Volume 13 Number 6
Produced: Tue May 10 7:35:39 1994
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Aliyah
[Aryeh Frimer]
Ask it right--revisited
[Moshe Goldberg]
Gott Fun Avraham
[Arlene R. Atkin]
Grammatical question re kriah
[Art Werschulz]
Haftorah from a Klaf (Parchment)
[David Sherman]
Hasidic Dress
[Shalom Carmy]
July 1995 parshiot
[Danny Skaist]
Korban Pesach
[Yisrael Medad]
Prayer and Eating
[Lon Eisenberg]
prayer and eating and Rosh Hashana.
[Jerrold Landau]
Schindlers Ring
[Malcolm Isaacs]
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From: Aryeh Frimer <F66235@...>
Date: Tue, 10 May 1994 02:32:06 -0400
Subject: Aliyah
I greatly appreciate Jerome Parnesses honest struggle with aliyah. I
agree that making Aliyah is not for everyone. Finding a decent job or
suitable education are valid halakhic reasons for leaving Israel and/or
not making Aliyah - provided you've tried and struggled with the
problem. Unfortunately, many orthodox Jews in the States and Canada
don't even make an attempt...don't even struggle with the problem...
don't even feel guilty! My wife spent 10 weeks speaking throughout the
US on Aliyah. There were indeed many people who couldn't make aliyah for
objective reasons. But there were also MANY very well to do Jews who
didn't want to forgo their comforts. Aliyah might mean having to give up
their Ranch home or designer clothing or giant shopping malls. Believe
me, I enjoy the good life just like the next guy. But please Tislechu li
(forgive me) - that ain't halakha! Parnassah (livelihood), education,
safety, sanity are halakhic considerations. Not even kibud av ve-aim
[Honoring ones father and mother - Mod.] stands in the way of the
obligation to live in Erets Yisrael.
Please struggle with aliyah and, for G-d's sake, do so honestly and
halakhically! As my wise zaidie Zatsal would always say: You can fool
the world, but you should never fool yourself!
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From: <vamosh@...> (Moshe Goldberg)
Date: Tue, 10 May 1994 06:46:37 -0400
Subject: Ask it right--revisited
> From: <msl@...> (Michael Lipkin) <Volume 13 Number 5>
> It's for this reason that I found a posting in mj 12:88 rather troubling. In
> a posting titled "ask it right" the writer says:
>
> "And then, of course, it helps to know how to ask -- or let's say, your rabbi
> can give a more responsive answer if he knows all the background."
> "To this correctly worded question, the answer was that is was permissable."
>
> I do understand that a psak from a rav can be tailored to indvidual
> circumstances, but the writer seems to be saying that by manipulating the
> question, the asker can get the answer he wants, which may or may not be the
> best thing halachicly. Why don't we put together a directory of which rabbis
> to ask which questions and how to ask?
As the "writer" quoted above, I think it may be useful to clarify what I
meant in the posting. Not "the asker can get the answer he wants," but the
other way around: If you don't give all the background, the answer you get
may well not be the correct one for the exact circumstances of your question.
Nowhere in the posting did I mean to imply that you should shop around or
ask "leading questions."
You see, what I sometimes find "rather troubling" is a feeling that
discussions in our community are an attempt to determine how to act
without enough details of why an earlier psak was given, and to whom.
Let's not lose sight of the mail-jewish motto: CYLOR.
Moshe Goldberg
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From: Arlene R. Atkin <ara@...>
Date: Mon, 9 May 1994 11:55:30 -0400
Subject: Gott Fun Avraham
> From: <turkel@...> (Eli Turkel)
> In response to a side remark by Marc Shaipro on the artscroll
> siddur. My wife and daughters say Gott fun Avrohom though not identical
> to the version in artscroll. I am curious if other women say this also
> on motzei shabbat.
My mother taught me to say this prayer every week as Shabbat was ending,
and I still continue to say it. After I saw your question about it, I
asked her who else in the vicinity she came from (a small town in
Czechoslovakia) said Gott Fun Avraham. She answered that she believed
all the womem in that area said it, and that when she and her family
were eventually sent to Auschwitz in 1944, she remembered many of the
women in that concentration camp (from many different areas of Europe)
would make an effort to say this prayer at the hour they believed
Shabbat was ending.
Rifky Atkin
<ara1@...>
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From: Art Werschulz <agw@...>
Date: Mon, 9 May 1994 13:02:48 -0400
Subject: Grammatical question re kriah
Suppose that a word, whose last two syllables take the vowel segol, is
cantillated with either an etnachta or a sof pasuk. Then (at least I
have observed that) the first segol gets changed to a kamatz, e.g.,
"even" becomes "aven" [in Sephardit]. However, an exception occurred
in last week's Torah reading [Behar]. We find the word "b'neshech" in
Leviticus 25:37, with the etnachtat on the first segol. Why isn't it
"b'nashech"?
Thanks, and a (possibly) early Chag Sameach.
Art Werschulz (8-{)} "You can't make an ondelette without breaking waves."
InterNet: <agw@...>
ATTnet: Columbia University (212) 939-7061
Fordham University (212) 636-6325
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From: <dave@...> (David Sherman)
Date: Sun, 8 May 94 4:38:07 EDT
Subject: Re: Haftorah from a Klaf (Parchment)
Gerald Sacks writes:
> David Sherman points out that reading the haftarah from claf prevents
> many people from receiving maftir. In my regular shul, where the
> haftarah is read from claf, the maftir doesn't usually do it. He just
> says the brachos, and someone who has prepared it does the actual
> reading.
So then you're enabling anyone to have the honour of maftir, but
taking away the ability of most of those people to read the maftir
themselves. Meaning that (sociologically) Maftir becomes more or
less indistinguishable from any other aliya. Leaving aside the
halachic question, it seems to me that there are advantages in
having a haftarah that many of the congregants can actually say.
It gives the ba'al maftir a chance to participate more visibly in
the service, to receive something that appears to be a notable
honour (whether it is in fact halachically so may not matter),
and to get a "yasher koyakh" for a job well done. (Well, all right,
they don't all do a good job, but you get the idea.)
Now let's turn to halacha. Which is better, (1) the maftir who makes
the brochos ACTUALLY READS the haftarah, or (2) the haftarah is read
from a parchment? (Presumably the maftir, like anyone receiving an
aliya, should read along in an undertone in order to fulfill the
mitzva for which he said the brochos. But how many people actually
do this?)
David Sherman
Toronto
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From: Shalom Carmy <carmy@...>
Date: Mon, 9 May 1994 10:43:04 -0400
Subject: Re: Hasidic Dress
A survey of Hasidic dress is found in Amnon Levi, HA_HAREDIM (I believe
it's translated into English). The author is a hiloni who has covered
the haredi beat for a major Israeli newspaper (I think Yediot).
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From: DANNY%<ILNCRD@...> (Danny Skaist)
Date: Tue, 10 May 1994 04:51:15 -0400
Subject: July 1995 parshiot
>Dr. Zvi Josman
>Shalom. I would like some help in finding out all the parashot shavuah in
>Israel for the month of July, 1995 for friends in the USA. They intend to
>celebrate their son's Bar-Mitzvah in Yerushalyim in July. However, from
>Pesach onwards we are ahead of the Parashot in the USA. Does anyone have
>a handy luach?
I have a program called "Century" from Bits and Bytes Ltd. Jerusalem. with
just this sort of information. (from Jan 1,1920 to Sep 29, 2019)
Sat July 1 1995 - 3 Tamuz 5755 Diaspora: Korach, *Israel : Hukat
Sat July 8 1995 -10 Tamuz 5755 Diaspora: Hukat *Israel : Balak
Sat July 15 1995 -17 Tamuz 5755 Diaspora: Bakak *Israel : Pinchas
Sat July 22 1995 -24 Tamuz 5755 Diaspora: pinchas *Israel : Mattot
Sat July 29 1995 - 2 Av 5755 Diaspora: Mattot-Massei *Israel : Massei
Please note that the haphtorah for this years parsha Pinchas in Israel (July
15, 17-Tamuz ) is rarely read in the diaspora (last time 14-July 1984, next
time is 23-July 2005), because in the diaspora "Pinchas" usually comes out
during the 3 weeks (after 17 Tamuz). In Israel we get the extra ones when
the first day of Pessach is Shabbat.
The Haftoras for July 22 and July 29 are those for the 3 weeks.
danny
[ In addition, from Aryeh Frimer <F66235@...>, same
information as above, with the following question:
What I never understood though is why the Galut doesn't catch up
immediately the following week by reading Acharei-Kedoshim? Any Clues?
Mod.]
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From: MEDAD%<ILNCRD@...> (Yisrael Medad)
Date: Tue, 10 May 1994 02:49:02 -0400
Subject: Korban Pesach
Re posting in Vol 12 #77 -
The most comprehensive book I have seen on the subject of Korban Pesach
[the Passover Sacrifice] is by Meir Meizlish _Pesach K'Hilchato_
published in Bnei Brak in 1967.
Even though most of it was written prior ot the Six Days War, the thrust
of the book is that it is possible to make the sacrifice even today and
goes into presenting solutions to all the various problematics such as
non-existence of Temple, location of Altar, Priestly garb, questions of
Tum'ah [ritual uncleanliness], etc.
Yisrael Medad
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From: eisenbrg%<milcse@...> (Lon Eisenberg)
Date: Mon, 9 May 1994 02:22:22 -0400
Subject: Re: Prayer and Eating
Moshe Kahan wrote about snacking before shaharith. If you look in the
Mishnah Berurah, you can see that ideally, the only thing allowed before
shaharith is water (including tea or coffee without milk or sugar). It
goes on to say that perhaps a sugar cube in the mouth while drinking
(apparently a custom in Eastern Europe) is okay. It is also okay to eat
something if you would otherwise not feel well enough to pray. However,
it seems that it is not permissible to snack just because you enjoy
having a snack; if you don't need it, you're not allowed to have it.
As far as the problem of fasting beyond midday on Rosh HaShannah (also
cited by Moshe Kahan), I believe that this does not apply; Rosh
HaShannah is not one of the 3 Regalim, so, apparently, fasting during
the morning is not prohibited (but certainly not required).
The solution to these problems (IMHO) is to schedule shaharith (on
Shabbath and Yom Tov) at reaonable hours (not such that one gets hungry
before the end of Musaph).
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From: <LANDAU@...> (Jerrold Landau)
Date: Mon, 9 May 94 09:47:26 EDT
Subject: prayer and eating and Rosh Hashana.
In his posting regarding prayer and eating, Moshe Kahan notes that special
consideration must be given to Rosh Hashana, where many congregations daven
past mid-day, thereby running into the prohibiton of fasting on Yom Tov.
It should be noted that Rosh Hashana is considered different that other
yamim tovim in this respect. There is a minhag (that is generally not
practiced today, to fast on both days of Rosh Hashana). The Shulchan
Aruch does mention this minhag. This fasting would be on the days, not
the nights, when a seudat yom tov would be mandatory. Since this minhag
of fasting on Rosh Hashana has validity, even for those of us who do not
follow this minhag (which is pretty much all of us today), there is no
prohibition on fasting past mid-day on Rosh Hashana. Those who make kiddush
before mussaf do so in order to enable greater kavana for the long mussaf
service.
For this same reason, the halacha of what to do when yaaleh veyavo is
forgotten at Rosh Hashana lunch is different than other yamin tovim. On
other yamim tovim, since the meal is a required meal, birkat hamazon must
be repeated. On Rosh Hashana, since there is this minhag of fasting, the
meal is not strictly speaking mandatory, and benching would not be repeated.
Jerrold Landau
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From: <M.Isaacs@...> (Malcolm Isaacs)
Date: Mon, 9 May 1994 10:09:40 -0400
Subject: Schindlers Ring
Having read Schindlers Ark a couple of months ago, I finally saw
Schindlers List last night. The question I had when I read the
book has resurfaced - what happened to the ring that the workers
presented to Schindler at the end of the war? Perhaps this
isn't the right place to ask - if anyone knows a more
appropriate place, please let me know.
Chag Sameach,
Malcolm Isaacs
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End of Volume 13 Issue 6
