Volume 8 Number 15
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Dolphins and Pepsi (2)
[Ezra Tanenbaum, Tom Rosenfeld]
Kashrut and the Rabanut
[Michael Allen]
Misheberach-related stuff
[Art Werschulz]
Raising one's voice
[Claire Austin]
Steppin' Out with my Baby...in Bnei Brak!
[Yosef Branse]
Va'ad Ha'hatzola
[Mike Gerver]
Women and Hair Covering
[Shaul Wallach]
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From: <bob@...> (Ezra Tanenbaum)
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 93 10:55:45 -0400
Subject: Dolphins and Pepsi
I have been musing about the recent juxtaposition of the posting about
the need for Orthodox Jews to express their social consciousness by
being in the forefront of action to prevent dolphin slaughter and
unconscienable sales of baby formula to third world countries with the
posting about the furor over Pepsi sponsoring concerts in Israel.
Both issues are questions of how to properly address the promotion of
Torah values in society. What is interesting is that chances are the
dolphin savers probably wonder what is so bad about soft-drink
advertisement and rock concerts, while the Pepsi boycotters probably
don't care about dolphins slaughter as long as they don't end up in the
can with the kosher tuna.
I am personally excited that Orthodoxy is broad enough to contain both
spectrums and everyone in between. While as individuals we can only
concentrate on a few issues of personal concern, when considered as a
whole Orthodoxy finds room for social action of all varieties. It is my
observation that there aren't too many other groups which can boast of
such a wide spread net of people helping others.
Ezra Bob Tanenbaum 1016 Central Ave Highland Park, NJ 08904
home: (908)819-7533 work: (908)615-2899
email: att!trumpet!bob or <bob@...>
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From: <tom@...> (Tom Rosenfeld)
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 93 13:05:08 IDT
Subject: Re: Dolphins and Pepsi
Elisheva Schwartz writes:
[...]
> So, rather than worry about whether or not to buy formula X, let's do
> everything we can to encourage, and facilitate, nursing for ALL mothers
> and children. (One concrete and simple step--every Shul and Simha hall
> should have a clean and pleasant nursing room. I, for one, have had to
> sit in the grungiest bathrooms, or even stand up {try it sometime!)
> while attending weddings and Bar Mitzvahs. I have even had Haredi women
> tell me that nursing isn't tsniusdik!--in large part because there is
> so often no place to go with a hungry child).
> The frum community really ought to be taking the lead in this area.
I think it is much more productive to do something positive and encorage
breast feeding in the 3rd world, and at home, than worry about which
company to boycott.
Getting back to the original issue, about kosher certification, I
definitly think that it is important to keep the issues of halachic
kashrut very separate from any other "moral" issues.
Tom Rosenfeld
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From: Michael Allen <allen@...>
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 93 13:50:11 -0400
Subject: Kashrut and the Rabanut
In m.j vol. 8 #6, <babkoff@...> (Nachum Issur Babkoff) said:
[...]
>>> The jist of the thing is as follows: 1. The Rabanut recieves its
>>> charter, and funds, from the public. 2. Ergo, the Rabanut is an
>>> administrative body, subject to the same requirements ANY
>>> administrative body is. In the case of Kashrut, based on the SECULAR
>>> kashrut law (statute), that means that they may act ONLY with
>>> accordance to the law of Kashrut, as well as the general principles
>>> that apply to EVERY administrative body (reasonableness etc.).
I have a comment and a couple of questions.
The comment:
The halachic definition of "kosher" includes a whole lot more than the
list of ingredients. Kosher (non-mevushal) wine in an open vessel,
for example, immediately becomes treif if a non-Jew merely touches the
containing vessel.
[I don't think that anyone disagrees with your first statement, and a
clear example would be cooking meat in a pot that had been used for
cooking milk within the last 24 hours. Nothing in the list of
ingredients is non-kosher, but I think we would all agree to call the
result non-kosher. I even think that most or all would accept the term
treif, even though it is not strictly correct. As to whether the case
above should be called treif, I think there would be nore of a
disagreement. I know that I would not accept that far of a stretch of
the term. I remain uncomfortable with using the term non-kosher as well,
but less so. I do think that it falls under the rubric of what a
"Kashrut" hashgacha should certify, and is fundamentally different than
the Pepsi/Glatt Yacht issue. Mod.]
The questions:
1) Is it really true that halacha in Israel is legislated by the secular
government?
2) Does the Israeli Rabanut really receive its charter from the
Israeli public -- presumably both Jewish and non-Jewish?
-Thanks,
Michael
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From: <agw@...> (Art Werschulz)
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 93 09:51:21 -0400
Subject: Misheberach-related stuff
Shalom yawl.
First of all, it was great meeting everybody who was at the m-j-picnic.
Yiyasher koch'chem to the organizers.
Now, for the main points. First of all, does anybody know David
Gelernter's Hebrew name? FYI, he's the Yale computer scientist who was
injured in the letter bomb incident last week. From the name, I would
assume that he's Jewish, yes? If so, he's certainly deserving of a
misheberach in our shuls.
Second point ... Speaking of misheberachs, has anybody thought about
the possibility or advisability of some kind of Internet misheberach
server? Presumably, there would be (at least) three kinds of commands
associated with same:
add someone to the list
remove someone from the list
retrieve the current list
Perhaps the latter would be further automated by having the list sent
to all the subscribers every Friday morning (or Thursday, if you wanna
play it safe).
Art Werschulz (8-{)}
Internet: <agw@...> ATTnet: (212) 636-6325
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From: Claire Austin <CZCA@...>
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 93 17:22:18 -0400
Subject: Raising one's voice
Came across this while cleaning out a drawer full of odds and ends and
old files. I hadn't intended to reply to the dolphins/nestle posts but
this (originally appearing in Ann Landers) seems appropriate:
Edmund Burke: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil
is that good men do nothing."
Reader: "I can't resist the temptation to add these words
from a speech by William Faulkner when his
daughter graduated from high school: Never be
afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth
and compassion against injustice and lying and
greed. If people all over the world, in thousands
of rooms like this one, would do this, it would
change the earth."
For what it's worth,
Claire Austin
<czca@...>
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From: <JODY@...> (Yosef Branse)
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 93 07:56:44 -0400
Subject: Steppin' Out with my Baby...in Bnei Brak!
In MJ 7/104, Shaul Wallach writes:
"...This morning there were strongly worded posters in central Benei
Beraq demanding that even married couples stop the custom of strolling
together on Shabbat which has taken root during our generation. These
are all signs that secular Western culture is insidiously making its way
into our camp..."
O, say it ain't so! Some of my most enduring, endearing memories of my
residence in Bnei Brak (c. 1979-81) are of Shabbes strolls around town,
at various times of night and day, and in any kind of weather. I felt I
had really "made it" when, newly married, my wife and I joined the
promenade up and down the main street, Rehov Rabbi Akiva. I remember the
Bnei Akiva boys and girls chatting and munching sunflower seeds together
at their hangout by the intersection of Rehov Rabbi Akiva and Rehov
Yerushalayim, but this didn't seem to incite any violence.
When we have the chance for a mini-vacation, we still like to get away
to Bnei Brak for a Shabbes, and when we do, it isn't complete without
putting in an appearance on the closed-to-traffic streets.
There was some raunchy advertising around in 1980, too, but I never
heard of any attempts then to ban people from walking around with their
lawful wedded spouses. Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
In a more serious vein, I'm curious to know who issued those posters
banning strolling. Are they signed by Rabbeim, or by committees of
anonymous zealots? Is there really a halachic basis for such a thing?
Yosef (Jody) Branse University of Haifa Library
Internet/ILAN: <JODY@...>
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From: <GERVER@...> (Mike Gerver)
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 1993 23:33:36 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Va'ad Ha'hatzola
I would like to thank Ezra Bob Tanenbaum (v7n105) for informing us about the
activities of Va'ad Ha'hatzola, under Agudas Harabonim, in rescuing Jews.
I had not heard of this organization before, and Ezra was quite right to
take me to task for saying that only Reform organizations had been involved
in rescue efforts during World War II. Can Ezra, or anyone else, provide
references to any books or articles concerning the history of Va'ad
Ha'hatzola?
Mike Gerver, <gerver@...>
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From: Shaul Wallach <f66204@...>
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 93 06:28:21 -0400
Subject: Women and Hair Covering
Lon Eisenberg comments about the current customs of Yemenite
Jews living in Israel:
>There are many Yemenites living in my community. I don't think I've every
>seen any of the unmarried women with covered hair.
What I had in mind was mainly the Jews still living in Yemen. There
the prevailing custom is still for unmarried women to cover their hair
just like married women. It is true that Yemenite Jews living in Israel
have lost many of their distinctive customs (yalfei miqalqalta wala
mitaqqanta - people learn from what is wrong, not from what is right).
However, there are a select few unmarried Yemenites in Benei Beraq who
do cover their hair.
Shalom,
Shaul Wallach
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End of Volume 8 Issue 15
