Volume 58 Number 25
Produced: Sun, 06 Jun 2010 19:44:36 EDT
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
eating before a fast before dawn (7)
[Hillel (Sabba) Markowitz Orrin Tilevitz Joseph Kaplan Martin Stern Sammy Finkelman Akiva Miller Steven Oppenheimer]
execution of Vashti (3)
[Robert A. Book Robert Schoenfeld Yisrael Medad]
gabbais and yahrzeit
[Bernard Raab]
motzei shabbat davening for yahrzeit
[Yisrael Medad]
motzei shabbat maariv and synagogues with unlikely names
[Nachum Amsel]
yekum porkan
[David Ziants]
ykum purkon and berich shemei
[Sammy Finkelman]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Hillel (Sabba) Markowitz <sabbahillel@...>
Date: Wed, Jun 2,2010 at 04:01 PM
Subject: eating before a fast before dawn
Ira Bauman <irabauman1@...> wrote:
>
> When I found out years ago that my headaches on fast days resulted from
> caffeine withdrawal, I started to wean myself off caffeine for the 3 days
> before the taanis [fast --MOD]. On the fast days other than tisha b'Av and Yom
> Kippur, I now get up before dawn and have my coffee. While I'm up I also
> partake of a light breakfast.
The fact that you have headaches if you do not do this would seem to
be the critical point is the question. IIRC (If I recall Correctly),
my rav once explained that in order to do this, one should make an
explicit tnai (conditional promise?) before going to bed. This should
be the subject of an explicit question to your Rav who can take into
account the exact circumstances and advise you how to proceed. Some
people would not be allowed to fast based on the seriousness of the
headache and other would be required to fast based on the mildness of
the headache. THus, you should ask rather than rely on hashkafa.
It is quite possible that the book that you read was speaking about
the general case in which the person involves does not get sick as a
result of the fast. In that case, getting up early could be considered
attempting to "avoid" the fast.
--
Sabba - ' " - Hillel
Hillel (Sabba) Markowitz |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Orrin Tilevitz <tilevitzo@...>
Date: Wed, Jun 2,2010 at 04:01 PM
Subject: eating before a fast before dawn
<What is the prevailing thought on starting the taanis morning with a
predawn light breakfast?>
I have no clue what "prevails" these days, but my rav in Brooklyn, an
internationally respected black-hatted rosh beis din and talmid chacham,
routinely announces in shul the time the fast starts in the morning and says
that you can eat breakfast before if you had the intention to do so before you
went to bed. Halachic calendars also routinely announce the start of the fast,
and if you can't eat before then, what does it matter
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Joseph Kaplan <penkap@...>
Date: Wed, Jun 2,2010 at 04:01 PM
Subject: eating before a fast before dawn
Ira Bauman asks for advice about his practice about getting up early to eat
before a fast since R. Baruch Epstein strongly opposes such a practice. I
have no advice about the halachic issue; outside my area of competence. But
I do have some practical advice about caffeine withdrawal headaches on fast
days which Ira refers to in his post. My family used to get these type of
headaches on fast days. A number of years ago, one of my daughters
discovered that drinking a bottle of Powerade (or Gatorade which at that
time did not have a hashgacha but today either has one or is in the process
of getting one) the day before the fast not only eliminates such headaches
but makes us less tired and hungry during the fast day. I don't get any
commission from Powerade, but I highly recommend it before fasts - it's
worked for all of us.
Joseph Kaplan
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Martin Stern <md.stern@...>
Date: Wed, Jun 2,2010 at 04:01 PM
Subject: eating before a fast before dawn
On Sun, May 30,2010, Ira Bauman <irabauman1@...> asked:
> When I found out years ago that my headaches on fast days resulted from
> caffeine withdrawal, I started to wean myself off caffeine for the 3 days
> before the taanis [fast --MOD]. I now get up before dawn and have my
> coffee. While I'm up I also partake of a light breakfast.
>
> I have always been a big fan of R. Boruch Epstein I was pained to see in
> his Mekor Boruch, an anthology of his memoirs, in the footnotes (page 930)
> a fierce repudiation of the practice of waking to eat before dawn. He calls
> it m'chuor (ugly) and that it turns the taanis into a bdichusah (a joke).
>
> 1. What is the prevailing thought on starting the taanis morning with a
> predawn light breakfast?
The ruling given here in Manchester UK has been that it is permissible to
eat before dawn on a taanit provided
(i) one declares the previous evening that one has that intention,
(ii) if one wishes to have a full meal with bread, one starts approximately
half an hour before dawn.
Martin Stern
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Sammy Finkelman <sammy.finkelman@...>
Date: Wed, Jun 2,2010 at 08:01 PM
Subject: eating before a fast before dawn
IB wrote:
> When I found out years ago that my headaches on fast days resulted from
> caffeine withdrawal, I started to wean myself off caffeine for the 3 days
> before the taanis [fast --MOD]. On the fast days other than tisha b'Av and
> Yom Kippur, I now get up before dawn and have my coffee. While I'm up I also
> partake of a light breakfast.
> I have always been a big fan of R. Boruch Epstein the author of the
> Torah T'mima, Tosefes Brocha and Boruch Sheamar. Therefore I was pained to
> see in his Mekor Boruch, an anthology of his memoirs, in the footnotes (page
> 930) a fierce repudiation of the practice of waking to eat before dawn. He
> calls it m'chuor (ugly) and that it turns the taanis into a bdichusah (a
> joke). He didn't say it was forbidden; he said it was ugly and turned the
> fast into a joke.
> 1. What is the prevailing thought on starting the taanis morning with a
predawn light breakfast?
It's very standard. The only condition is that you have to decide before you
go to sleep that that is what you are going to do. If you do this every
night - say you drink water in the middle of the night - there is no need to
make a special condition. This is for instance in "Laws and Customs of
Israel, taken from the Chayye Adam and Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, Laws of Public
fast Days, S'if 4 on page 349 in Part III.
The Agudath Anshei Mamod small wall calendar gives the starting times and
ending times of the fast in new York. For instance, this year, in New York,
the fast of the 17th of Tammuz on June 30, starts at 4:15 AM and ends at
9:26 PM. The Home of the Sages of Israel calendar, however only has ending
times.
This does indeed in some case almost abolish the fast.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Akiva Miller <kennethgmiller@...>
Date: Thu, Jun 3,2010 at 08:01 AM
Subject: eating before a fast before dawn
Ira Bauman wrote:
> When I found out years ago that my headaches on fast days resulted
> from caffeine withdrawal, I started to wean myself off caffeine
> for the 3 days before the taanis [fast --MOD]. On the fast days
> other than tisha b'Av and Yom Kippur, I now get up before dawn and
> have my coffee. While I'm up I also partake of a light breakfast.
> ...
> ... I was pained to see in his Mekor Boruch, an anthology of his
> memoirs, in the footnotes (page 930) a fierce repudiation of the
> practice of waking to eat before dawn. He calls it m'chuor (ugly)
> and that it turns the taanis into a bdichusah (a joke).
> ...
> ... I am not coming to the forum with a halachic question here as
> much as asking for advice.
I am curious whether the Mekor Boruch simply makes those comments, or whether he
also gives an explanation for them. Not having access to that book, I would
suggest these ideas:
By calling this practice "a joke", I suppose that he views the early breakfast
as stripping the fast day of its meaning. While the letter of the law does allow
such a breakfast (see Shulchan Aruch 464 for how to do it properly), the spirit
of the law is that the fasting is supposed to be painful, to spur us towards
repentance. If an early breakfast would prevent that pain, I can easily see why
the Mekor Boruch would call such a practice "ugly".
But people are not all identical. Over the years I've heard from various places
that modern man is much weaker - and less able to withstand the rigors of
fasting - than people of even a century or two ago. The Mekor Boruch seems to
view an early breakfast as making the difference between a painful fast and a
painless fast, but in my experience it can make the difference between an
impossible fast and a merely painful one.
I'll be even more clear: Many are the times when my headache in the afternoon
(or even the morning) of a fast day was so bad that I had to break the fast for
a cup of coffee. My current practice is to get off my caffeine addiction a day
or two before the fast, and if I forget to do that, then I make an extra effort
to have coffee and breakfast in the early morning, before the fast officially
begins. This does NOT transform the fast day into a cake-walk. It is still
difficult, but not impossible; still painful, and not painless.
People with a stronger body than mine can tolerate fasting more easily than I
can. I suspect those are the people the Mekor Boruch spoke of. I doubt he was
speaking about me at my age.
Akiva Miller
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Steven Oppenheimer <steven.oppenheimer@...>
Date: Sun, Jun 6,2010 at 03:01 PM
Subject: eating before a fast before dawn
Regarding the question whether one is allowed to rise early before a fast in
order to eat:
One is allowed to eat before a fast as long as one begins eating at least
one half hour before the fast begins.
Isn't this explicit in the Shulchan Aruch O.Ch. 564?
"Any Fast Day where one is permitted to eat at night, whether public or
private (fast), one is allowed to eat and drink until daybreak (alot
hashachar), with the proviso that he did not sleep in the interim. However,
if he did go to sleep, he may not eat and drink unless he made a tenai
(condition) (before retiring for bed) that he would get up to eat and drink
(before the fast)."
So if one had the intention of rising and eating before the fast, it would
be permitted to rise early and eat and drink (with the proviso that he began
eating 1/2 hour before the fast begins). (Mishnah Berurah 564:4).
The Rema adds that drinking does not require one to make a tenai before
going to bed because people customarily drink something during the night
even after going to bed. (Mishnah Berurah 654:4)
See the following additional sources for why one must begin before one half
hour before daybreak:
Mishnah Berurah 69:27
Pri Megadim, Aishel Avrohom, 69:15
Hagahot Rabbi Akiva Eiger 69:7
Shulchan Aruch HaRav O. Ch. 70:5
Aishel Avrohom siman 69 al HaDaf
Siddur Derech HaChayim
Responsa Haelef Lecha Shlomo, O. Ch. 46
See also
Responsa Nitei Gavriel Hilchot Purim, 24:6
Responsa BeTzehl HaChochma 3:52
--
Steven Oppenheimer, D.M.D.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Robert A. Book <rbook@...>
Date: Thu, Jun 3,2010 at 11:01 PM
Subject: execution of Vashti
Russell J Hendel <rjhendel@...> writes:
> I think this a more reasonable approach. As I mentioned this is consistent with
> modern approaches to domestic violence. A lawyer once told me that 50% of
> murders happen because there is a fight in the house and a gun happens to be
> nearby and one of the angry parties use it. It is so to speak accidental under
> the influence of temper.
This is not exactly on topic, but that figure has to be off, since
less than 13% of U.S. murders are of family members and not all of those
involve a gun.
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_04/offenses_reported/violent_crime/murder.html
(Figure 2.4)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Robert Schoenfeld <frank_james@...>
Date: Fri, Jun 4,2010 at 12:01 AM
Subject: execution of Vashti
We should look to a more modern example: Henry VIII of England. He either
killed or divorced 5 wives. In Vashti's case she defied Achashvarosh and
was probably killed for that. He had second thoughts after the act
however as recorded in Esther
Bob
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Yisrael Medad <ybmedad@...>
Date: Fri, Jun 4,2010 at 08:01 AM
Subject: execution of Vashti
I might have missed something in this discussion but while Russell J
Hendel notes the passive verbal element, why not note the past
implication of "he remembered" - that Vashti is no longer around?
Yisrael
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Bernard Raab <beraab@...>
Date: Sun, May 30,2010 at 04:01 AM
Subject: gabbais and yahrzeit
Daniel Wiener <ppman@...> wrote:
> Not being a baal tefila [melodious], I have never asked to daven for the amud
> on shevi'i of pesach and yom kippur- my yahrzeits for my parents.
I commend you highly. A late friend of mine who was a great wit observed: "When
your father died he made you an aveil; not a chazzan."
Bernie R.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Yisrael Medad <ybmedad@...>
Date: Sat, May 29,2010 at 08:01 PM
Subject: motzei shabbat davening for yahrzeit
On this -
Harry Weiss wrote:
>> b. Does the yahrzeit bump an avel's [mourner in the year after a
>> parent's death] right to daven on the preceding motzaei shabbos?
This actually happened to me.
My yahrzeit day fell during midweek and, as I had previously davened on
the Motzei Shabbat, I got up to lead the services for Arvit but was
informed that the custom is only if the actual Yahrzeit day is the
Sunday does it override an aveil. Otherwise, it is the aveil that
davens.
So the answer to the above is "yes", the aveil takes precedence unless
the Yahrzeit falls on the Sunday.
Yisrael
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Nachum Amsel <namsel@...>
Date: Wed, Jun 2,2010 at 02:01 PM
Subject: motzei shabbat maariv and synagogues with unlikely names
In vol. 58 #15 Daniel Weiner wrote:
" Motzei Shabbat [departure of the Sabbath --MOD] davening the week prior
to Yahrtzeit is for the Yahrtzeit of the Neshama yesaira [additional soul of
Shabbat --MOD]. It does not take precedence over any real hiyuvim [mourners in
the year after the death of a parent or on a parent's yahrzeit -- MOD]."
In my Shul in Jerusalem, the custom is the opposite: the Yahrtzeit during
the coming week bumps off regular 12 month Aveilim (mourners) for Saturday
night Maariv. It was the first time I saw this when I moved to Israel, but
the calendar usually used in Israel (Tukechinsky) specifically says this is
the right thing to do. I think it is a custom of Jerusalem only.
Regarding strange names for synagogues, many years ago I lead the
Counterpoint program (outreach) in Australia, and we had to fly through New
Zealand both ways (one of the sponsors was a part owner in Air New Zealand).
Thus, I was invited to speak in a Shul in New Zealand on the way back from
our activities with the youth in Australia. The name of the community/city
was Christchurch. Thus, I received an invitation on the official letterhead
of the "Jewish Community of Christchurch."
Nachum
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: David Ziants <dziants@...>
Date: Thu, Jun 3,2010 at 08:01 AM
Subject: yekum porkan
I am neither Rav, Academic nor Scholar, but always find these issues
fascinating.
Going to link:
http://books.google.com/books?id=dXhAAy0FIWEC&pg=PA79&lpg=PA79&dq=%22Yekum+Purkan%22+%22Cambridge+Genizah&source=bl&ots=TB1SGvQLkL&sig=g7lV7wLWQ1vG2kyojWTi-nNnf6w&hl=en&ei=1kYHTJn4LoPJ_ganzIUC&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Yekum%20Purkan%22%20%22Cambridge%20Genizah&f=false
or alternatively (and possibly simpler) doing a search on Google Books:
"Yekum Purkan" "Cambridge Genizah" reaches a partial copy of the relevant
paper/book (it seems not to be complete on the WWW because of copyright reasons).
Of the section I glanced at, there seems to be a coupling of "yekum
porkan" (one of these Aramaic prayers is for Torah scholars), the
Rabbi's d'rasha [= sermon] and kaddish d'rabbanan [= Kaddish after
learning Torah] (or the paper relates to Geniza manuscripts that
contains a longer version of kaddish that is said these days after a
siyum [= completing a whole treatise]).
What strikes me is the juxtaposition of "yekum porkan" with the d'rasha
because from my experience, in the not so distant past the d'rasha was
said after the Sepher Tora is put away but before Half Kaddish of
Musaph. Over the recent years, in different shuls, I have see the
d'rasha been given after haphtara and before "yekum..". In my old
neighbourhood, I assumed it was done this way because when there was a
d'rasha it was the City Rav who would give this and he needed to finish
quickly so he could hop to the other shul to then give a drasha there
before musaph. Where I Iive now, it is not a shul hopping Rav, but one
of the Rabbanim of the shul I go to, who gives the d'rasha, but it is
still given at that point and I have been trying to work out why. I pity
the magbiah [=the person who lifts the Sepher Torah at the end] (that
could also very occasionally be me) as he has to continue holding the
Sepher until after the d'rasha.
At least, from what I read in the above, I find some explanation on this
practice.
It then flows nicely when the Rav finishes his d'rasha with words of
optimism and then... "yekum purkan min shamaya..." [="may come salvation
from heaven..."]
How widely is this custom followed?
David Ziants
Ma'aleh Adumim, Israel
> The Cairo Geniza has enriched our knowledge of the origins of the Yekum
> Purkan prayer. For a scholarly discussion of the origins of the Yekum
> Purkan prayer and previous scholarship see: Danzig, Neil, "Two
> Insights From a
> Ninth-Century Liturgical Handbook: the Origins of Yekum Purqan and Qaddish
> De-adata in The Cambridge Genizah Collections: Their Contents and
> Significance",
> edited by Stefan Reif, 74-122, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
> 2002.
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Sammy Finkelman <sammy.finkelman@...>
Date: Fri, Jun 4,2010 at 06:01 PM
Subject: ykum purkon and berich shemei
Yisrael Medad wrote:
>> It is well-know that the Aramaic of the Zohar is very problematic
>> grammatically and syntactically and that fact is used to prove that the
>> Zohar could not have been authored by Rav Shimon Bar-Yochai.
Martin Stern replied:
> This may well be so but AFAIK [as far as I know --MOD], the first Yekum
> Purkan was composed as a 'misheberach' [prayer for a person's wellbeing --MOD]
> for the Resh Galuta [head of the exile --MOD] and scholars of Bavel and is
> not derived from the Zohar.
It is Berich Shemay, not Yekum Pirkan, that comes from the Zohar, although I
don't if the text we use now is exactly what is in the Zohar.
The Phillip Birnbaum Siddur says it is from the Zohar in Vayakel.
At the weekday prayer Torah reading in his siddur, Birnbaum writes: The
Zohar introduces this inspiring and uplifting prayer as follows "When the
Torah is taken out to be read before the congregation, the heavenly gates of
mercy are opened and the divine love is aroused; therefore one should
recite: Berich shemay"
I think it was actually the Arizal, several centuries after the Zohar was
publicized, who first started saying it.
It was not originally supposed to be said during weekdays:
http://www.dailyhalacha.com/Display.asp?PageIndex=19&ClipID=506
"The Chid"a (Rabbi Chayim Yosef David Azulai, Israel, 1724-1806) claimed
that the Zohar refers only to the Shabbat services; when the Torah is taken
from the Heichal during the week, "Berich Shemei" is not recited. Most
Kabbalists held that "Berich Shemei" should be recited specifically during
the Mincha service on Shabbat, whereas the Arizal (renowned Kabbalist,
Israel, 1534-1572) recited this prayer during the Shabbat morning service,
as well. The Ben Ish Chai (Rabbi Yosef Chayim of Baghdad, 1833-1909), in his
work of responsa, Helek 3, Sod Yesharim, Siman 8, Rav Pe'alim cited proof in
support of the practice to recite "Berich Shemei" even during the week.
In any event, the practice in our community is to recite "Berich Shemei"
when taking the Torah from the Heichal only on Shabbat and Yom Tov."
That would apply to Sephardim.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Volume 58 Issue 25
