Volume 19 Number 23
Produced: Fri Apr 7 0:10:27 1995
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Article by the Rav
[Roth Arnold]
Blue striped talit
[Gilad J. Gevaryahu]
Educational Lessons From the UK
[Alan Rubin]
Gam Zeh Ya'avor
[Moishe Friederwitzer]
Gambling
[Carolyn Lanzkron]
Hot Water on Shabbat
[Warren Burstein]
Kiddush in Shul
[Jan David Meisler]
Learning Obligation
[Aleeza Esther Berger]
Music on Yom Ha'atzmaut
[Michael J Broyde]
Organ Donation
[Ben Rothke]
Sh'ma
[Aleeza Esther Berger]
Stripes on a Tallis (again)
[Mike Paneth]
T'chay'les
[M E Lando]
Tihilim (Pslams) #2
[Leslie Train]
Women and Pants (2)
[Eliyahu Teitz, Eli Turkel]
Words mentioned in Tanach
[Etan Diamond]
Yom Kippur Katan
[Zvi Weiss ]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Roth Arnold <roth@...>
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 95 14:00:00 PDT
Subject: Article by the Rav
In cleaning for Pesach, I found, at the end of Tradition Vol 8 No 3 (1966) an
announcement apologising that " publication of Rabbi Soloveitchik's article
on "Is a Philosophy of Halakhah Possible" has bewen postponed..."
I don't remember ever hearing of any article by that name. Is it by Rav Aaron
Soloveitchik? Was it published under a different name?
Shabbat Shalom, Pinchas Roth <roth@...>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: <gevaryah@...> (Gilad J. Gevaryahu)
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 22:39:13 -0500
Subject: Blue striped talit
In MJ19#8 Mechy Frankel <frankel@...> on the Subject: Black Talis
Stripes Only?
>Y. Pisem quoted the Taamei Haminhogim as explaining the reason for black
>rather than blue talis stripes to be rooted in aveilus minhagim. The
>universal appreciation or practice of this minhag seems unclear. From
>the Mishna Berurah's comment (Orach Chayim 9 in a discussion of the
>Rema's gloss indicating that Ashkenazim use white tzitzis even where the
>garment is colored) it seems that the custom in Europe in his area was
>davka to wear a talis with a blue stripe - though its impossible to
>infer from his comment whether this was only at the"edge" of the garment
>or not.
I found secular support for the fact that blue-striped talit were very
common at the end of the last century. David Wolfson, the second
president of the World Zionist Organization, notes in his memoirs: "In
1897 I came to Basel, in Switzerland, on the orders of Dr. Herzel, to
make preparations for the first Zionist Congress. A question came up:
with which flag shall we decorate the congress hall? Until then we did
not have a flag. Therefore, we had to create a flag. However, what
color should the flag be, and what will be its symbol? Many questions,
and we had to solve them. Suddenly a thought came to my mind- actually
we do have a flag - it is blue and white as the talit with which we
pray. This talit is therefore our symbol. We shall take this talit from
its mantle, spread it in front of the Jewish people, and other
nations. And so I ordered the first flag of blue and white with the star
of David embroidered in its midst as a sign of our people. So came into
being our national flag". (Translated into English from the Hebrew
[translation?])
The Jewish Encyclopedia (1905 edition) Vol. XI, p. 676 states that "The
tallit...[has] black or blue stripes...".
These two secular sources suggest that blue-striped talit were very common
in that period.
Gilad J. Gevaryahu
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: <arubin@...> (Alan Rubin)
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 95 20:11 BST-1
Subject: Educational Lessons From the UK
Mechy Frankel asks if the following story is accurate.
> Our local jewish weekly carried a brief article last week describing
> a school in the UK (I've forgotten which city, but not London) which
> is supposed to have expelled four students for the sin of owning
> parents who attended a lecture by R. Riskin.
I regret to inform Mechy Frankel that the story he quotes is indeed true
and the details accurate. The city was Manchester where there was a
noisy demonstration outside a hall where Rabbi Riskin was speaking and
police had to be called. Apparently Rabbi Riskin is regarded as an
apikorus because of writings in which he treats Biblical figures such as
Abraham and Moses as fallible human beings. The expelled students
included the children of the Rabbi of one of the larger Manchester
congregations ( incidentally a Lubavitcher Chasid ). As far as I know he
has not "repented".
Alan Rubin
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: <martin.friederwitzer@...> (Moishe Friederwitzer)
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 95 09:58:41 EST
Subject: Gam Zeh Ya'avor
I have a very comforting sign in my home that says Gam Zeh Ya'avor (this
also shall pass). Is there anyone who knows where this saying originated?
Chag Koshair V'someach Moishe Friederwitzer
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: <clkl@...> (Carolyn Lanzkron)
Date: Thu, 6 Apr 1995 09:05:23 -0400
Subject: Gambling
What are the laws about gambling?
CLKL
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: <warren@...> (Warren Burstein)
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 09:13:46 GMT
Subject: Re: Hot Water on Shabbat
I've got a Junkers (very popular in Israel) gas heater that provides
both heating and hot water to my entire apartment. It has a setting
for just hot water, and a setting for heat and hot water. The trouble
is, if I want heat on Shabbat (often a good idea in Jerusalem) I have
to be very careful not to turn on the hot water (made harder by the
fact that my faucets have one handle instead of two knobs).
Does anyone know if it's possible to convince it not to make hot water
but still give heat?
|warren@ bein hashmashot, in which state are the survivors
/ nysernet.org buried?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Jan David Meisler <jm8o+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Date: Sun, 2 Apr 1995 11:14:58 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Kiddush in Shul
There has been discussion about saying kiddush in shul on Friday. I had
been thinking a few weeks ago.....why is it that we don't make kiddush
in shul Shabbos day in the same way we do Friday night. If the people
didn't have food to eat Friday night and they needed to eat in shul,
wouldn't they also need food Shabbos day?
Yochanan
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Aleeza Esther Berger <aeb21@...>
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 13:07:52 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Learning Obligation
I heard a rabbi cite from Shulkhan Aruch Hilchot Talmud Torah a halakhic
obligation (chiyuv)to "learn all of Sha's". I could not find such a
thing. Does anyone know what the reference was to (if anything)?
Aliza Berger
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Michael J Broyde <relmb@...>
Date: Thu, 6 Apr 1995 11:23:34 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Music on Yom Ha'atzmaut
I am interested in people who have seen written sources concerning music
on yom ha'atzmaut. I am aware of only a handful of teshuvot on this
topic, the most recently published being shevet me'yehuda 2:58.
I would appreciate any other citatations to teshuvot or references to the
custom of other yeshivot.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Ben Rothke <ber@...>
Date: Thu, 06 Apr 95 16:38:29 EST
Subject: Re: Organ Donation
>From: Ira Rosen <irosen@...>
>In response to Ben Rothke:
>Who says Orthodox Jews refuse to be organ donors?
Ira:
I worked for 3 years at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx in the late
80's. I did a lot of database design & networking in the Transplant
Dept. In my tenure there, I saw scores of Orthodox Jews getting on
Transplant lists, but never saw an Orthodox Jew donate. While it is not
a scientific sampling, it is pretty indicitive of the reality.
My quandry is that to non-Jews, can we say that we are too holy to
donate, but not too holy to recieve?
[I think the explanation of this was adequately dealt with in one of
Wednesday's issues. Mod.]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Aleeza Esther Berger <aeb21@...>
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 13:13:59 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Sh'ma
In group prayer, the leader recites the end of the sh'ma (+ one word),
"hashem elokechem emet". In private prayer, the individual recites
before shma "kel melech ne'eman". To the best of my knowledge, there's
no minyan requirement in order for the leader to recite instead of the
individual; it's just a "group thing". Anyone have information /sources
on the parameters of this? (e.g. Say 2 people are praying in the same
room....)
(If you think this is a minyan requirement, just go and listen to a 5th
grade classroom say sh'ma. Or am I mistaken?)
Aliza Berger
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: <mikep@...> (Mike Paneth)
Date: Sat, 1 Apr 1995 21:11:37 +1000
Subject: Stripes on a Tallis (again)
I have receive several responses both on-line and off-line, however none
have really answered the question of why there has arrisen such a
proliferation of patterns. Several people have suggested that it is only a
fad of the tallis manufacturers, but speak to several different chassidik
groups, none are prepared to agree to change their tallis for one with
different stripe.
Can this be a case of identifying the various groups by bar code? :-]}}}
Mike Paneth
Melbourne Australia
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: M E Lando <landom1@...>
Date: Thu, 6 Apr 1995 13:26:38 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: T'chay'les
A friend has informed me by e-mail that in Yeshiva University circles
men are putting a newly found t'chay'les on their tzi'tzis. He said
that both Rabbi Tendler and Rabbi Schechter now wear t'chay'les. I'm
surprised that there has been no m-j discussion of this (or have I been
napping?).
I would appreciate learning more about this phenomenon. What is the
source of the dye? Are there any references to the issue in halachic
literature? How does this t'chay'les relate to the mollusk based dye
publicized by the Radziner Rebbe in the last century?
Let us hope that we will be zo'cheh to bring the korban pesach this year
wearing out t'chay'les adorned tal'es'im.
Mordechai E. Lando ha'm'chu'na Yukum
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Leslie Train <ltrain@...>
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 14:31:51 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Tihilim (Pslams) #2
My brother-in-law, Avi Hyman, has gotten into a heated debate with a
Fundamentalist Christian about Scriptual references to a certain son of
God. The Christian fellow had been offering to help Jews convert via the
Internet. My nutty brother-in-law offered to help him accept the truth of
One God instead and thus the battle began. For the most part, all of the
Christian's misguided attempts to 'prove' his point have easily been shot
down, however, today my brother-in-law was learning Rashi's explanation of
Tihilim (Psalms) #2, specifically pasuke (verse) #7, which talks of 'son'
and 'begotten' (b'ni & y'lidtekha). I haven't had a chance to really look
into it (work & Pesach), but my brother-in-law suggested I send a little
note off to Mail-Jewish. He says that in order to accept Rashi's
explanation of the Psalm as a metaphor, other similar methaphors need to
exist in the texts. He wants to hear what other M-Jers think of it all, so
this is on his behalf mostly.
Les
(if anyone wants to talk to him privately
too, his email is: <ajhyman@...>)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: <EDTeitz@...> (Eliyahu Teitz)
Date: Thu, 6 Apr 1995 02:44:29 -0400
Subject: Re: Women and Pants
Why is a woman's wearing pants not tzanua? Please supply sources that
explain why, and not just make the claim that it is so. Thank you.
Eliyahu Teitz
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Eli Turkel <turkel@...>
Date: Thu, 6 Apr 1995 22:16:20 +0300
Subject: Women and Pants
According to those poskim that the only problem is tziniut I don't
understand how one can "paskin" that they are not tzanua (modest). That
would seem to depend on the facts. If the pants cover more than most
dresses, are not tight or revealing why should they be considered
immodest (or less preferable than dresses). Is Rav Ovadiah Yosef claiming
that one could not design a set of woman's pants that would meet all the
objectives of the halacha without any compromizes?
<turkel@...>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Etan Diamond <aa725@...>
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 08:37:41 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Words mentioned in Tanach
I seem to recall reading somewhere about the number of times the Tanach
mentions Israel, Jerusalem, or Zion. Does anyone know this total? I
think that the advertisement I saw it in had to do with comparing Jewish and
Islamic attitudes towards Israel (the point being that the Koran does not
mention these places at all--or something like that). Any help? This
question is NOT intended to spark a political discussion--I only need the
information. Thanks.
Etan Diamond
Department of History
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh
<aa725@...>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Zvi Weiss <weissz@...>
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 12:28:57 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Yom Kippur Katan
As Yom Kippur Katan is not (strictly speaking) an obligatory fast, I
believe that is why it gets "relocated" if it should come out on Friday.
The logic is that people should not enter the Shabbat in a state of
"starvation"... hence, push this non-obligatory fast back a day.
--Zvi.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Volume 19 Issue 23
