Volume 60 Number 44
Produced: Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:08:12 EDT
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Additions and changes to the Amidah during the 10 days (4)
[Ben Katz Martin Stern Chaim Casper Tony Fiorino]
Brakhah on chocolate and orange juice
[Martin Stern]
Brakhah on orange Juice
[Chaim Casper]
Rosh Hashana tefilla question
[Ralph Zwier]
Shofar blowing in Elul (2)
[Martin Stern Art Werschulz]
Spicy Problem
[Haim Snyder]
Travel on erev Shabbat
[Bernard Raab]
Zerizim makdimim
[Alexander Seinfeld]
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From: Ben Katz <BKatz@...>
Date: Mon, Oct 10,2011 at 04:01 PM
Subject: Additions and changes to the Amidah during the 10 days
Carl Singer <carl.singer@...> wrote (MJ 60#43):
> The last of the additions in the Amidah during the 9 days is in Sim Shalom
> -- where the brocha at the end is normally "Umvaraych es Amo Yisroel b'Shalom"
> [Who blesses His people Israel with peace]. During the 9 days this is
> augmented with B'sefar Chaim .... (In the book of life ....) concluding with
> "Oseh Hashalom" [Who makes peace].
>
> The above is per the several Art Scroll Hebrew-English Siddurs that I have
> (both Ashkenas and Nusach Sfard, weekday and Shabbos).
>
> Yesterday the Shatz in his repetition included the above augmentation but
> ended with "Umvaraych es Amo Yisroel b'Shalom". It turns out that the
> all-Hebrew Art Scroll siddur (yes, I know there are many editions) allows for
> this alternate ending.
>
> I'd appreciate some more history of the variants.
Rabbi Dr Sperber has an article or a chapter in a book about this (sorry, no
reference available off the top of my head). In short, this is the history to
the best of my understanding (thanks in part to me friend Arthur, who gave a
talk about this recently at a seudah shelishit):
The original ending of the Israeli beracha was "oseh hashalom", as attested by
genizah fragments. In Babylonia, the ending was codifed as "hamevarech et amo
Yisrael Bashalom".
For Kabalistic (numerology) reasons, it was suggested to change oseh shalom at
the end of kaddish to oseh ha-shalom between RH and YK. Because of a printing
misunderstanding and presumably an old memory regarding the original beracha,
the oseh hashalom became transposed to the last beracha of the amidah as well as
to the end of the kaddish.
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From: Martin Stern <md.stern@...>
Date: Mon, Oct 10,2011 at 09:35 PM
Subject: Additions and changes to the Amidah during the 10 days
In answer to Carl Singer (MJ 60#43):
AFAIK Nusach Sfard always uses the ending "Hamvaraych et Amo Yisroel
b'Shalom" as during the rest of the year.
The Vilna Gaon objected to changing to "Oseh Hashalom" (two versions: with a
segol meaning "who makes" or a tserei meaning "the maker of") because he
considered this to be meshaneh mimatbeiach shetavu chachamim [altering the
text set by Chazal]. His opinion was accepted by the Peirushim
[non-chassidic settlers] in Erets Yisrael and became the accepted "Ashkenaz"
custom there.
Martin Stern
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From: Chaim Casper <surfflorist@...>
Date: Mon, Oct 10,2011 at 09:35 PM
Subject: Additions and changes to the Amidah during the 10 days
In answer to Carl Singer (MJ 60#43):
I believe the RaMBa"M, the GR"A and the Rav, zt"l, all concluded the brakhah
with "Hamvaraych es Amo Yisroel b'Shalom" instead of "Oseh hashalom" because the
brakhah was establish by HaZa"L and it would be improper for us to change the
brakhah (with due respect to the Gaonim).
Actually, you can take this one step further. The three Ashkenazic
rabbanim listed above all said "Shalom Rav" at minhah and ma'ariv instead
of "Sim Shalom". Evidently, Shalom Rav is a very late addition (1600s?--it's
clear the RaMBa"M only said Sim Shalom) and so what right do we have to
change the brakhot of HaZa"L in the Amidah? And so Sim Shalom with the
brakhah "Hamevarekh et amo Yisrael" is recited year round, including the
aseret y'mei t'shuvah.
B'virkat Torah,
Chaim Casper
North Miami Beach, FL
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From: Tony Fiorino <afiorino@...>
Date: Wed, Oct 12,2011 at 09:01 AM
Subject: Additions and changes to the Amidah during the 10 days
> From: Carl Singer <carl.singer@...>
> Date: Mon, Oct 3,2011 at 09:01 AM
> Subject: Additions and changes to the Amidah during the 10 days
>
> The last of the additions in the Amidah during the 9 days is in Sim Shalom
> -- where the brocha at the end is normally "Umvaraych es Amo Yisroel
> b'Shalom" [Who blesses His people Israel with peace].
>
> During the 9 days this is augmented with B'sefar Chaim .... (In the book of
life
> ....) concluding with "Oseh Hashalom" [Who makes peace].
>
> The above is per the several Art Scroll Hebrew-English Siddurs that I have
> (both Ashkenas and Nusach Sfard, weekday and Shabbos).
>
> Yesterday the Shatz in his repetition included the above augmentation but
> ended with "Umvaraych es Amo Yisroel b'Shalom". It turns out that the all-
> Hebrew Art Scroll siddur (yes, I know there are many editions) allows for this
> alternate ending.
>
> I'd appreciate some more history of the variants.
>
According to Idelsohn (Jewish Liturgy and its Development), "oseh hashalom" is
from the old eretz yisrael nusach. However, Hai Gaon (from Bavel) has "hamelech
oseh hashalom." As far as I know "oseh hashalom" is only found in Ashkenaz; it
is not found in eidot hamizrach or Italy. This would give some support to its
origin in nusach eretz yisrael.
Naftali Weider in his book on nusach points out that other sources from Bavel
reference "oseh hashalom," including the seder of Amram Gaon and some midrashim.
He says the original eretz yisrael nusach had "ma'on haberachot veoseh hashalom"
- but under the influence of the Babylonian Gaonate, which was opposed to there
being two themes in the berachot of tefila, either this was condensed to "oseh
hashalom" or the themes were combined into "hamevorech et amo yisrael bashalom"
(the same way "elokei david uvonei yerushalaim" became "bonei yerushalaim").
This all indicates where the chatima of the beracha came from but does not
indicate how it became incorporated into the liturgy of Ashkenaz. One potential
mechanism is that "oseh hashalom" was the concluding beracha of a piyyut
inserted into "sim shalom" and the piyut was eventually lost or removed. I am
not familiar with this in Ashkenaz, but in the Italian nusach every yom tov has
an "oseh shalom" piyyut inserted into "sim shalom" (although none of these end
with the beracha "oseh hashalom"). I believe a similar process occurred with
the beracha "she'otcha levadcha," recited in Ashenaz by the chazan in "retzei"
when there is birkat kohanim, which was originally part of a larger unit (if
memory serves, a piyyut of Byzantine origin), the rest of which has been lost
from the siddur.
chag sameach,
Eitan
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Martin Stern <md.stern@...>
Date: Mon, Oct 10,2011 at 09:35 PM
Subject: Brakhah on chocolate and orange juice
Gershon Dubin <gershon.dubin@...> wrote (MJ 60#43):
> Hillel (Sabba) Markowitz <sabbahillel@...> wrote (MJ 60#42):
>
>> Consider the fact that orange juice (squeezed directly from the fruit) is
>> shehakol
>
> Perhaps you should consider that the Chazon Ish held that you should make a
> ha'eitz on orange juice.
The crucial point is whether oranges are grown primarily for their juice,
which then gets the berachah ha'eitz and the fruit would require shehakol ,
or for eating as fruit in which case the juice would get the berachah
shehakol and the fruit ha'eitz.
>> I would be inclined to reason that all of these reasons would lead one to
>> say shehakol. Similarly, the contents of the chocolate bar is no longer
>> recognizable as the fruit and is "cooked." This would again incline me
>> towards a shehakol even if the primary ingredient were chocolate (not
>> cacao).
For a fruit that is primarily eaten cooked the berachah on the cooked fruit
is ha'eitz whereas on when raw it is shehakol. The same applies to
vegetables so someone eating, for example, raw beetroot would make shehakol
and not ha'adamah (assuming that raw beetroot is considered a ma'achal adam
[food fit for human consumption]!)
Raw cocoa beans are not really edible and are almost never consumed before
roasting and various other procedures. As far as chocolate is concerned,
nowadays the main way of consuming it is as a bar made from ground roasted
cocoa beans with various additions and this is the rationale for those who
hold that the correct berachah is ha'eitz.
Alexander Seinfeld <seinfeld@...> wrote (MJ 60#41):
> c. Most chocolate people consume today (since the early 20th C) has more
> sugar (she-hakol) than cacao (ha-aytz). It seems to me that this is
> cacao-flavored sugar rather than sweetened cacao - meaning the sugar is
> the primary ingredient so it would for sure be a shehakol bracha.
Even if the other ingredients were the majority, this would not alter the
berachah since it is called a "bar of chocolate" and not a "chocolate
flavoured bar" which shows that the ikkar [most important ingredient] is the
chocolate (even if it is less than 50%) and the other ingredients are tafeil
[subsidiary] to it.
> a. Just because it's consumed as a drink - why does that make it a
> sheh'hakol, if this is the primary way to consume the fruit of the chocolate
> tree? (there is a considerable amount of material in the Mishna Berura, Beur
> Halacha, etc that one could quote to argue both sides of this issue. My
> point is that being a drink doesnt automatically make it a sheh-hakol. Were
> Jewish consumers of the 16th-18th Century definitely making sheh-hakol on
> their cacao drink? And if so, was there a known psak, or was this something
> they did out of doubt or ignorance?
Generally the correct berachah on a drink made by cooking substances is
shehakol, as we do on tea or coffee, so why should cocoa be any different?
An analogous case is beer where the berachah is certainly not mezonot even
though it is made from barley and this may have been the precedent for the
practice regarding cocoa.
Martin Stern
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Chaim Casper <surfflorist@...>
Date: Mon, Oct 10,2011 at 09:35 PM
Subject: Brakhah on orange Juice
Gershon Dubin <gershon.dubin@...> wrote (MJ 60#43, thread "Bracha on
chocolate"):
> Hillel (Sabba) Markowitz <sabbahillel@...> wrote (MJ 60#42):
>> Consider the fact that orange juice (squeezed directly from the fruit)
>> is shehakol
> Perhaps you should consider that the Chazon Ish held that you should make a
> ha'eitz on orange juice.
Rav Braun points out that the Mishneh Brurah (OH 205:14) seems to indicate
one should make a shehakol on orange juice. But the ReM"A (OH 202:7) and
the Terumat Hadeshen (29) seem to say that ha'etz should be the brakhah.
Rabbi Riskin once taught that the issue is based on a gemara in Brakhot, and
that based on the pashtut [plain meaning] of the gemara, one should make a
ha'etz. He later heard that I had taught the same thing at which point he
suggested to me that it is better to drink orange juice only after one has made
hamotzi; that way, one would be sure he/she made the proper brakhah. (I would
say alternatively, one could first consume both a definitively shehakol product
and a definitively ha'etz product having in mind that if the shehakol is not
the correct brakhah, then the ha'etz would be, and vice versa. That, too,
should also yotzei to all shitot [have made the correct brachah according to all
opinions].)
B'virkat Torah,
Chaim Casper
North Miami Beach, FL
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Ralph Zwier <ralph@...>
Date: Tue, Oct 11,2011 at 10:01 PM
Subject: Rosh Hashana tefilla question
After the mishna in R.H. which talks about how Rosh Hashana was conducted
when it fell out on shabbat, the gemara discusses why there should be a
problem in any case with blowing shofar on shabbat.
The first stab at the answer is that there are two variant psukim, "yom
teruah" and "zichron teruah", one for weekday and one for shabbat. The
best English translation of the latter expression would be "a remembrance OF
blowing", or alternatively "a mentioning OF blowing". This proposal is
cleanly rejected by the gemara. The rejection of the position that it is
biblically prohibited to blow shofar on shabbat is so clear, that Rashi
doesn't even bring this gemara on the expression "zichron teruah" -
according to Rashi its pshat is that we must say zichronot when we blow
shofar. My best clumsy English to translate the expression "zichron teruah"
as Rashi understands it would be "a remembrance blowing" - nothing to do
with shabbat.
So here's the question:
Why, in the tefilla, is there a consistent shabbat alteration with the words
"zichron teruah"? This is not only in the piyyutim - where some poetic
licence is expected - but also in the core tefilla, i.e. "vatitein lanu hashem
elokeinu ...zichron teruah ...". It seems as though there was a view by the
Anshei Knesset Hagedola that zichron teruah actually means "a mentioning OF
blowing" ??
Ralph Zwier
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Martin Stern <md.stern@...>
Date: Mon, Oct 10,2011 at 09:35 PM
Subject: Shofar blowing in Elul
Sammy Finkelman <sammy.finkelman@...> wrote (MJ 60#43):
> Is it correct that Sephardim don't blow the Shofar in Elul?
AFAIK they do.
> What exactly is the status of this blowing? A minhag, or something stronger?
A minhag.
>
> We don't blow it on the day before Rosh Hashonah unless that day is a
> Friday in order to leave at least one day pause between the Shofar
> blowing of Elul and the Shofar blowing of Rosh Hashonah so that people
> shouldn't confuse what the two are.
I was not aware that anyone blew on Erev Rosh Hashanah on a Friday. This is
because of the other reason for not blowing, to confuse the Satan who will
assume that Rosh Hashanah is already over (whatever that means).
Martin Stern
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From: Art Werschulz <agw@...>
Date: Mon, Oct 10,2011 at 09:35 PM
Subject: Shofar blowing in Elul
Sammy Finkelman <sammy.finkelman@...> wrote (MJ 60#43):
> Is it correct that Sephardim don't blow the Shofar in Elul?
I was in Madrid in 1992, during Elul. (First of all, I had forgotten that they
say s'lichot during all of Elul, so I was surprised.) But they did blow the
shofar during Elul; if memory serves, it was during s'lichot.
Art Werschulz
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Haim Snyder <haimsny@...>
Date: Tue, Oct 11,2011 at 04:01 AM
Subject: Spicy Problem
Martin Stern asked (MJ 60#43):
> In the Talmudic passage Pitum haketoret (Keritot 6a, TJ Yoma 4,5),
> included in the siddur, there is a list of the 11 spices that composed the
> incense used in the Beit Hamikdash. They appear basically to be listed
> in decreasing weights except for the last two which are reversed. Has anyone
> seen any explanation of this apparent anomaly?"
A friend of mine pointed out that the item which is apparently out of
order is the bark of the Kosht and, therefore, immediately succeeds it.
--
Regards,
Haim Shalom Snyder
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Bernard Raab <beraab@...>
Date: Tue, Oct 11,2011 at 03:01 PM
Subject: Travel on erev Shabbat
>From Martin Stern (M-J V60#43):
> What is interesting is that the situation discussed in the halachic
> literature never seems to have contemplated Jews voluntarily putting
> themselves in such a situation.
In the course of my professional life with much business travel, I was usually
able to avoid the erev Shabbos dilemma, even if it meant having to stay over
Shabbos in a town far from home, which happened many times. Except for one time. I
risked flying home (to Washington, DC) from the west coast on a Friday, and did
not escape unscathed. Our flight took off pretty much on time, but bad weather in
the east caused us to put down in an airport somewhere in the mid-west with few
amenities, and without regular air service. We were on the ground for some hours
before we took off once again. When it became evident that we would be arriving at
Dulles airport after the start of Shabbos, I called my wife from the plane, and
asked her to bring Shabbos to the airport hotel. When I arrived, I simply got on
the free bus which circles the airport, and got off at the hotel. When my wife
opened the door to our room, a table was set and candles were burning. It was a
memorable and actually enjoyable Shabbos in our little unplanned getaway. Of
course, it helped that our children were away at college or beyond.
I can tell you from this experience that when faced with this sort of dilemma, you
think long and hard about which restrictions that we ordinarily accept are truly
mi-d'oraisa (torah based), and which are the result of the scaffolding of "syagim"
(fences) that the rabbis have erected to preserve the sanctity of the day. I was
fortunate to have a couple of rebbeim as an adult who taught me how to make these
distinctions in an emergency. And just in case, my "al-chets" had a little more
fervor that year.
G'mar Tov--Bernie R.
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From: Alexander Seinfeld <seinfeld@...>
Date: Tue, Oct 11,2011 at 01:01 AM
Subject: Zerizim makdimim
Martin Stern <md.stern@...> wrote (MJ 60#43):
> There is an old custom to start shacharit 5 minutes earlier on the day after
> Yom Kippur in order to show that we are now zerizim makdimim - more eager in
> our avodat Hashem [service of the Almighty].
Sunday morning I went to my regular minyan and it began (by design) a few
minutes later than it had on Friday morning, yet no one there could be
accused of not being zerizim.
(a puzzle for your Yom Tov table...let me know if you figure it out)
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End of Volume 60 Issue 44
