Volume 10 Number 11
Produced: Sun Nov 21 0:30:48 1993
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
B"H
[Alan Mizrahi]
B"H and BS"D, and Tzitzis on a Shawl (2)
[David Charlap, Anthony Fiorino]
Classical music with non-Jewish religious content
[Freda Birnbaum]
Golden calf, women and Rosh Chodesh
[M.D. Jaeger]
If I forget thee O Jerusalem
[Alan Mizrahi]
Meimad - Rav Amital
[Yisrael Medad]
Tzitzis on a shawl (3)
[Sean Philip Engelson, Josh Wise, Elliot Lasson]
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From: <amizrahi@...> (Alan Mizrahi)
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 93 14:41:49 EST
Subject: B"H
Why have many people chosen to stop putting Bet-heh at the top of a
page, and instead replace it with B"H? I understand that the reason is
not to put HaShem's name on a page that will be thrown away, but wasn't
that the why Bet- heh was used in the first place? If it was okay to
use it a few years ago, why is it wrong today?
-Alan Mizrahi
<amizrahi@...>
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From: <dic5340@...> (David Charlap)
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 93 11:33:33 -0500
Subject: B"H and BS"D, and Tzitzis on a Shawl
Constance Stillinger <cas@...> writes:
>
>1. What's the difference between putting B"H and BS"D at the top of a
>personal letter or a research article or any other document? I see
>both, and now realize I'm not sure what's appropriate when.
B"H stands for "Baruch Hashem" - blessed is God.
BS"D is "B'siata d'Shmaya" - Aramaic for "With the guidance of Heaven"
I've also seen bet-ayin-heh. It stands for "B'einei Ha-shchina" -
"In the eyes of God".
In general, all of these have similar meanings. More or less a
request for Divine help in writing the document. I think they are
all interchangeable.
>2. I recently received a large square (3.5' on a side) acrylic shawl
>that I like to wear in the morning in the house because it can be cold.
>Am I transgressing halakhah because it doesn't have tzitzis? What
>should I do about this, if anything?
I'm no authority on the subject, but I think the question comes down
to whether or not the shawl is considered a garment or not. It might
be considered a blanket (which doesn't need tzitzit, right?) or some
other non-garment item.
If it turns out that it requires tzitzit, they aren't to hard to
have put on. Most places that sell Jewish articles also sell the
material for putting tzitzit on garments. These places will probably
also be able to do it for you if you need help.
Depending on the construction of the shawl, and your skills, you
might also be able to simply round-off one or more corners. This
way it would not longer be a 4-cornered garment. But that might
not be possible.
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From: Anthony Fiorino <fiorino@...>
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 93 14:00:44 -0500
Subject: B"H and BS"D, and Tzitzis on a Shawl
Connie Stillinger asked about tzitzit and B"SD/B"H
Regarding tzitzit on a shawl -- since women are not chayav in tzitzit,
the answer is presumably no (but I'm neither a LOR, OR, nor any other
kind of R -- I'm just an O). This does raise an interesting question
though: we know tzitzit are a chiuv talit -- the nature of the garment
determines if tzitzit are required or not. If it is a daytime garment
(w/4 corners and large enough), then it require tzitzit even if worn at
night; if it is a nightime garment, then it does not require tzitzit
even if worn during the day. Does this hold true for the "sex" of the
garment as well? That is, if a man were going to wear a woman's daytime
garment which was 4-cornered (forgetting for the moment any other
issurim involved), does that garment require tzitzit when the man puts
it on, or does that garment not require tzitzit because it is a woman's
garment?
There is no difference in meaning between B"SD and B"H (with the help of
G-d) other than B"SD is an abreviation for the Aramaic and thus avoids
using even the first letter of G-d's name; some maintain this is
preferable.
On this topic, I recall seeing an article (in _Tradition_, by R. Emanuel
Feldman, I believe) in which he discusses the use of these headings. He
contends that they are used far more often than necessary and that, in
fact, there are circumstances under which it is actually improper to
write B"H or B"SD on the top of a page. If anyone has the location of
this article (or other relevent sources), I would appreciate the
reference(s).
Eitan Fiorino
<fiorino@...>
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From: Freda Birnbaum <FBBIRNBA@...>
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 93 18:56:28 -0500
Subject: Classical music with non-Jewish religious content
Jonathan Goldstein, in v9n98, re classical music with religious
content, says:
>Quite seriously, I'm not sure how the listener of a hassidic tune
>composed while in awe and love of HKBH, but used as the
>sound-track in an advertisement containing scantilly clad women,
>would be affected.
and asks:
>Does anyone have references that will help?
I don't have any references, but I can report that my husband gets
REALLY UPSET when he hears the tune to "Ani Ma'amin" trivialized and
played in a light-hearted way, as it sometimes is at weddings. He feels
that people died in the Holocaust with that phrase on their lips, and
that it is totally inappropriate to trivialize it like that.
Another question to ask, in addition to the effect on the viewer of the
above-described advertisement, is, what kind of respect are the creators
of the advertisement showing to the music, to the spirit in which it was
created and meant to be listened to, etc.?
My last question: what may we make of the fact that Mozart and Bach and
Handel et al. were also capable of "awe and love of HKBH"??
Freda Birnbaum
<fbbirnbaum@...>
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From: M.D. Jaeger <93mdj@...>
Date: Wed, 17 Nov 93 12:32:05 GMT
Subject: Golden calf, women and Rosh Chodesh
There is a medrash that states that as a reward for women's
non-involvement in the sin of the golden calf, they were rewarded that
in the future they would celebrate Rosh Chodesh more than men.
Can anyone suggest a connection between the action and the reward?
Michael D. Jaeger
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From: <amizrahi@...> (Alan Mizrahi)
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 93 00:26:10 EST
Subject: If I forget thee O Jerusalem
This verse (in hebrew: im eshcakhekh Yerushalaim tishcach yemini) comes
from Tehilim, perek 137, pasuk 5. This psalm is "Al neharot Bavel" (by
the rivers of Babylon) which is recited before Birkat Hamazon on
weekdays. Because it talks about the sadness of the Churban, it is also
omitted when there is a simcha (Milah, Pidyon, etc.)
-Alan Mizrahi
<amizrahi@...>
[We had many replies with the same basic info as Alan above. Thanks to
the following who also responded:
Uri Meth - <umeth@...>
Lenny Oppenheimer - <leo@...>
Miriam Rabinowitz - <miriam@...>
Michael Jaeger - <93mdj@...>
Michael (? Sorry, the list software seems to have lost your address and
this is all the sig I have)
Steve Wildstrom - <wild@...>
Jeremy Nussbaum - <jeremy@...>
Rivka Goldfinger - <rgoldfinger@...>
Eva David - <ny000550@...>
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From: MEDAD%<ILNCRD@...> (Yisrael Medad)
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 93 08:56 IST
Subject: Meimad - Rav Amital
At a meeting of the RCA plus Israeli Rabbis opposed to the peace
negotiations, a flyer was passed around in the name of Har Etzion
Yeshiva students, anonymously though, which berated Rav Amital's stance
and his talking in the name of the Yeshiva. I can testify that the
student body is heavily against his and Rav Aharon Lichtenstein's
political line - and this for years. Perhaps what is indicative of the
problematics is that Yehuda Ben-Meir, a Meimad candidate for the 1988
elections has officially joined the Labor Party as from 1991.
Yisrael Medad
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From: <engelson-sean@...> (Sean Philip Engelson)
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 93 22:31:53 -0500
Subject: Re: Tzitzis on a shawl
I don't believe this is a problem for you, since tsitsit is a mitsvat
`aseh shehazman garmah [time-dependent commandment], and so women are
exempt from it. Otherwise the shawl would, I believe, require tsitsit.
I have heard of people putting tsitsit on reflective outerwear (shaped
something like a tallit qatan) that they wore while bicycling.
-Shlomo-
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From: <jdwise@...> (Josh Wise)
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 93 16:31:22 EST
Subject: Tzitzis on a shawl
All four cornered garments require tzitzis, unless it is
something you sleep in (i.e bedspread, sheets). If you do not wish to
put tzitzis on the garment, you might wish to taylor two of the corners
of the garment so that they are curved and not square. Thus eliminating
the obligation for tzitzis.
Josh Wise
<jdwise@...>
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From: <Elliot_David_Lasson@...> (Elliot Lasson)
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 93 19:44:02 -0500
Subject: Tzitzis on a shawl
Constance Stillinger poses a questions as to whether a 3.5' square shawl
has a requirement of tzitzit. Assuming that she is the one considering
wearing it, IMHO, there would be no obligation on two counts:
(1) Tzitzit is a mitzvat aseh sh'hazman grama (positive commandmant
where time is a parameter of its fulfillment). Females are not
obligated in these mitzvot.
(2) The shawl is acrylic. Man-made materials are not included in the
obligation altogether.
Elliot D. Lasson
14801 W. Lincoln,
Oak Park, MI
<FC9Q@...>
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End of Volume 10 Issue 11
