Volume 19 Number 95
Produced: Wed Jun 7 23:43:58 1995
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Airline Vegetarian Kosher Meals
[Deborah J. Stepelman]
Business on Yom Tov
[Ari Shapiro]
Charity for Ethiopian Jewery
[Sam S. Lightstone]
Gentiles and self-defense
[Frank Silbermann]
Jews from Russia
[Eliyahu Teitz]
Lost Jewish Communities
[Bill Page]
MiracleThaw
[Andrea Penkower Rosen]
Name of God on the monitor
[Michael Shimshoni]
Question in Grammar
[Eli Turkel]
Tikkun Magazine Advertisement
[Avraham Teitz]
Wehamasqil Yavin
[M.LINETSKY ]
Who is called a Parent
[Joe Goldstein]
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From: Deborah J. Stepelman <stepelma@...>
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 1995 10:18:27 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Airline Vegetarian Kosher Meals
It's been my experience that TWA does not provide *vegetarian*
kosher meals. One reservation agent may say yes, another--no, a
third--"we'll put it in and try", but the bottom line is that it doesn't
make it to the plane. I've had that experience more than once.
Does anyone know which airlines defintely will provide
vegetarian kosher meals? And, how does one go about ensuring the food
reservation? Other than ElAL, we've not succeeded. It's a problem not
only for the 9 days, but for actual kosher vegetarian travellers as
well.
Deborah J. Stepelman
<stepelma@...>
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From: <m-as4153@...> (Ari Shapiro)
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 95 19:00:13 EDT
Subject: Business on Yom Tov
The following question came up on Yom Tov. Many people have a GTC
(good till cancel) stock order. This means they tell their broker if the
stock hits price x buy/sell. For example a person could say if IBM STock
hits 100 sell. The broker sells/buys the stock if the prices is reached.
The question is do you have to cancel this before Yom Tov because your
price may be reached on Yom Tov and the broker will buy or sell the stock
for you on Yom Tov. The more general question is the following: Does a
transaction in which there is no action done by you on Yom Tov violate the
gezera of mekach umemcar (doing business) on Yom Tov? This applies to many
things that go on in the modern world. Some examples are: 1)People paid by
direct deposit. Many large companies (including mine and my father's) pay
their employees directly by electronically transferring the money into the
employees account. What happens if payday falls out on Yom Tov? You are
aquiring the money without any action 2) You belong to a 401k plan at work
and every payday the company buys stocks, bonds, etc. for you, again what
if payday is on Yom Tov. 3) You write a check and the check comes in to
your bank on Yom Tov therefore the money leaves your account on Yom Tov
A similar question is addressed by the halacha in the following case. If
Erev Pesach falls out on Shabbos how is the chametz sold to the non-Jew.
Can you make the kinyan on Friday but have it take effect on Shabbos? This
is analogous to our cases where no action is done (by you) on Yom Tov but
the kinyan happens on Yom Tov. The poskim permit the sale of the chametz
because it is for a mitzva our case is not. It seems that the issur of
doing business is violated even if you do no action. Just by having a
kinyan take effect on Yom Tov you seem to violate the issur. Another
variable might be amira l'nochri (telling a non-jew to do melacha for you).
We pasken that even before shabbos you can't tell him to do a melacha on
Shabbos for you. However, most of theses cases are done automatically by
computer.
Any thoughts?
Ari Shapiro
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From: <light@...> (Sam S. Lightstone)
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 95 11:50:33 EDT
Subject: Charity for Ethiopian Jewery
There is an organization called Amichai which is dedicated to helping
Ethiopian Jews integrate into Israeli society. I believe they have a few
branches. In Canada they have a branch in Toronto.
You can get more information by sending e-mail to <mirskym@...> which
is the e-mail address of one of the Amichai representatives in Toronto.
Sam S. Lightstone
Senior Associate Engineer, Workstation Database Manager Development
IBM Canada, Software Solutions Laboratory
VNET: TOROLAB2(LIGHT) INET: <light@...>
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From: Frank Silbermann <fs@...>
Date: Thu, 1 Jun 1995 03:57:50 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Re: Gentiles and self-defense
A few weeks ago I asked for sources on the question of gentiles and
self-defense, but received no response. Here is a specific situation:
Gentile A is about to murder gentile B, but gentile B has a gun.
Is gentile B halachicly permitted to save his life by shooting
gentile A?
I would have assumed the answer to be yes, obviously, but recent
discussions on the abortion issue have suggested that gentiles, not
having the same obligation as Jews to preserve their lives, might be
obligated to let themselves die.
What is the halacha?
Frank Silbermann <fs@...>
Tulane University New Orleans, Louisiana USA
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From: <EDTeitz@...> (Eliyahu Teitz)
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 1995 16:53:55 -0400
Subject: Re: Jews from Russia
A claim was made that 500,000 people from the former Soviet Union have
come to Israel and that at least 400,000 of them are Jewish.
This is unfortunately not the case. The number of non-Jews entering
Israel from Russia ( and the other countries ) is over 50%. This
information is from reputable government sources. Some Batey Din even
go so far as saying that a person who already has Israeli documents
proving his Judaism ( a marriage certificate for example ) must reprove
his Jewishness, for many of these people were assumed to be Jewish
before the full information was known.
This has ramifications the world over as well. The recommendation of
some Batey Din in Israel is that every person coming out of Russia
claiming to be Jewish must be checked. Documents have been forged in
the past and continue to be forged. Information is inaccurate and
legitimate documents are sold to non-Jews for profit. This has reached
crisis proportions. There is no reason to assume that the percentage of
Russians the world over claiming Jewishness is greater than in Israel.
This information relates to those Jews who arrived in the recent
immigrations. There is no information about those Jews who came in past
waves, or who trickled out during the slow years.
If you would like more information feel free to e-mail me directly. My
address is, <edteitz@...>
Eliyahu
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From: Bill Page <page@...>
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 1995 13:32:21 -0500
Subject: Re: Lost Jewish Communities
A few months ago, there was a thread here on how to address prospective
converts to Judaism. I have a special question on that topic. A friend
of mine is active in an organization that seeks to locate "lost and
dispersed remnants of the Jewish people" and to help them to "rejoin the
Jewish community," often by relocation to Israel. Some of these
communities, like the Marranos of Latin America, are descendants of
Spanish and Portugese Jews who have retained some elements of Jewish
observance; others, like the Bnei Menashe of India, claim descent from
the the ten lost tribes; others, like the Abayudaya in Uganda are
clearly descendants of native people who adopted Jewish beliefs and
practices at some point in history. None apparently is comparable to
the Yemenite community, which was isolated for centuries but kept the
Torah. What are the halachic implications of the effort to connect
these people with world Jewry? Are these communities, which have had no
recent contact with normative Judaism, to be viewed as any other
prospective converts? Or do their generations of adherence of elements
of Jewish tradition in adverse circumstances--and possible Jewish
ancestry--make them special cases?
Bill
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From: Andrea Penkower Rosen <apr@...>
Date: Tue, 6 Jun 1995 16:05:16 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: MiracleThaw
I have just received a gift of this product which is a rapid defrosting
tray "with Xylan" which, in fact, works really well. It absorbs the cold
from frozen foods. Does anyone know what this is made of? And is it
like metal for kashrut purposes, thus necessitating one for dairy and
one for meat?
Andrea Penkower Rosen
<apr@...>
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From: Michael Shimshoni <MASH@...>
Date: Wed, 24 May 95 16:23:48 +0300
Subject: Re: Name of God on the monitor
In mj19#70 <Gevaryahu@...> (Gilad J. Gevaryahu) discusses some
aspects of "Name of God on the monitor". I shall bring what he wrote
but would like to ask something about his argument towards the end:
>The Mishnah in Masechet Yadayim (4,5) States:
>
>"Leolam eino metame, ad sheychteveno Ashurit al ha'or u'vidyo" A text does
>not become holy (metame et ha'yadayid is the defilement of the hands) until
>it is written in square Hebrew letters (Ashurit) on a parchment (or) in ink
>(dyo). It is obvious that the Mishnah is very careful to set the halachic
>parameters of when a text (and by extension the name of God) becomes holy.
Adds to that Mr Gevaryahu:
>Mr. Kolber is expanding the restrictions. This Mishnah does not requires
>God to be spelled G-d in English; this has been done by some for
>educational purpose only. Paper replaced parchment early on, since that
>was the normal means of writing, and there is a consensus in halacha
======
>that writing the name of God in Hebrew letters on paper or parchment, in
=====
>vain, is prohibited; and likewise is the erasing of His name.
I have no reason to doubt that indeed there is a consensus about not
writing the name of God in vain even on paper. I am just puzzled by
the reasoning that as paper had *replaced* parchment, the rules given
in the Mishna about writing (or rather not) God's name on parchment
are equally valid these days for paper. *If* that reason is accepted,
one could also argue that a Torah, or a Mezuza written on paper could
be used for ritual purposes, and this we know is *not* the consensus.
Michael Shimshoni
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From: Eli Turkel <turkel@...>
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 1995 11:36:02 +0300
Subject: Question in Grammar
Does anyone know why some names, in Hebrew, are preceded by a "heh"
(the) and some are not. We speak of ha-Rambam, ha-Rosh but not ha-Rashi.
This spills over into pseudo English where one speaks of the works
of the Rambam, the Rosh but never the Rashi. Similarly one speaks of the
Brisker Rav but Rav Soloveitchik. Of course, in correct English the use
of "the" in such a context is always incorrect (try how the Einstein
sounds).
<turkel@...>
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From: Avraham Teitz <TEITZ.AVRAHAM@...>
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 1995 08:48:40 -0400
Subject: Tikkun Magazine Advertisement
Tikkun Magazine has advertized it's Jewish Renewal Retreat (scheduled
for June 13-18) in the NY Times (6/7) in a most offensive manner. To
whit, its shabbat portion is hyped as "A joyful Shabbat unlike the
spiritually deadening, politically conservative, conformist or sexist
variants of Judaism you've rejected." A phone number is given for
registration. I recommend that the membership of the Mail-Jewish
list call to "register" our complaint at the use of offensive wording
("spiritually deadening" indeed - sounds more like he's advertizing
"spiritually convenient" Judaism). The phone # is 1-800-398-2630.
Avi Teitz
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From: 81920562%<TAONODE@...> (M.LINETSKY )
Date: Tue 30 May 1995 08:36 ET
Subject: Wehamasqil Yavin
In volume 72 Larry Roster writes about a misquote which he believes
stems from Ramban's remark "wehamasqil yavin" when refering to something
esoteric. I would like to point out that Ramban copies this formula
from Ibn Ezra who excelled at employing it. The origin of this phrase is
clearly "Wehammasqilim yavinu" in Daniel. It is used also by Rabbi Judah
Ha-lewi at the outset of his Kuzri.
Michael Linetsky
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From: Joe Goldstein <vip0280@...>
Date: Thu, 01 Jun 95 12:38:49
Subject: Who is called a Parent
In reply to the request by Jack Stroh in Volume 19 Number 77 There are
several places that come to mind very quickly 1) Inthe end of RUS (Ruth)
When it says NAOMI had children. See chapter 4 posukim 16 & 17. (If I
remember correctly the Torah Temimah brings down the Gemoorah of
"whoever raises a friends child, the torah considers as if he bore that
child)
2) In Esther, where the posuk says And she became his daughter. This
can be understood, as the Gemmorah in Megillo explains a wife, or a
daughter since he brought her up.
3) Yosef's Wife OSNAS BAS POTIFERAH was actually the daughter of Dina.
This is the child she bore from SHCHEM. The Yalkut Shimoni, and the
PIRKEY DEREB ELOZOER perek 37 or 38,, and I am 99% sure the MEOM LOEZ
quotes these sources, says the brothers wanted to kill the child but
yaakov wrote a "SHEM" on a gold charm and sent her away, mystically, she
ended up in Mitzrayim where OSNAS raised her. And we know the POSUK
calls her OSNAS BAS POTIFERH. Rashi also says the story of POTIFERAH
follows the story of Yehudah and TAMAR because just like TAMAR did her
action LSHEM SHOMAYIM, so did POTIFERAH. Because Potiferah saw
astrologically that she was destined to have descendants thru Yosef. She
was mistaken because it was not she who was to bear the children, rather
her daughter OSNAS!
I hope this helps
Yosey (Joe) Goldstein
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End of Volume 19 Issue 95
