Volume 60 Number 54
Produced: Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:00:54 EST
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Brouhaha about seating
[Shmuel Himelstein]
Chavivut hamitsvot (4)
[Mark Steiner Joel Rich Joel Rich Josh Backon]
Origin of the name Bryna
[Batya Medad]
Some Questions
[Robert Schoenfeld]
Yet another conundrum
[Stephen Phillips]
Yotser or uvorei choshech...?
[Martin Stern]
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From: Shmuel Himelstein <himels@...>
Date: Tue, Dec 20,2011 at 06:01 AM
Subject: Brouhaha about seating
Any male who flies even moderately frequently has probably been a witness to
a Charedi man asking to be moved because his seating allocation is next to a
woman. I have seen other men change places with these men to solve the
problem. But I wonder about this arrangement. Is one's blood redder than the
other's? Why would a Charedi man allow a non-Charedi man to switch places?
Isn't that placing "a stumbling block before the blind"?
And as an afterthought: based on the "ruling" (?) of a non-Charedi Israeli
Hesder rabbi that it is better to go before a firing squad than to hear a
woman sing, would the same apply to sitting next to a woman on a plane?
When will some of our so-called "rabbinic leaders" learn that the Torah's
ways are ways of pleasantness?
Shmuel Himelstein
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From: Mark Steiner <marksa@...>
Date: Wed, Dec 14,2011 at 03:01 AM
Subject: Chavivut hamitsvot
Rav Soloveitchik's practice concerning hazarat hashatz (standing "at
attention") is by now known to many. I would like to point out, however,
that it does not seem to have any source in actual practice in Ashkenaz.
For example, the ark is opened and closed many times during hazarat hashatz
on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Who is supposed to open the ark if
everybody is standing at attention? How do the kohanim wash their hands and
walk to the duchan?
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From: Joel Rich <JRich@...>
Date: Wed, Dec 14,2011 at 03:01 AM
Subject: Chavivut hamitsvot
Rose Landowne (MJ 60#53) wrote:
> I keep forgetting to ask Rabbi Riskin if this also means that one doesn't say
> baruch hu uvaruch shmo after each bracha, in order to be yotzei with the
> brachot.
Probably yes (much like when you are yotzeh havdalah) but remember, IIRC, the
GRA never said baruch hu ... since it is not mentioned in the Talmud.
KT
Joel Rich
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From: Joel Rich <JRich@...>
Date: Wed, Dec 14,2011 at 04:01 AM
Subject: Chavivut hamitsvot
Chaim Casper <surfflorist@...> wrote (MJ 60#53):
> Finally, a haver of mine who learns during hazarat hashatz once said to me
> that the Arukh Hashulhan allows learning during the repetition as some
> would otherwise engage in talking. I couldn't find the Arukh Hashulhan
> saying this (neither could my friend). Does anyone know if and where the
> Arukh Hashulhan says this?
I am not at home so can't look it up but the A"HS was a great defender of
klal Yisrael's practices. You might ask your chaver if he is lenient on
others whose practices in areas important to him don't live up to his
standards. Learning during chazarat hashatz may be technically permitted,
but IMHO it sends a message that you can ignore chazarat hashatz, you by
learning tells others they can talk etc.
KT
Joel Rich
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From: Josh Backon <backon@...>
Date: Wed, Dec 14,2011 at 06:01 AM
Subject: Chavivut hamitsvot
Chaim Casper wrote (MJ 60#53):
> Finally, a haver of mine who learns during hazarat hashatz once said to me
> that the Arukh Hashulhan allows learning during the repetition as some
> would otherwise engage in talking. I couldn't find the Arukh Hashulhan
> saying this (neither could my friend). Does anyone know if and where the
> Arukh Hashulhan says this?
Actually, the Aruch haShulchan (OC 124#9) says the opposite!! "v'ein lilmod
oh lomar tehillim b'eyt chazarat ha'shatz af im oneh amen b'sof kol bracha.
u'mi she'oseh ken YESH LIG'OR BO [One may not learn nor say tehillim while the
shliach tzibbur repeats the shemoneh esrei even if he answers amen after each
brachah. And as regards someone who does so, it is correct to tell him off - MOD].
Josh Backon
<backon@...>
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From: Batya Medad <ybmedad@...>
Date: Tue, Dec 13,2011 at 10:01 PM
Subject: Origin of the name Bryna
Lisa Liel <lisa@...> (MJ 60#53) wrote:
> If I'm not mistaken, it comes from Breina or Breindel, meaning brunette.
>
> In Hebrew, a lot of people use Bracha, just because of the sound. Or
> Rina (b'rina). I don't think the Hebrew for brown lends itself well to
> names.
Brown in Hebrew is "chume," so "Nechama" or "Chamutal" would fit.
Batya Medad
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From: Robert Schoenfeld <frank_james@...>
Date: Thu, Dec 15,2011 at 06:01 PM
Subject: Some Questions
Two questions:
1) Was there ever a custom of fasting for 50 or more days (daylight only)
such as between Passover and Shavuoth?
2) Was there a custom for the removal of shoes before entering the Bais
Hamiqdosh (Temple) or even synagogues?
For both of these, if true, about when were they discontinued?
Bob
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From: Stephen Phillips <admin@...>
Date: Thu, Dec 22,2011 at 11:01 AM
Subject: Yet another conundrum
Under what circumstances would you see a husband and wife, who are living
together under the same roof, such that on the second day of Yom Tov the husband
puts on Tefillin and the wife davens a Musaf Amidah for Yom Tov?
Stephen Phillips
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From: Martin Stern <md.stern@...>
Date: Sun, Dec 18,2011 at 05:01 AM
Subject: Yotser or uvorei choshech...?
I have always been rather puzzled by the verse from Isaiah (45,7) that
commences "yotser or uvorei choshech ... [who forms light and creates
darkness]" which we quote every morning after barechu at the beginning of
the first brachah before kriat shema. The essential difference, as I
understand it, between the verbs yotser and borei are that the former means
creation of something from a pre-existing entity whereas the latter means
creation of something from nothing. This phrase presents several
difficulties:
i. According to our usual understanding, light is an entity and darkness
is merely its absence, so what can it mean that darkness is created while
light is formed (presumably from it)? (This might be related to the way the
verses at the beginning of Bereishit (1,2-3) "vechoshech al pnei tehom ...
vayomer Elokim yehi or ..." describe creation.)
ii. If light is created from darkness, why is this mentioned first (unlike
in Bereishit)? Surely the two phrases should then be in the reverse order
(i.e. "borei choshech veyotser or ...")?
One idea that did occur to me was that these problems might be explained by
reference to the current big bang theory of creation. According to it, all
matter was initially concentrated in a very small space which would have
generated a tremendous gravitational field, so strong that nothing, in
particular light, could escape. Hence it would make sense to refer to this
as the creation of darkness though the light was there but could not be
observed. Only after the initial expansion would the gravitational field be
sufficiently reduced for the light to escape so one could say that it was
formed from the darkness. However, since it was in potential (but
unobservable) existence previously, it can reasonably be mentioned first
hence the way this verse is phrased.
Furthermore, this might give us a way of understanding the nature of the "or
ganuz" [light hidden away] that we are told will be brought out for the
tzaddikim [righteous] at the end of days.
Of course this is pure speculation -- what do others think of it?
Martin Stern
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End of Volume 60 Issue 54