Volume 61 Number 85
Produced: Thu, 06 Jun 13 10:41:37 -0400
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Eliezer Levi
[Asher Breatross]
Music/spirituality/davening (2)
[David Oratz David Tzohar]
Why should Aharon wear gold in the first place?
[Elazar M. Teitz]
WoW
[Nathan Londin]
Yizkor on chag - contradiction with Simchat Chag (2)
[Joel Rich Martin Stern]
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From: Asher Breatross <ash002@...>
Date: Wed, May 29,2013 at 02:01 PM
Subject: Eliezer Levi
Hi
Does anyone know any particulars about Eliezer Levi? He wrote a Sefer called
Yesodot HaTefilla [see https://www.hbebooks.com/productsdetail.php?pro_id=699 --
Mod.] and a commentary on the entire Mishna. Thanks.
Yours truly,
Asher Breatross
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From: David Oratz <dovid@...>
Date: Thu, May 30,2013 at 12:01 PM
Subject: Music/spirituality/davening
In MJ 61#83, Leah Gordon wrote:
> The whole congregation was singing, and the melody suddenly entered
> my brain with a deep meaning of the words, and I was literally,
> though subtly, moved to tears at the strength and the feeling
> of the prayer and the moment....
To which Yisrael Medad replied (MJ 61#84):
> That happens to me, occasionally, when we sing Mimkom'cha on Shabbat
> Shacharit Kedusha to Reb Shlomeleh's niggun.
Really?!
I know that when I was in the Great Synagogue and the replacement chazzan
sang "Etz Chaim Hi" right before Mussaf, I too was moved to tears at the
strength and the feeling of the prayer and the moment.
And then I davened Mussaf.
Guess what? I had my mind on the beauty of the singing and barely made it
through Mussaf shmoneh esrei. So I had a definite "spiritual experience"
when I heard the song.
But did that have anything to do with true "ruchniyut"?
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From: David Tzohar <davidtzohar@...>
Date: Fri, May 31,2013 at 08:01 AM
Subject: Music/spirituality/davening
In general I find music distracting during dovening. My Rebbe, Rav Avraham
Rubin, a Slonim Chassid, used to tell us that dovening is not a "sing along" and
singing should be saved for the tisch. But I had one experience where I had a
real spiritual experience through music.
It was Shabbat Rosh Chodesh and I was dovening in the Jerusalem Great Synagogue
listening to the great chazzan Simcha Adler chant the Hallel. Suddenly the music
seemed to fill my head, my body, my whole being. I saw sparks before my eyes and
when the chazzan finished "ana Hashem hoshia na" the sparks came together to
form the tetragrammaton, yod he va he, in white fire. This was a one time
experience but it was very powerful. Perhaps that is what it was like when the
Leviim chanted Hallel in the Temple TTBB.
David Tzohar
http://tzoharlateivahebrew.blogspot.com/
http://tzoharlateiva.blogspot.com/
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From: Elazar M. Teitz <remt@...>
Date: Wed, May 29,2013 at 10:01 PM
Subject: Why should Aharon wear gold in the first place?
In MJ 61#82, Hlllel (Sabba) Markowitz wrote, in explanation of why the kohein
gadol did not wear his golden garments when performing the Yom Kippur service,
that:
>> "the gold is a 'prosecutor' (reminding Hashem of the golden calf)."
(Actually, it is not because it serves as a reminder to Hashem; it is because it
is unseemly for the "prosecutor," gold, to be the "defense attorney" for
atonement.)
On this comment, Yisrael Medad, in MJ 61#83, asked:
> So why is there an Altar of Gold, the "gold altar of incense" (Exodus 39:38;
> 40:5), which, I would surmise, is a step up in sanctity from priestly clothes?
The Talmud asks this very question (Rosh Hashana 26a) and answers that it is
only on the _person_ that the Torah objected to "prosecutor" becoming "defense
attorney."
EMT
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From: Nathan Londin <orayach@...>
Date: Thu, May 30,2013 at 02:01 AM
Subject: WoW
The best article on the WoW was written by a woman, Leah Aharoni, in the
Jerusalem Post (7 May) under the title "Who does the Western Wall belong to?"
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Who-does-the-Western-Wall-belong-to-312263
> The time has come to state the truth, simple and unadorned: The Western Wall
> doesn't belong to the Women of the Wall.
>
> Considering that after 25 years and massive public relations efforts the
> group can hardly gather 100 women on a good month, the assertion sounds
> ludicrous.
>
> Can you imagine so small a fringe group demanding to do as it pleases at the
> Vatican? Westminster Abbey? St.Patrick's Cathedral in New York? Mecca? At any
> place of worship in the world? That's not freedom of religion, that's anarchy!
> The Women of the Wall can argue all they want that the Kotel is not a
> synagogue and has no tradition.
>
> The claim is patently false.
> ...
> Lest you think the Jews prayed in the Reform fashion until the evil haredim
> (ultra-Orthodox) showed up and usurped the power, think again. There is ample
> photographic evidence to prove it.
>
> The time has come to state the truth, simple and unadorned: The Western Wall
> doesn't belong to the Women of the Wall. The Western Wall belongs to its 10
> million visitors a year, who respect the sanctity and decorum of the site.
> ...
> As much as the group would like to position itself as a grassroots initiative
> defending the rights of its members, its supporters have made it patently
> clear that this is just the first step in their battle "to liberate Judaism
> from the ties of an Orthodox hegemony."
> ...
> Even Israel's ultra-liberal Supreme Court has ruled that the notion of 100
> women calling the shots at a site visited by some 10 million people annually
> is just too rich.
>
> The Western Wall is the holiest site available to us - a place we all can call
> home.
>
> Let's not let anyone take that away from us.
Nathe
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From: Joel Rich <JRich@...>
Date: Wed, May 29,2013 at 02:01 PM
Subject: Yizkor on chag - contradiction with Simchat Chag
In MJ 61#83, David Ziants asked:
> How ideal is the custom that developed in Ashenazi communities that
> people who unfortunately don't have a parent, say yizkor on Chag?
> What are the sources for this?
>
> I can understand this being said on Yom Kippur, but why is there
> not a contradiction at other times with simchat chag [rejoicing
> on a festival]? Were there rishonim or achronim [=Rabbis of both early
> and late period] who did not agree with saying this prayer on such days?
Actually Machzor Vitri (12th century?) is pretty clear that the practice of
giving tzedaka "for the dead" was limited to yom kippur (see siman 353
[http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=9377&st=&pgnum=600 --Mod.]) and that
it was only given on the last day of the 3 regalim (holidays) for the living
(since we would feel anguish for the dead if we were giving for them). (See
siman 312.)
KT
Joel Rich
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From: Martin Stern <md.stern@...>
Date: Wed, May 29,2013 at 04:01 PM
Subject: Yizkor on chag - contradiction with Simchat Chag
David Ziants wrote (MJ 61#83):
> How ideal is the custom that developed in Ashenazi communities that people who
> unfortunately don't have a parent, say yizkor on Chag? What are the sources
> for this?
>
> I can understand this being said on Yom Kippur, but and why is there not a
> contradiction at other times with simchat chag [rejoicing on a festival]? Were
> there rishonim or achronim [=Rabbis of both early and late period] who did not
> agree with saying this prayer on such days?
Despite the general perception, this custom is not universal, being peculiar
to those Ashkenazim who settled (approximately) East of the Elbe, which
includes most Ashkenazim today. It was not observed by the Jews of South and
West Germany (and of Alsace, Switzerland, Holland and North Italy) who had a
different custom called Matnat Yad where a special mi shebeirach was recited
for each person present in which he pledged a donation to tsedakah.
Martin Stern
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End of Volume 61 Issue 85
