Volume 60 Number 64
Produced: Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:15:28 EST
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
A Rabbi "Reads" Rembrandt and Rothko
[Jeffrey Saks]
Caleb / Bitya / Myriam
[Lisa Liel]
Free Subscription to the Current Issue of Hakirah
["Harry Zelcer"]
Sins and Cohanim
[Moshe]
Useful iPhone application
[Shmuel Himelstein]
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From: Jeffrey Saks <jeffreysaks@...>
Date: Tue, Feb 7,2012 at 05:01 AM
Subject: A Rabbi "Reads" Rembrandt and Rothko
What happens when a Rabbi "reads" Rembrandt and Rothko as "midrash"?
As part of ATID's Art Initiative, Rabbi Chaim Brovender recently toured
Jerusalem's Israel Museum with a group of students from Yeshiva University,
discussing his interest in art as a tool to developing a variety of habits
and sensitivities essential to religious life.
Listen to this gallery talk and view the images he discussed:
http://blog.webyeshiva.org/jewish-history/museum-midrash-a-visit-to-the-israel-
museum-with-rabbi-chaim-brovender
Rabbi Jeffrey Saks
Director, ATID - Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directions
Tel. 02.567.1719 | Cell 052.321.4884 | Fax 02.567.1723
E-mail: <atid@...> | www.atid.org | http://www.WebYeshiva.org/
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From: Lisa Liel <lisa@...>
Date: Wed, Feb 1,2012 at 12:01 PM
Subject: Caleb / Bitya / Myriam
Nicolas Rebibo wrote (v60n63):
> I was wondering what Bitya, Pharaoh's daugther, became after the Jews went
> out of Egypt. I was surprised to find that she married Caleb (Meguila 13a)
> because I already knew that Caleb married Myriam, Moshe's sister. So I
> assume he married both.
> I would be interested in references.
>
It's a complicated issue, because Divrei HaYamim (Chronicles --Mod.) is a
complicated book. While I don't often recommend Artscroll, Rabbi Moshe Eisenmann
did a two-volume commentary on Divrei HaYamim for Artscroll, and he deals with
questions like this. There's an entire section on Calev. He discusses
the fact that Chazal are unclear as to whether (a) Calev ben Chetzron and
Calev ben Yefuneh were the same person; and (b) Calev ben Yefuneh
was Calev ben Chur ben Calev ben Chetzron. The verses are wickedly
confusing, and no alternative really fits the words all that well. But in
Divrei HaYamim, it's the drash that's primary, unlike the rest of
Tanakh, where pshat is primary, so a lack of clarity is rather expected.
Lisa
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From: "Harry Zelcer" <hzelcer@...>
Date: Fri, Feb 3,2012 at 01:01 PM
Subject: Free Subscription to the Current Issue of Hakirah
We are pleased to offer a free subscription of the current issue of Hakirah,
The Flatbush Journal of Jewish Law and Thought, to the first 12-18 new subscribers
(the precise number will depend on their mailing address) who respond to this
notice. This special offer is sponsored by Michael Poppers lz"n [in memory of --
Mod.] his grandfather, Albert Reisner (heChaveir Avraham ben heChaveir Shmuel
Mordechai) a"h, whose yahrtzeit is the 16th of Shvat.
Send your request to <HakirahFlatbush@...>, reference "Mail-Jewish /
Hakirah Offer", and please include your shipping address.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Heshey Zelcer
Hakirah, The Flatbush Journal of Jewish Law and Thought
www.Hakirah.org, <HakirahFlatbush@...>
Fax: 718-534-3142
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From: Moshe <mopo@...>
Date: Tue, Feb 7,2012 at 11:01 PM
Subject: Sins and Cohanim
In M-J V60#60, an anonymous listmember wrote:
> In a discussion recently, the following questions were posed (but no one
> knew the answers, including the resident Cohen):
> -- What sins, if any, would bar a Cohen from duchaning (ascending to
> recite the priestly blessings on yom tov in the diaspora or every day
> in Israel)?
> -- Would any of the following be such a bar: eating non-kosher food,
> non-observance of the shabbat, carrying on illicit liaisons with a niddah
> or non-Jew (or engaging in other prohibited sexual acts), cheating
> on taxes, etc?
> -- Does it matter if any such acts are done publicly as opposed to in
> secret?
> -- Does it matter if the act was, however deliberate, giving in to
> temptation as opposed to a deliberate act of denial of God or Torah law?
>
> Thank you in advance for your thoughts.
The answers to most, if not all, of your questions can be found in Mishna
Berura 128 paragraphs 35 to 42. A Cohen who has killed someone, even by accident,
may no longer duchan. A Cohen who violates Shabbat may, on his own, duchan but
should not be instructed to do so. A Cohen who violated "arayot" (sexually
forbidden acts) may duchan, but a Cohen who is married to a forbidden spouse may
not. The above citation gives a complete list of acts that prevent a Cohen from
going to duchan.
Moshe Poupko
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From: Shmuel Himelstein <himels@...>
Date: Mon, Feb 6,2012 at 03:01 AM
Subject: Useful iPhone application
There is an application for the iPhone called Jerusalem Compass which
points the user towards the Kotel. It costs 99 cents. I have absolutely no
connection with the author, but I think many people might find this
application worth having. I see there is a similar program for the Android
at a similar price.
Shmuel Himelstein
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End of Volume 60 Issue 64
