podcast: "Fresh Fruit & Vintage Wine"
[Jeffrey Saks]
Prayer for Women Murdered by Their Spouses (2)
[Yael Levine Orrin Tilevitz]
Rav Soloveitick Notes on Gemora Berochos from Moriah
[Mark Steiner]
Shabbat Elevators
[<chips@...>]
Spousal Abuse
[Rabbi Meir Wise]
Welcome Home to the New Olim (and 400 photos)
[Jacob Richman]
Xmas in Israel
[Yisrael Medad]
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From: Rabbi Meir Wise <Meirhwise@...>
Date: Sat, Dec 26,2009 at 01:01 PM
Subject: Agunim
In response to R. Teitz, I hope my attempt made it
clear that there are more agunim than agunot and that some of them
suffer as much and some even more.
One agun or one agunah is one too many, and I have written a suggested
solution or alleviation.
I made one mistake I wrote daughter instead of granddaughter. I stand
by the rest of what I wrote.
R. Teitz wrote to me offline that the mother-in-law understood that it
was a condition of the engagement that the couple should not leave
Israel rather that an instruction from the Brisker Rov. It comes to
the same thing but it is interesting that he does not even mention
this "condition" in his posting.
Does R.Teitz think that an assumed condition in an engagement
overrides a call to head one of the largest yeshivot in the world?
The wife was happy to join him but prevented by her mother!
There might have been other ramim [rabbinical teachers --MOD] in a large yeshiva
like Lakewood but based on the Talmud says "go into the street and ask who is
the rosh yeshiva of lakewood".
The wife refused to collect the get so he was advised to make a shtar
heter 100 rabbis [support of 100 rabbis as a halachic enabler for an action
--MOD]. And since this takes time, effort, travel and money
as they need to be senior rabbis from 3 countries. Perhaps the
students in Lakewood did not feel qualified or perhaps too closely
involved.
I said the Feinsteins were related to the Soloveitchiks by mariage and
hence Reb Moshe refused to get involved. R. Teitz tries to correct me
by saying that they are related on the other side. What difference
does it make? A daughter
of Reb Elya Pruzhner (Feinstein) the uncle of Reb Moshe married Reb
Moshe Soloveitchik the father of Rabbi J B Soloveitchik of Riets and
Boston.
All I said was the Feinsteins didn't want to get involved.
Who organised the shtar heter meah rabbonim was none other than Harav
Shach zatzal (one of the) rosh yeshiva of Ponovitch a beloved Talmid
of the Brisker Rov!
I saw the posters and whereas not seeing is not a proof seeing is!
I have no links with either side and claim to be unbiased but those
who want to read a fuller account can find it in a book called
"shehamafteach beyado" on Harav Shach by a modern orthodox quite
unbiased journalist.
Meanwhile I am looking forward to all mailers, rabbis or not, to join
in with solutions or alleviations to the problem of agunim and agunot.
We all agree that it is a problem we don't need to go into the gory
details one by one or have a contest as to who suffered most!
Lets use our energy and intelligence at a solution.
Shavua tov
Rabbi Meir Wise
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From: Ira L. Jacobson <laser@...>
Date: Fri, Dec 25,2009 at 08:01 AM
Subject: Ba`al HaTurim on the Torah, Hiddushim on the mainstream
Yael Levine stated:
>Contrary to what Jacobson wrote,
I strenuously object to the way Yael Levine refers to me. My boss
does not call me by my surname; my rabbanim do not call me by my
surname; my neighbors do not call me by my surname; and my friends
also do not. This has all the markings of contempt, particularly
since Yael Levine repeats this usage over and over again. I have never seen
this done before;
it is amazing that the moderators let this through.
Other than this, Yael Levine seems not to have noticed my questions,
although I have repeated them twice. Rather, she chooses to classify
herself along with the Besht, Rav Kook, and others.
Orrin Tilevitz wrote:
>Yael is, of course, correct--gedolim on occasion write prayers. . .
>. Prayers by gedolim are accepted in large part because these
>gedolim are thought of not only great scholars but also as people of
>great humility. Did the Besht think that he was in the category of,
>say, the Besht? Vehamevin yavin.
In a similar vein, Mordechai Horowitz wrote:
>Yep and like 95% of frum Jews I see these old men who call
>themselves gedolim as fools.
This is also a shocking claim ("also" referring to the claims of
would-be prayer-writers), and I wish to disassociate myself from this
statement. Perhaps I misunderstood it; I understood this to mean as
though the overwhelming percentage of Jews who observe Torah and
mitzvot reject the posqim of this and previous generations. Would it
not be fair to characterize this claim as absurd and as lashon hara?
Other than the fact that the now essentially defunct HaTzofe
newspaper published her prayer, I still am interested in knowing
which are the multitude of synagogues where Yael Levine's prayer is
recited, but as of this moment, I have not found a one. That would
not be so bad, since, as Yael Levine hinted, "lo ra'iti eina re'aya"
(which translates to "[the fact that] I have not seen [a certain
thing] is not evidence [that it does not exist]"), but perhaps Ms.
Levine will finally give us some information. Or perhaps revise her
claim.
This reminds me of the recent discussion I had with someone at Haaretz
(a far-left Israeli daily). When I characterized that paper as far-left
(refreezing to Gideon Levy and Amira Hass), he noted that Prof. Arens has
a column also from time to time. Vehamevin yavin.
If Yael Levine does not respond after the question has been asked
three times, we have little choice but to assume the obvious.
--------
NOTE: I have found a wonderful website just chock full or
misquotations at http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/List_of_misquotations
. It includes Shakespeare's "Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned,
Machiavelli's "The end justifies the means," Leo
Durocher's not-exact-quote: "Nice guys finish last," Jack Webb's
"Just the facts, ma'am," Sherlock Holmes' "Elementary, my dear
Watson," Lord Acton's "Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts
absolutely" and even Winston Churchill's "Blood, Sweat, and Tears."
This may be just a bit off-topic, but it is something we can all
agree on and therefore worth posting.
Also see Yogi Berra's unquotes at http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yogi_Berra .
~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=
IRA L. JACOBSON
=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~
mailto:<laser@...>
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From: Jeffrey Saks <atid@...>
Date: Sun, Dec 27,2009 at 10:01 AM
Subject: Book Review Podcast: "Fresh Fruit & Vintage Wine"
ATID's Jewish Educator's Book Club has a new podcast episode reviewing Rabbi
Yitzchak Blau's "Fresh Fruit & Vintage Wine: The Ethics and Wisdom of the
Aggada" (Ktav with OU Press & Yeshivat Har Etzion).
Available as an MP3 from the iTunes Store or through this link:
http://atid.s467.sureserver.com/books/blau.mp3
Rabbi Jeffrey Saks
Director, ATID - Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directions
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From: Yael Levine <ylevine@...>
Date: Sun, Dec 27,2009 at 09:01 AM
Subject: Prayer for Women Murdered by Their Spouses
Orrin Tilevitz resurfaced a past discussion. He now summed it up, viewing his
own opinion. I produced at the time sound halakhic and legal opinions according
to which carrying out a translation without the consent of the author is an
infringement of the author's basic right. For some reason, you preferred not to
mention this. You mentioned the tunes of R. Shlomo Carlebach. In that connection
it should be stated that the rights of his spiritual legacy are carefully
guarded by his inheritors, and according to what I read, the family sued people
who infringed their rights.
Orrin mentioned Gilad Shalit. I posted on this very list an announcement
concerning a prayer I composed for Rosh ha-Shanna. The prayer was recited
worldwide, and was endorsed by many rabbanim. For some reason, noone on this
list rose up against it at the time.
Orrin concluded his post by writing:
>But there is a bigger problem. Prayers by gedolim are accepted in large part
>because these gedolim are thought of not only great scholars but also as people
>of great humility. Did the Besht think that he was in the category of, say, the
>Besht? Vehamevin yavin.
R. Nathan Sternharz, whose Jahrzeit is marked today, 10 of Tevet, foremost
disciple of R. Nachman, wrote in the intro to his extensive work that others
claimed he wasn't worthy of composing prayers. He refutes this notion. I will
refer you to this intro, or to the compilation of prayers I edited "Sim Shalom".
Yael Levine
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Orrin Tilevitz <tilevitzo@...>
Date: Sun, Dec 27,2009 at 11:01 AM
Subject: Prayer for Women Murdered by Their Spouses
>From Yael:
> You mentioned the tunes of R. Shlomo
> Carlebach. In that connection it should be stated that the rights
> of his spiritual legacy are carefully guarded by his inheritors, and according
> to what I read, the family sued people who infringed their rights.
Good point. But R. Shlomo, AFIK, did not.
> R.Nathan Sternharz, whose Jahrzeit is marked today, 10 of Tevet, foremost
> disciple of R. Nachman, wrote in the intro to his extensive work that others
> claimed he wasnt worthy of composing prayers. He refutes this notion.
I don't know that nobody in the past who composed prayers in the past tooted his
or her own horn. Can Yael point to any such prayers that are widely recited today?
> Orrin mentioned Gilad Shalit.
> I posted on this very list an announcement concerning a prayer I composed for
> Rosh ha-Shanna. The prayer was recited worldwide, and was endorsed by many
> rabbanim. For some reason, noone on this list rose up against it at the time.
For at least the last few years, members of this list have seen fit to discuss
what we perceive as deviations from normative Judaism by charedim, but refrain
from discussing such deviations from the other end of the spectrum other than to
address something posted to the list from someone on that end. Why that is true
and whether that should be true is for another time. The fact is that Yael's mi
sheberach came under discussion in 2007 only after she attempted to post the
Hebrew original to the list, and her prayer here similarly came under discussion
only when she brought it up on the list. Similarly, she brought up the Shalit
prayer herself first. In a tradition of this list with a long and honorable
history, I do not care how many rabbanim endorsed that prayer and what their
stature is. It seems to me like a political manifesto designed to
dictate policy to the Israeli government and so I would be opposed to reciting it.
I understand
that you are a credentialed Jewish scholar. I am not and do not pretend to be
one. Being a credentialed Jewish scholar is neither necessary nor sufficient,
IMHO, to write tefilot designed to be recited betzibur, with your name attached.
AFIK, the tefila for medinat yisrael, for tzahal, and for the American army were
all unattributed group efforts.
Writing a Tefilah is a serious business. Part of reciting a tefilah is invoking
its author. Consider that the centerpiece of the davening on Yom Kippur at
neilah and kol nidre is the shlosh esrei midot, which were written (depend on
how you look at things) either by Hashem or by by Moshe Rabbeinu, who
was "anav meod mikol haadam" (the humblest person). When we recite unetane
tokef, we are invoking, in part, the righteousness of the martyr who, according
to legend, composed it. When we recite your prayers, we are invoking, in part,
you.
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From: Mark Steiner <marksa@...>
Date: Wed, Dec 30,2009 at 01:01 PM
Subject: Rav Soloveitick Notes on Gemora Berochos from Moriah
Many of the shiurim have been posted on the Internet, and can be found on
http://www.bcbm.org/index.htm the Bergen County Beis Medrash Program. For
those who can follow Yiddish, it is a "fargenign" as R. Soloveitchik was one
of the century's great Yiddish orators. I listen to the shiurim all the
time.
Mark Steiner
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From: <chips@...>
Date: Tue, Dec 29,2009 at 12:01 AM
Subject: Shabbat Elevators
> Obviously nothing has changed about Shabbos elevators. The claim that
> there is a problem - or rather the new reason why there should be a
> problem - because there were some old objections - but the new reason
> that accordimng to them every observant Jew should accept seems to be
> extra energy is used in carrying an additional load and this is
> directly the result of being on the elevator.
>
> The problem with that concept is that that would apply to a lot of other
> things too. Not just elevators, but also refrigerators for instance.
> Opening and clsoing the door could cause the motor to work harder and
> also putting in food.
I am not aware of any posek who allows one to open the refrigerator if the
motor is not running for those refrigerator's which have motors that
automatically rev up when a door is opened.
Similarly, I doubt one could find a posek who would allow doing anything
to a thermostat that would cause the HVAC to automatically change.
If going into or coming out of an elevator causes the elevator to
automatically adjust its "motor" due to change of weight (easy way to
tell: if elevator takes longer to move with more people in it than the
"motor" is not get adjusted) than a posek needs to look into it. The
people getting off probably wouldn't care that the elevator is not going
to go faster but people getting on probably do care that the elevator is
not going to go slower - and therefore it would be problematic.
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From: Rabbi Meir Wise <Meirhwise@...>
Date: Wed, Dec 23,2009 at 02:01 PM
Subject: Spousal Abuse
Whilst David Roth's legnthy posting is impressive, it should not
blind us to fact that the comment I quoted appears in all the
manuscripts, some unpublished but consulted by R. Koppul Reinitz in
his Shoham Yakar on the Baal Haturim, and all the printed editions
from 1489 by the abudraham (some claim him as a Talmid of the Tur)
down to the present day.
Merely to say that it doesn't blend in or was added without any kind
of proof is revisionism at it's worst.
Water levels in Israel rising and weather lovely!
Rabbi Meir Wise
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From: Jacob Richman <jrichman@...>
Date: Wed, Dec 30,2009 at 12:01 PM
Subject: Welcome Home to the New Olim (and 400 photos)
Hi Everyone!
Congratulations and welcome home to the 210 new olim that
made aliyah to Israel from North America. The aliyah charter flight
arrived in Israel on Wednesday morning and included 40 children in
41 families, 81 singles, and 13 IDF Soldiers. The youngest oleh in
the group is 2 months old and the oldest oleh is 86 years old.
I took 400 photos of the exciting, historic event and I posted them
online at:
http://www.jr.co.il/pictures/israel/history/2009/a560.htm
I also posted the 400 photos on Facebook for name tagging.
There are two sets of photos and you can access the albums via:
http://bit.ly/olim-photos-facebook
If you have a Facebook acccount and you are in the photos or
see someone you know, please feel free to name tag the photos.
May the aliyah from all over of the world grow and bring
more Jews back to their homeland, Eretz Yisrael.
Have a good day,
Jacob
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From: Yisrael Medad <ybmedad@...>
Date: Thu, Dec 31,2009 at 12:11 AM
Subject: Xmas in Israel
Rabbi Meir Wise's complaint about Xmas music and broadcasting over Galei
Tzahal points to another problem of Rabbis:
How do you deal with the framework of renewed sovereignty and political
power such as in this case.
The IDF has non-Jewish soldiers serving in it.
The country contains almost 20% non-Jews as citizens.
Is it not correct to provide at 2AM in the morning 2 hours of music
suitable to their persuasions, considering that very few songs
nowadays actually contain solid religious content that would be
Halachically objectionable?
Is there not a principle of "midarchi shalom" that could be used?
I recall the demos against Liturgica led by Rav Tzi Yehdua Kook zatzal
but that was definitely church music.
Yisrael Medad
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End of Volume 57 Issue 68
