Volume 17 Number 82
Produced: Mon Jan 9 23:38:54 1995
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Article Availability
[Joe Wetstein]
believing in miracles
[Eli Turkel]
Drinking on Purim
[Jonathan Baker]
Friday Night Shows
[Moshe Hacker]
Gentle Bris
[Ben Rothke]
Hair
[Robert Rubinoff]
Kosher Consumer Law in NYS
["Jeremiah M. Burton"]
National Conference on Jewish and Contemporary Law
[David Eliezrie]
postal zip codes
[Lon Eisenberg]
Question on Parashat Bo
[Roy Bernstein]
R. Haym Soloveitchik
[Arnie Kuzmack]
Rav Moshe Feinstein's birthday
[Michael Shimshoni]
Warning about Israeli produce and Tu B'shvat
[Leah Zakh]
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From: <jpw@...> (Joe Wetstein)
Date: Sun, 8 Jan 1995 22:33:48 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Article Availability
I would like to get an article mentioned in the Jewish Observer, Oct, 1994:
"Daas Torah: A Modern Conception of Rabbinic Authority", Lawrence Kaplan
(McGill U) (Edited by M. Sokol in the Yeshiva University Press, NY 1992)
Does anyone have it available on-line?
[Not to the best of my knowledge. As far as I know, Lawrence Kaplan is
not on the list, Moshe do you know if it is available or could be made
available? I'll be happy to put it in the mail-jewish archive
area. Mod.]
Thanks,
Yossi Wetstein
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From: <turkel@...> (Eli Turkel)
Date: Sun, 8 Jan 95 14:23:09 +0200
Subject: believing in miracles
I heard a dvar Torah on parshat Bo: The Torah says that the plague of
the firstborn will occur about midnight. Rashi points out that the phrase is
about midnight (ka-chazot) and not at midnight (ba-chazot) because the
Eygptian watches might be off a little and they would accuse Moshe of being
a liar.
We see that after Moshe predicted all the ten plagues which occurred as
he promised and after the firstborn were all killed nevertheless Moshe was
afraid that there would still be skeptics left who would claim that the
firstborn died at 12:01 and not at midnight and so these were not miracles
brought by G-d through Moshe. Thus we see that no matter how much evidence
we have for G-ds miracles in our daily lives there will always be skeptics
who find some fault.
<turkel@...>
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From: <baker@...> (Jonathan Baker)
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 95 9:47:45 EST
Subject: Drinking on Purim
I realize that it's a long time until Purim, but this question came up
on another network, and I thought I might ask it over here.
In Tractate Megillah 7b, there is the only piece of Gemara which talks
about getting drunk on Purim. Rava says that a man is required to get
drunk on Purim; the Gemara accepts it, with only the cautionary tale of
Rabbah "killing" (seriously wounding?) R' Zeira in a fit of Purim
drunkenness and bringing him back to life.
Now, for all the other mitzvot of Purim, there are drashot in the Gemara
explaining how they are derived from various statements in the Megillah.
For this, there is just a flat statement. What is the original source
of this custom?
Graetz offers a derivation from a Hellenistic Dionysius/Bacchus "feast
of opening the wine barrels". However, I am reluctant to accept such a
claim of syncretism from such a source without corroboration. Is there
either corroboration of this theory, or a more plausible alternative
theory, or are we just expected to believe that Rava had his sources
which for some reason he chose not to reveal?
I've looked in a number of Rishonim (Tosfos, Ritva, Ramban, Beis Yosef,
etc.) but have not found any derivations there, only ameliorations of
the requirement to get drunk.
Jonathan Baker
<baker@...>
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From: Moshe Hacker <HACKERM@...>
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 1995 09:12:52 EDT
Subject: Friday Night Shows
A while back a hotel in the N.Y. Catskills area tried to make a
last ditch effort to stay open, so the the Browns hotel decided to
become Glatt Kosher. For the first year they were a Glatt hotel but
not a shomer shabbos hotel and they had top broadway entertainment on
friday night after the shabbos meal. There was music in the lobby
which you really couldn't avoid. Were Shomeray Shabbos people aloud
to go in to the show if they didn't have to get there hand stamped or
do anything that thay make them chillul shabbos? What about if the
the performers were jewish does that make any difference? I know that
if a jew cooks for you on shabbos you can't eat it.
On the third year of operation they became a shomer shabbos,
but last year they couldn't keep up the hotel and went belly up.
Moshe Hacker
Columbia Prebyterian Medical Center
<hackerm@...>
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From: Ben Rothke <yafo!<ber@...>
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 95 11:21:09 EST
Subject: Gentle Bris
I saw an advertisement in the Yated Neeman (English version) a few
weeks ago by a mohel, Rabbi Jacob Shechet. He performs what he calls a
"Gentle Bris". Does anyone know who Rabbi Shechet is and what a "gentle
bris" is??
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From: <Robert_Rubinoff@...> (Robert Rubinoff)
Date: Mon, 09 Jan 95 16:49:34 EST
Subject: Hair
> >From: Finley Shapiro <Finley_Shapiro@...>
> 2) Hair can be removed from an animal without killing it, while taking a
> piece of flesh from a live animal is forbidden. This might suggest that
> hair is parve, but is anything else from a mammal ever parve?
Human breast milk. (I know, that's not what you meant, but it's true.)
(Animal-derived) gelatin (when produced in an appropriate manner.
Honey (and beeswax).
> 3) Biologically hair is a lot like milk, except that it is not white and
> not a liquid. Both have a lot of protein, are produced by all species
> of mammals and only by mammals (by definition of a mammal), and are
> excreted from glands leading out of the skin. Should we say that hair
> is dairy?
Being "a lot like milk" doesn't make something halakhically dairy.
Robert
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From: "Jeremiah M. Burton" <75313.2701@...>
Date: 08 Jan 95 22:35:42 EST
Subject: Kosher Consumer Law in NYS
>>Actually the Kashrut standards were determined and enforced by a
commission empowered to go through the attorney general. Both statutes were
challenged in the courts. The New York law, I beleve, was upheld while the
New Jersey law was stricken.<<
In response to recent postings discussing state kashrut laws, the New York
law is enforced by the State Department of Agriculture and Marketing.
Until two years ago, the Attorney General had jurisdiction for prosecuting
and collecting fines based on Ag&Markets investigations. Because of
interagency difficulties, as of mid 1993, Ag&Markets lawyers now handle all
aspects of enforcement. The Attorney General continues to have
responsibility for defending the constitutionality of the law and has
participated in a number of cases to support relevant precedents.
NYS. like other states, mandates a level of enforcement based upon orthodox
standards of kashrut. The law has not faced a court challenge since the
Baltimore and New Jersey rulings. Some activists in the kashrut community
have proposed that the law be rewritten before a challenge is upheld in
court.
Some of the authors of the new New Jersey law also serve on the NYS
Governor's Advisory Committee on Kosher Law Enforcement. The politics of
the moment, including the election of a new governor and attorney general,
make it unclear as to the future composition of the committee and whether
advocates of law reform will get anywhere in the current legislative
session.
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From: <DavidE7848@...> (David Eliezrie)
Date: Sun, 8 Jan 1995 11:11:22 -0500
Subject: National Conference on Jewish and Contemporary Law
Members of the list will interested to know about the upcoming National
Conference on Jewish and Contemporary Law. Rabbonim and Judges, Roshie
Yeshiva and Attorneys will meet for a weekend to discuss how two legal
systems, one rooted in Divine Revalation the other as a result of mans case
by case efforts deal with modern problems.
Keynote speakers will by The Honorable Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme
Court and Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz of Jerusalem. Joining them will be Professors
Irving Breitowitz & Laurie Levenson, Judges Stephen Reinhardt, Bruce Einhorn
and Norman Epstein, Rabbis Jack Simcha Cohen, David Eliezrie, Y. Kornfeld,
Yosef Shusterman & Sholom Tendler.
Topics to be discussed include Sexual Harrasment, Ethics, Three Strikes and
you are out, Capitial Punishment and much more.
For information call 1 800-Law-2-Din or E mail to DavidE7848@aol. com
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From: <eisenbrg@...> (Lon Eisenberg)
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 95 13:56:10 IST
Subject: postal zip codes
in response to Lawrence Kalman: I'm not sure that placing the zip code
before the city will circumvent the scanning problem in the U.S.
Perhapse a better solution is to write the code in Arabice numerals (no,
we were all faked out when we learned in America that we use Arabic
numerals -- next time they give the weather forecast at the end of the
news in Arabic, look at the subtitles!)!
As far as granularity: I don't think 4 digits are enough. Don't forget
that the granularity achieved here (Israel) with 5 digits is about the
same as the granularity achieved in the US with 9 digits. That leads me
to another solution to the scanning problem: maybe stick a hyphen
somewhere in the 5 digits.
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From: Roy Bernstein <RDB@...>
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 1995 08:51:59 GMT+0200
Subject: Question on Parashat Bo
I have 2 questions regarding Parashat Bo:
When Moshe goes to tell Paro about the last of the plagues (the killing of the
firstborn) he tells Paro that the plague will take place at ABOUT midnight
(K'chatzot Halayla). Rashi comments on the fact that Moshe says _about_ rather
than _exactly_ midnight by saying that he was afarid that Paro's astrologers
might miscalculate the actual time of midnight and therefore say that Moshe was
lying or maybe that Hashem has not delivered as promised. I have checked
through the Parasha and cannot find anywhere where Hashem tells Moshe that the
killing will take place at _exactly_ midnight. So on what basis and why is
Rashi making this statement?
Also, so what - what is so special about this plague that it must occur at
midnight (either _exactly_ or _about_), whereas none of the other plagues
occurred at any specific time of day as far as I am aware?
I would be interested to hear any ideas or clarifications on the above
questions.
/\ /\ Institute for Maritime Technology (Pty) Ltd /\
\/ ROY D. BERNSTEIN \/ P.O. Box 181, Simon's Town 7995 \/
/\ /\ Republic of South Africa /\
/\ Tel: 27-21-786-1092 Fax: 27-21-786-3634 EMail: <RDB@...> /\
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From: Arnie Kuzmack <kuzmack@...>
Date: Sun, 8 Jan 1995 12:26:43 -0500 (EST)
Subject: R. Haym Soloveitchik
Apropos of the recent discussion of R. Haym Soloveitchik's article, I
recently received an announcement that he will be leading a study retreat
in the Washington, DC / Baltimore area on Memorial Day weekend, May
28-29, 1995. His subject is: The Transformation of the Contemporary
Religious Community.
The retreat is sponsored by the Washington-area Foundation for Jewish
Studies, 6101 Montrose Rd., #206, Rockville, MD 20852, phone (301) 770-4787.
My wife and I attended their retreat with R. Shlomo Riskin a couple of
years ago. It was excellent.
Arnie Kuzmack
<kuzmack@...>
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From: Michael Shimshoni <MASH@...>
Date: Mon, 09 Jan 95 09:53:33 +0200
Subject: Rav Moshe Feinstein's birthday
Ari Z. Zivotofsky had asked:
>It is well known that Rav Moshe Feinstein was born on 7 adar (as was
>Moshe rabbanu). This year would have been his 100th birthday (he was
>born in 1895). Does anyone know if 1895 had one or two adars? ie is his
>birthday properly observed this year in Adar I or II?
It has been pointed out by others that 5655 (1895) was not a leap
year, thus this year it will be on Adar II. Actually there was no
need to check that, as if indeed Rav Feinstein was born on the same
day as Moshe Rabenu, it will coincide every year with Moshe Rabenu's
birthday, i.e. in leap years like this year, in Adar II.
Michael Shimshoni
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From: Leah Zakh <zakh@...>
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 1995 15:19:00 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Warning about Israeli produce and Tu B'shvat
Just a reminder for everyone planning to have Israeli fruit at their Tu
B'Shvat seder. Last year was shmita. Thus most of Israeli fruit this year
have Keddushat Shveit and are assur to eat in Chul. Even those with a
hechsher might have been grown under Cheter HaMechira, which depending on
whose psak you are following might not solve the problem. Same goes for
Israeli wines, vegis and juices as well as other foods such as mezonot
and so on. Ask your LOR about these issues. Also ALL israeli
produce requires Parshat Trumot and Maaserot unless it has a hechsher
that already sapareted them (such as BaDaTz of the Eida HaCHareidit).
Leah Zakh
You can reach me at <zakh@...> or 212-779-1939
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End of Volume 17 Issue 82
