Volume 22 Number 67
Produced: Wed Jan 3 0:34:52 1996
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Crest toothpaste
[A. M. Goldstein]
Employment Segula ? (2)
[S.H. Schwartz, Warren Burstein]
Halachic pre-nuptials in UK
[Andy Levy-Stevenson]
Hearing Aids and Shabbos
[Robert Schoenfeld]
Milah
[Ari Greenspan]
Number of verses in a Haftarah
[David Griboff]
Question/Answer Books
[Mike A Singer]
Shir Hayichud
[Yossi Halberstadt]
Stove tops and blechs
[Daniel N Weber]
Tal U'Matar
[Michael Shimshoni]
Tanach+Talmud Online + Search
[Simon Streltsov]
Two Reactions
[Zvi Weiss]
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From: A. M. Goldstein <MZIEASHR@...>
Date: Sun, 31 Dec 95 17:15:17 IST
Subject: Crest toothpaste
Is Crest toothpaste kosher, in the sense that it has some kind of
hashgacha, even if a k? We have a tube brought back from the States,
and when I looked at it closely and also the box in which it came, there
was no symbol. I thought I had remembered that there used to be one. I
compared the ingredients with those of an Israeli badatz-heksher
toothpaste we normally use and found some of the same in both, including
one that I thought might be problematic (glycerine).
[I don't think that it has any hashgacha, but I'm pretty sure that in
the past several years, in Rabbi Blumenkrantz's (sp?) book on Pesach, he
listed Crest as one of the toothpastes that did not have any kashrut
problems. Avi Feldblum]
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From: S.H. Schwartz <shimmy@...>
Date: Mon, 1 Jan 1996 10:35:06 -0500
Subject: Re: Employment Segula ?
>From: <David_Hollander@...> (David Hollander)
>Someone told me a story last night that when he was a principal in a
>Yeshiva the neighborhood changed and he lost his job. He needed a new
>position. Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky told him to get a chavrusa (Torah study
>partner). The former principal arranged it to start Monday. The next
>day he got a call offering a new position.
With full respect, limud Torah is certainly a segula for a good -life-,
but specifically regarding employment, it is probably more useful for a
principal/mechanech than, e.g., an accountant or dry cleaner.
On the other hand: a yeshiva principal without a chavrusa? I'm not at all
surprised by Rav Kamenetsky's advice!
--Shimon
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From: <warren@...> (Warren Burstein)
Date: Tue, 2 Jan 1996 16:58:19 GMT
Subject: Re: Employment Segula ?
>Someone told me a story last night that when he was a principal in a
>Yeshiva the neighborhood changed and he lost his job. He needed a new
>position. Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky told him to get a chavrusa (Torah study
>partner). The former principal arranged it to start Monday. The next
>day he got a call offering a new position.
While I certainly wouldn't dream of advising someone against learning,
in chavruta or otherwise, is it at all reasonable to generalize from one
person's experience, unless R. Kamenetsky explicitly told him "arrange a
chavruta, it's a segula for finding a job?
|warren@ an Anglo-Saxon." -- Stuart Schoffman
/ itex.jct.ac.IL
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From: Andy Levy-Stevenson <andyls@...>
Date: 26 Dec 1995 13:11:49 -0600
Subject: Halachic pre-nuptials in UK
I recently received this as part of a message from the British Jewish Net
announcement service. Thought it would be interesting to share, and
perhaps to begin a discussion. Does anyone else know more about this
recent announcement?
>THIS DOCUMENT MAY BE COPIED OR TRANSMITTED ON CONDITION THAT THIS
>MESSAGE (INDICATING THAT IT WAS PROVIDED BY BRIJNET) IS INCLUDED
>
>3. FIRST HALACHIC PRE-NUPTIAL AGREEMENT IN THE UK
>Five Anglo-Jewish Botei Din announced agreement on a Pre-Nuptial
>Agreement to be signed by couples before their wedding to help prevent
>future agunot (the heinous situation where a civil divorce is achieved
>but one partner refuses to participate in the 'get' process preventing
>re-marriage according to halacha).
>The five - London (under the Chief Rabbi), Manchester, Leeds,
>Federation of Synagogues and Sephardi - also proposed a range of
>sanctions for those not complying. These include removal of priviliges
>and honours such as aliyot and publication in the press of the names
>of such men.
Andy Levy-Stevenson Email: <andyls@...>
Tea for Two Communications Voice & Fax: 612-920-6217
2901 Salem Avenue South
St. Louis Park, MN 55416
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From: Robert Schoenfeld <roberts@...>
Date: Sun, 31 Dec 1995 11:37:19 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Hearing Aids and Shabbos
This discussion came up on another mailing list. There are 2 types of
hearing aids, "analog" and "digital".
On Shabbos the analog (regular type in ear) can be used provided it is
left on the whole of shabbos, however the digital (cochlear implant)
can't be used. Is there some halachic reason for this? Shouldn't both be
allowed based upon " thalt shalt leave no stumbling sone before the
blind"?
73 de Bob
+ Robert Schoenfeld \ / +
+ WA2AQQ \ / +
+ E-Mail:<roberts@...> | +
+ HomePage:www.liii.com/~roberts | +
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From: <tekhelet@...> (Ari Greenspan)
Date: Wed, 3 Jan 1996 06:31:27 +0200 (IST)
Subject: Milah
I recently read a number of items on mila and dam nida regarding
blood born diseases. As a Dentist and a mohel I feel strongly that
Metziza should be done via a tube. There are many things that can be
passed from child to mohel or visa versa. Yes, there are protiens in
saliva that may inhibit AIDS transfer to the mohel but there are a host
of things that can be passed to the child. Hepatitis b is the most common
but according to statistics as much as 7% of the population that
received blood in the 1970-80's has hepatitis c which is symptomless for
up to 30 years untill chirrosis makes itslf known.
I think every mohel should have a hep b vaccine and should have
a blood test to be sure that he is not potentialy a carrier of
anything. From a purely medical point of view, gloves are more of an
issue for the protecting mohel himself .If he has washed his hands with
an anti bacterial soap there won't be to many bugs to pass to the child
unless he has an open sore or wound AND is carrying a virus.Gloves
should be worn.
Metziza with the mouth became an issue 75-100 years ago. The
mishna Brura writes about a mohel that was passing on a disease and they
suggested using a sponge to draw the blood. The gemara says the reason
for metziza is for health purposes and "a mohel who doesn't do metziza
should be removed".It must be done but if the metziza itself becomes a
health concern for the baby , an acceptable alternative must be
found. Today most mohalim use a glass tube with a sterile gauze in
it.The tube allows one to create the suction need but the gauze prevents
any blood\saliva contact.
Another important issue is proper sterilization of the
instruments.Hepatitis b can remain viable for long periods of time in
dry blood, luckily something that AIDS can't.
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From: David Griboff <TKISG02%<EZMAIL@...>
Date: Tue 02 Jan 1996 13:39 ET
Subject: Number of verses in a Haftarah
A recent discussion about the Haftarah for Shabbas Chanukah had an aside
which implied that a Haftarah had to have at least 21 psukim (verses).
This was mentioned as a possibility for why the verses regarding the
Kohen Gadol (High Priest) wearing dirty clothes were included as part of
the Shabbas Chanukah Haftarah.
However, while following this past Shabbas' Haftarah (Vayigash), I
realized that it did not have 21 psukim, and I looked ahead, and next
week's (Vayechi) has fewer than 21 also. I also seem to remember that
there are some of the '7 Haftaras of consolation' (read through much of
D'varim) that have fewer than 21.
Just curious... Are there any minimum requirements for a Haftarah?
David Griboff
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From: <m-singer@...> (Mike A Singer)
Date: Mon, 1 Jan 1996 14:50:37 -0500
Subject: Question/Answer Books
Does anyone know if there are question/answer books available as study
aids for the Tanach, Talmud, Mishneh Torah, Mishneh Brura, Kitzur
Shulchan Aruch, etc.? How about for Jewish history, at the secondary or
college level? I know that Ohr Somayach yeshiva distributes over the
Internet a set of questions and answers relating to the weekly Torah
reading. Also, there is a book along those lines entitled _The Parsha
Guide_, by Rabbi David Yankelewitz. However, I have not seen any such
books for the Na"ch, Talmud, Codes, or history. Any information would
be greatly appreciated.
Mike Singer
<m-singer@...>
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From: Yossi Halberstadt <fx_joe@...>
Date: Tue, 02 Jan 1996 12:36:41 GMT
Subject: RE: Shir Hayichud
Eli Turkel wrote:
>Thus, in fact shir hayichud is usually recited only once a year.
Just for interest, in the Golders Green Beth Hamedrash London (Munk's),
Shir Hayichud is recited each Shabbos and Yom-tov day during Shacharis,
for the appropriate day of the week, and is recited in its entirety on
Kol Nidre night.
Yossi Halberstadt
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From: Daniel N Weber <dweber@...>
Date: Tue, 2 Jan 1996 09:37:30 -0600 (CST)
Subject: Stove tops and blechs
Many modern electric stove tops are made of a single panel of glass
which covers the electrical elements, similar to a Salton tray. Since
the pots are not directly on the heating elements, does such an
arrangement constitute a blech, i.e., can the stove be kept on for
Shabbat to keep water warm or to keep a cholent, etc. warm?
Dan Weber
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From: Michael Shimshoni <MASH@...>
Date: Mon, 01 Jan 96 16:53:09 +0200
Subject: Tal U'Matar
In Volume 22 Number 56 Jerome Parness corrects a previous posting of
himself:
>As per the reminder by Steve White (thank you), I erred in stating that
>the latest Yom Kippur can fall is Oct 5th. Rather, it is the latest Rosh
>Hashana will fall. One then has the lunar calendar being responsible
>for the beginning of tekufat tishrei, and the 60 days of the solar
>calendar to the beginning of rains in hutz la'aretz.
From my calculation this seems to be almost correct and will break
down on Rosh HaShana of the year 5975 which will be on Thursday
October 6, 2214.
One should note that this will be *before* the year 6000, which some
consider the last year for which one should compute calendars. After
the year 6000, the occurrence of even later Rosh HaShana dates than
October 6 happen. I got October 7 for the first time in 6070 (2309),
October 8 in 6431 (2670), October 9 in 6564 (2803), and there I
stopped.
Michael Shimshoni
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From: <simon1@...> (Simon Streltsov)
Date: Thu, 28 Dec 1995 12:31:13 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Tanach+Talmud Online + Search
New Resource: Online Hebrew Tanach and Shas
http://snunit.huji.ac.il/snunit/kodesh
Full Hebrew text of the Tanach, Talmud Bavli, and Talmud Yerushalmi is
available from Snunit at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem for Web browsing.
These texts, along with Mishne Torah leRambam, Mishna, and Tosefta,
are available for downloading along with DOS browsing software in the MTR
package available for free from Snunit.
-------------------------------------
Resume: useful tool for search, a little clumsy interface,
takes 15 minutes to install.
No more excuse to say "It saaays somewhere ..."
You will need Hebrew software on your web browser to see the text:
read PC, MAC or Unix installation guides on
http://www1.snunit.k12.il/snunit/heb.html
(it takes ~ 15 minutes, but on UNIX one probably needs administrator
priviliges).
features:
- psukim have references to Gemora, and back,
- you can search over the whole Torah, Tanach, each book
separately, each Talmud separately, each masehet separately
(each search option is on the page, corresponding to that book...)
- if you (like me) can not figure out how to type in Ivrit -
just click on a page with text and paste and copy the letters you need
- if you configure your cache right - flipping pages back and forth
will be quick
Simcha Streltsov to subscribe send
Moderator of Russian-Jews List sub russian-jews <fullname>
<simcha@...> to listproc@shamash.org
archives via WWW: http://shamash.org/lists/russian-jews
<simon1@...>
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From: Zvi Weiss <weissz@...>
Date: Mon, 1 Jan 1996 23:15:05 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: Two Reactions
> From: <RACHMIEL@...> (Henya Rachmiel)
>.....
> >The mohel I used did m'tziza b'peh (squeezing/sucking the blood by
> >mouth) directly with no straws etc. He told me saliva has some natural
> >antibodies or other protective elements in it.
==> I would add that I was told that a Mohel would routinely rinse out
his mouth with a strong whiskey as some sort of "primitive disinfectant"
and that there is "supposed to be" a rule that a Mohel will not perform
Metztitzah B'Peh if the Mohel has any sort of open sore in the his (the
Mohel's) mouth.
> This is exactly the kind of dangerous misinformation which proves the
> necessity of education. it is precisely through mucous membranes
> (including the inside of the mouth) which are most vulnerable to
> transmission of viruses. And less likely but possible that a child
> could be infected by the contact of infected saliva with the open wound
> on the penis. Certainly the mitzvah of pikuach nefesh demands full
> precautions for the prevention of disease. It would be both ironic and
> tragic if even one case of disease were transmitted as a side effect of
> a mitzvah.
==> I would like to know: is there any evidence of disease transmission
when Mohelim follow the above two "rules"? Or are there any
epidemiological studies here?
--Zvi----
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End of Volume 22 Issue 67
