Volume 11 Number 68
Produced: Mon Feb 7 6:48:35 1994
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Anonymity
[Elchonon Rappaport]
Building the 3rd Temple
[Saul Djanogly]
Faking Authoritative Sources for Halacha a Godol knows is Right
[Zvi Basser]
Halachic Yarmulkas
[Frank Silbermann]
Kipah Sizes
[Yisrael Sundick]
Mezuza on office door
[Jeff Finger]
Moshiach, Lubavitch, and flaming
[Alan Davidson]
Reading the Megillah on Shabbat
[Gedalyah Berger]
Tanach Directory at israel.nysernet.org
[Seth Ness]
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From: <ELCHANAN@...> (Elchonon Rappaport)
Date: Sun, 6 Feb 94 14:57:03 IDT
Subject: Anonymity
Ezra Tepper writes:
>> May I opine, aside from all possible arguments for and against R. Emden and
>> R. Eibshitz in their historic conflict, that we disregard the expertise of
>> that anonymous Rav in all Torah matters. Any Torah scholar who is afraid
>> to publish his conclusions because he might no longer be accepted in "right
>> wing circles" appears to be violating the Torah command "_Lo taguru mipney
>> ish_," (fear no man). Any Rav who would do this could, in my opinion,
>> not be relied on in any of his decisions.
I'd like to put aside the specific issue here, and look at the general concept
of "anonymous" psakim (i.e., "The halacha in this case is X, but don't
tell anyone you heard it from me.")
We unfortunately live in a day of retribution, both political and financial,
for crossing those in positions of power.
A rosh yeshiva, for example, risks seeing his yeshiva's contributions dry up
if he publicly gives a psak which would upset someone with "influence".
When asked for a psak by an individual, he gives the correct psak, but asks
that it not be publicized to the detriment of his yeshiva.
One can hardly call this action "courageous" (IMHO), but does it really
invalidate the posek?
To take your quote to an extreme, am I o'ver on a Torah command if I am
afraid of the mugger holding a knife on me. Of course, I know my fate
is in the hands of H"KBH, but am I supposed to demonstrate this by daring
the mugger to stab me?
Solutions welcome.
Elchanan
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From: <saul@...> (Saul Djanogly)
Date: Sun, 6 Feb 94 10:37:35 -0500
Subject: Re: Building the 3rd Temple
The Rambam is of the opinion that the Third Temple will be rebuilt by the
Messiah. (See Hilchot Melachim Chap.11.Hal.4).
Rashi (Rosh Hashana 30a) and Tosaphot (Shevuot15b,quoting a Medrash Tanchuma
which I cannot find) say it will be built miraculously without any human input.
How can both these views be reconciled with Bereshit Rabbah end of Parashah 64
which relates that when permission was granted by the Romans to rebuild the
Temple Pappus and Lulianus began fund-raising.The attempt was thwarted by
the Samaritans intervening with the Romans. The Jews were so incensed that
they planned another rebellion. Rebbi Yehoshua Ben Chananiah was chosen by the
Rabbis to persuade them otherwise. He did so on the grounds of real-politik but
without raising any Halachic objections. Pappus and Lullianus are also highly
praised in Taanit 18b. and it is unlikely they would have gone ahead without
the Rabbi's blessing.
Furthermore how can this Medrash be reconciled with Yomah 5b which takes it
for granted that Moses and Aaron will be there to guide us on Temple procedure
when the Temple is rebuilt? Perhaps they will only appear on its completion!
Any answers would be most welcome.
saul djanogly
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From: <fishbane@...> (Zvi Basser)
Date: Mon, 7 Feb 94 05:12:05 -0500
Subject: Re: Faking Authoritative Sources for Halacha a Godol knows is Right
I seem to recall a discussion of this in the maggid mishna to hilchos
shvisas asor (yom kippur-- maybe the first chapter) based on the last
line of the 15th chapter of gemoro shabbos. Rav Braun in his perush to
shabbos mentions sources. here Rabba claimed he had letter from Land
of Israel in name of Rabbi Yochanan that the halacha was the way Rabba
wanted it to be.
zvi basser
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From: Frank Silbermann <fs@...>
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 94 12:05:19 -0500
Subject: Halachic Yarmulkas
In V.11 No.59 Danny Skaist says
> All yarmulkas without "height" have been ossured [forbidden]
> by the godolin of the previous generation.
> They all wear the same kind, and it is not by accident.
Would this be an example of the principle:
"When a rabbinical decree is rejected by the majority of the
generally-observant community the decree is withdrawn?"
Frank Silbermann <fs@...>
Tulane University New Orleans, Louisiana USA
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From: Yisrael Sundick <sas34@...>
Date: Mon, 7 Feb 94 05:12:08 -0500
Subject: Kipah Sizes
I don't know if it really happened but I heard that at one point Rav Moshe
zt"l was asked what the "correct type of Kipah" was. Realizing this was a
political rather than halachic question, he told the questioner he found
round was a good as it tended to be easier to keep on the head than
other shapes.
* Yisrael Sundick * Libi beMizrach VeAni *
* <sas34@...> * beColumbia *
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From: Jeff Finger <jfinger@...>
Date: Sun, 6 Feb 94 17:23:23 -0500
Subject: Mezuza on office door
The first chapter (pages 1-55) of
Rabbi Aaron Felder,
"Oholei Yeshurun", Volume II,
359 Fort Washington Avenue
New York, NY 10033
5742 / 1982
is on laws of mezuzot. The book has haskamot of Rabbi Moishe
Feinstein, ztz"l and Rabbi Gedaliah Felder shlit"a of Toronto,
Ontario. No publisher is listed, but the book was typeset by Esther
Hartman at Key-Tov Graphics, Ltd. 4804 13th Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11219.
(212) 854-3484.
>From page 4:
...
2. One should put a mezuzah on the doorpost of a private office in a
company. *42 However, this should not be done until one is sure of
remaining with the company. *43
3. One who is only a worker in an office or factory, is not required to
place a mezuzah on the doorpost of the room or dwelling. *44
*42: Kakh shamati mi'maran shlit"a d'ain l'fotro mishum she'ha'hanhala
yakhol leha'aviro l'misrad akhar de'ze aino shakhiakh.
*43: Kakh shamati mi'maran shlit"a.
*44: Kakh shamati mi'maran shlit"a, ure'eh sha'ar ha'tzion siman rf"u
ot q"b, shu"t minkhat itzhkak .....
(My assumption is that "maran shlit"a" was HaRav Feinstein.)
There seems to be some question about whether a brakha is required if
you don't sleep there. Whether this book is still available, I do not
know. I believe that Rabbi Felder is listed in the Philadelphia
telephone book.
-- Itzhak "Jeff" Finger --
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From: Alan Davidson <DAVIDSON@...>
Date: Sat, 5 Feb 94 22:13:49 -0500
Subject: Moshiach, Lubavitch, and flaming
There is this sense that, whenever certain groups, whether Lubavitch,
and to a lesser extent the Yeshivatic velt are discussed, these
arguments run into the danger of flaming on the basis of
overgeneralizing occasional poor experiences. As has been said on this
list before, most of the people on this list for variious reasons are
not from the sorts of "black hat" circles who would argue that
non-Orthodox texts do not need to be buried or that it is better to be a
secular Jew than a Reform or Conservative one, many people, especially
those involved in outreach do not have a notion that if you are not yet
Lubavitch or not yet Orthodox (as defined by wearing a black hat), you
are of little worth.
It was my experience, in the process of becoming frum that those
rabbis who were more insecure that turned me off, while those rabbis,
regardless of being Lubavitch or "Black Hat" who had the attitude of
getting people to perform additional mitzvos, ANY MITZVOS, who had the
most success in making people, any people frum.
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From: Gedalyah Berger <gberger@...>
Date: Thu, 3 Feb 94 23:00:41 -0500
Subject: Re: Reading the Megillah on Shabbat
In #57, Danny Weiss replied to my post about the prohibition of reading
the Megillah on Shabbat:
> > The megillah can't be read on Shabbos because Chazal were worried that
> > the megillah would be improperly carried to shul. (The same gezeirah
> > applies to lulav and shofar.)
>
> As I understood it, the prohibition of blowing a shofar on Shabbat or of
> using a lulav is based upon the concern that one will hear the shofar
> (for example), and then go home, grab one's own shofar and carry it in a
> reshut ha'rabim (public domain) to a learned person to be taught how to do
> it too.
Danny is right; Chazal were worried about people carrying to the learned
person's house, not to shul.
Gedalyah Berger
Yeshiva College / RIETS
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From: Seth Ness <ness@...>
Date: Mon, 7 Feb 94 05:39:24 -0500
Subject: Tanach Directory at israel.nysernet.org
NYSERNET TANACH DIRECTORY - THE PLUG
Hello all,
This is the periodic plug for the nysernet tanach directory, the greatest
electronic archive of divrei torah in the world.
The directory features the L'chaim text of the tanach in hebrew (minus
some neviim) - please note that some versions are not the masoretic text
so read the README files. Also available by special arrangement... the
complete Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia text and 'The Online Bible'
program for Macs and PCs. Again, read the README files for an
explanation.
The directory also features myriad divrei torah by the likes of Rav
Riskin, Rav Haber, Rav Alter, and Rav Levitansky. We have Aish HaTorah's
ShabbatShalom Dvar Torah. We have Yeshiva University's Enayim L'Torah.
We have Yaakov Fogelman's Torah Outreach Program (TOP) Parsha Sheet. We
have Chabad's L'Chaim Newsletter. We have Rav Shmuel Boteach's amazing
essays from Oxford University and Zev Itzkowitz's famous Byte of Torah.
We have divrei torah from the students of Einstein Med School. We even
have a dash of miscellaneous divrei torah and shiurim.
The Directory is accessible to the world via anonymous FTP to
israel.nysernet.org in the /israel/tanach directory. Or by Gopher to the
new york-israel project of nysernet under 'other gophers/north american
gophers/USA/new york/new york-israel project of nysernet/jews and
judaism/ tanach and commentaries'. Or you can gopher directly to
israel.nysernet.org port 71. All files are also available via email,
through the Nysernet listserver.
In addition the following divrei torah are available via email as lists.
Byte of Torah - listname = bytetorah
Enayim L'Torah - listname = enayim
ShabbatShalom - listname = shabbatshalom
Torah Outreach Program - listname = top
Rav Boteach's Essays - listname = oxford-judaism
Also available, discussing the tanach from a scholarly perspective, is
judaic-seminar - listname = j-seminar
to subscribe send a message to <listserv@...>
in the message write sub 'listname' seth ness
in place of 'listname' write the listname from above (without quotes.)
in place of seth ness write your own name. That's it.
If anyone out there is aware of more sources for these or any other divrei
torah please let me know so they can be added to the archives.
Seth L. Ness Ness Gadol Hayah Sham
<ness@...>
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End of Volume 11 Issue 68
