Volume 26 Number 72
Produced: Wed Jun 25 7:09:49 1997
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Children's Hospital Book Drive Program
[Zev Sero]
Freedom
[Merling, Paul]
Hagba - Father and Son
[Shlomo Pick]
Halacha of Linking Copyright on the internet
[Frank Smiles]
Passport Photos (3)
[Carl Singer, Aaron Aryeh Fischman, Merril Weiner]
Picture Book for Maseches Keilim
[Carl Sherer]
Shoshana
[Saul Mashbaum]
Toras Hayoledes
[Joel M Guttman]
Yibum
[Mike Gerver]
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From: Zev Sero <zsero@...>
Date: Sun, 08 Jun 1997 14:21:38 -0700
Subject: Re: Children's Hospital Book Drive Program
[My apologies for not checking this out before it went out, and thanks
to all that emailed me that the drive was long over. Mod]
The campaign's web site is http://www.polarexpress.com
> All you have to do is e-mail: <share@...> and type in the
> SUBJECT: "Children's Hospital Book Drive Program". Hope you
> can spare a few seconds... let your friends know.
That was *not* the idea. The campaign was to `share the spirit' of
the `holidays' (and we all know what that means), and the idea was:
3. What should I write about?
Suggested topics include:
* How do you keep the holiday spirit alive for yourself and
your family?
* If you could choose the first gift of the holiday season,
what would it be?
* What is your favorite holiday tradition?
> So far (5-25) they've only received 3,400 messages... last year they
> got 23,000. I think it would be great if we could kick it up to 30,000.
> Please forward this e-mail to ANYONE you know. Thanks for your help.
This is *very* old news.
4. How long will the campaign run?
The original plan was to run the campaign until December 31, 1996
or until we reached 50,000 messages, whichever came first.
As of December 11, 1996, we reached our goal of 50,000 messages.
As a result, the email portion of the campaign has come to a close.
Please do not send email to "<share@...>". However, you are more
than welcome to post messages about your favorite holiday thoughts
and memories to share with the internet community.
In summary, when the campaign was running, the purpose was not to
collect empty emails, but messages about the `holidays', but one could
justify participating nonetheless, because of the mitzvah of tzedakah.
However, the campaign has been over since 11-Dec-96, i.e. for nearly
six months.
Zev Sero Don't blame me, I voted for Harry Browne
<zsero@...> For more info, see http://www.lp.org
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From: Merling, Paul <MerlingP@...>
Date: Wed, 04 Jun 97 17:16:00 PDT
Subject: Freedom
I saw a beautiful Vort (thought) in the Or Hachayim (found in the
standard Mikraos Gidolos Chumash.) At the beginning of Bi'chu'ko'sai, he
has a lengthy essay on the greatness of Torah study. By the way,
Chassidim refer to the author as the Or Hachaim Hakodosh(the holy.) He
cites a Gemara in Succah (45) which tells about 3 different groups which
are close to the Shi'chi'ne. One group is separated from the Glory by a
transparent barrier, while another group has a barrier which cannot be
seen through. The third group has nothing separating them from the
Divine and can enter when they please. The Orach Chaim Hakodosh
interprets the verse in Iyov (3) in light of this Chazal. "There is both
small and large there and a servant freed from his master." The small
would refer to the group which has a non-transparent barrier, while the
large refers to those who can see through the barrier. The servant freed
refers to the greatest who can enter the Presence when they wish. He
concludes that this is the meaning of "If you will follow (literally go
with) my laws(referring to intense Torah study.) How can one achieve
going(teileichu) to the Shi'chi'ni when one pleases (like a ben Bayis),
if one is totally immersed in Torah study.
Maybe that is the true meaning of freedom in the famous Chazal
" One is not considered free unless one toils at Torah study. " In the
night when the heaven opens, let us merit that we become really free, so
that we may be able to rejoice with the holy Shi'chi'ne.
Have a good YomTov
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From: Shlomo Pick <picksh@...>
Date: Mon, 09 Jun 1997 17:19:14 -0700
Subject: Hagba - Father and Son
In vol. 26 no. 63 the question was raised whether a father and son
could do hagba-gelila.
Rabbi Seraya Deblitzki, author of numerous halakhic books and pesakim
has said that there was such a problem and father and son should NOT do
hagba and gelila together. hence, this is the common practice in his
neighborhood in bnei brak.
shlomo pick
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From: <fsmiles@...> (Frank Smiles)
Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 11:29:12 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Halacha of Linking Copyright on the internet
What are the basic sources and teshuvas to look at in regards to
linking to part of someone's else's web site? do you need permission?
Also can you take the design of a website and put in your own info into
someone else's design?
What about taking .gif images from other sites?
How about taking a picture of a Rabbi from another site?
There are two points to consider . The Halacha and then what one calls
Hatov veHayashar (the good and straight way)
Your comments are welcome.
By the way , the policy at the web site www.613.org is any one can
directly link to our audio who wants to ( except for some music which we
do not have full rights to )
f smiles
613.org http://www.613.org Torah you can listen to . Jewish Music you can here.
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From: Carl Singer <CARLSINGER@...>
Date: Sun, 8 Jun 97 15:58:21 UT
Subject: Passport Photos
I recall that this has been successfully "fought" both re: yarmulkes
(men) and Shietals (women.)
I recall my wife has this issue with a driver's license photo. She went
to get her driver's license and they would not let her take a photo
because no hair was showing. She asked what about a "wig" and they said
that was OK, so she came back wearing a shietel.
You might want to check w/ COLPA or someone like that to see what legal
actions have been taken in this regard.
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From: <afischman@...> (Aaron Aryeh Fischman)
Date: Sun, 08 Jun 1997 12:12:55 -0500
Subject: Passport Photos
>The photographer told my wife she had to remove her hat for a
>passport photo. Has anyone successfully objected to this?
When we were newly married, My wife and I needed to get new passports,
and My wife happened to be wearing a hat to the county corthouse. She
was informed that she needed to either remove the hat, or bring a note
from a clergyman that the hat was neccesary. We came back with a letter,
and in her photo she is wearing a hat.
Good Luck,
Aharon
<afischman@...>
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From: Merril_Weiner/CAM/<Lotus@...> (Merril Weiner)
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 09:57:53 -0400
Subject: Re: Passport Photos
Eric W. Mack wrote:
> The photographer told my wife she had to remove her hat for a
> passport photo. Has anyone successfully objected to this?
My wife and I thought about this before we married since she would need
a new picture for her new resident alien card after the name change. We
decided upon getting a nice sheitl for this and other occasions when
wearing hats might be awkward. If your wife does not have a sheitl, I'm
sure that she could buy one fairly cheaply or borrow one.
Then again, I have heard that Moslem women have successfully upheld
their right to keep their hair covered.
-Merril Weiner
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From: Carl Sherer <sherer@...>
Date: Sun, 8 Jun 1997 23:40:23 +0200
Subject: Picture Book for Maseches Keilim
I understand that there is a picture book available that serves as a
study aid for Maseches Keilim. If anyone happens to know its name
and where it is available in Yerushalayim, I would greatly appreciate
the information.
Chag Sameyach!
-- Carl Sherer
Thank you for davening for our son, Baruch Yosef ben Adina Batya. Please
keep him in mind for a healthy, long life.
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From: Saul Mashbaum <mshalom@...>
Date: Mon, 09 Jun 1997 09:57:06 GMT-2
Subject: Shoshana
Ronald Greenberg wrote:
>This excerpt regarding Shavuos prompts me to ask for further
>information about the meanings of "shoshana" and "vered".
Dr. Yehuda Felix, a foremost authority on Biblical and Mishnaic flora
and fauna, asserts that the shoshana in Shir HaShirim is a lily (lilium
cardidum) which grows in the Galil and Carmel regions. He notes that the
Ibn Ezra specifically says on the verse "his lips are 'shoshanim'" that
this refers to the fragrance of the flower, not its color. See
Dr. Felix's essay "Nature and landscape in Shir HaShirim" in the Da'at
Mikra edition of Shir HaShirim, and the commentary to verse 2:2, where
the thorns of the lily are described.
There is, however, a Rabbinic (midrashic) reference to shoshana as a red
flower. In Shir HaShirim Rabbah 7:7, a bride tells her groom that she
saw [a drop] "like a red 'shoshana'", and despite his great longing for
her he withdraws from her. It is possible to posit that this is
referring to a different flower, not the biblical shoshana ("lashon
mikra lechud velashon chachamim lechud"), but several commentaries
(including Tosfot Sanhedrin 37a) maintain that the shoshana in the verse
Shir HaShirim 7:3 "..suga bashoshanim" (a hedge of 'shoshanim') alludes
to the red shoshana a woman sees. The phrase "raiti k'shoshana aduma"
appears in Vayirah Rabba as well, 12:1 and 19:6.
I surmise that this is what guided the Artscroll translation of shoshana
as rose, outweighing considerations of strict botanical and linguistic
accuracy.
'Vered' is in fact not a biblical word. In modern Hebrew this is the
correct term for rose.
Saul Mashbaum
This posting is dedicated to my daughter - Shoshana.
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From: Joel M Guttman <guttman@...>
Date: Sun, 8 Jun 1997 17:31:01 +0300
Subject: Toras Hayoledes
Recently, one of the Mail-Jewish correspondents wrote that there is a
sefer called "Toras Hayoledes" which states, among other things, that a
woman about to give birth on Shabbos should, if possible, ride a bicycle
(!) to the hospital rather than get there by ambulance or private car.
Being acquainted with the senior author of this sefer, the highly
respected Rav Zilberstein, rav of the Ramat Elchanan neighborhood in
Bnei Brak, I thought it highly unlikely that he should make such a
ridiculous suggestion. I happen to have a copy of the sefer, and in
fact I could find no such suggestion. Moreover, the Mail-Jewish
correspondent wrote that Rav Moshe Sternbuch wrote comments at the end
of the sefer in which he claimed that such "chumros" are actually
against the Halacha. There is no such appendix by Rav Sternbuch, though
the authors did insert his comments at at least one point in a lengthy
footnote. The import of the footnote that I saw was certainly not that
the authors in general went overboard in being machmir about not
violating the Shabbos in cases of pikuach nefesh. In any case, I wonder
whether the Mail-Jewish correspondent actually saw the sefer before he
wrote about its contents.
Joel M. Guttman
Department of Economics - Bar-Ilan University - 52900 Ramat-Gan
Phone: 972-3-531-8925 (office); 972-3-578-3502 (home)
Fax: 972-3-535-3180 - E-mail: <guttman@...>
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From: <GERVER@...> (Mike Gerver)
Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 2:35:33 -0400
Subject: Yibum
Like Susan Slusky (v26n61) and Susan Chambre (v26n65), I also have fond
memories of the 1972 Israeli film "I Love You, Rosa", which dealt with
yibum. However, Susan Chambre is remembering the story wrong. The male
lead (whose name I forget) did not perform chalitza. They had a beit din
convened and were all ready to do chalitza, but at the last minute he runs
out of the room. He knows that if he goes through with chalitza, he will
never be able to marry Rosa, and he can't stand that. In the end, he does
yibum instead. But I don't think he asks a shayla first. As I recall, the
yibum scene was played as spontaneous and romantic. Presented with a
fait accompli, the rabbanim approve. Even assuming that the story was
a plausible description of something that could have happened in the
Ottoman Empire in the 19th century, it doesn't really tell us much about
how common yibum was. It is clear that everyone expected him to do
chalitza, not yibum, but that might be because of their great age
difference. She must have been about 15 years older than he was.
There is a discussion of yibum among Ashkenazim and Sephardim in
"Ashkenazim and Sephardim, their relations, differences, and problems
as reflected in the rabbinical responsa," by H. J. Zimmels (Marla
Publications, London, 1976), on p. 172-173. It says that Ashkenazim
generally practiced chalitza, because of the takanah of Rabbeinu Gershom,
but that Sephardim generally practiced yibum, because they did not consider
the decree of Rabbeinu Gershom to apply to a dvar mitzvah like yibum,
and because of the greater influence of the Talmud Yerushalmi on Sephardim.
But up the 12th century C.E., yibum was practiced occasionally by
Ashkenazim, and there was a case of yibum recorded as late as the 1500s
in Italy, and as late as the 1700s in Mainz. The latter case concerned
a man who had no feet, so could not do chalitza. Since he and his late
brother's wife were both willing to do yibum, the rabbis allowed it;
otherwise she would not be able to remarry at all. (It seems to me that
I said all this in a posting back in volume 8 when this topic came up,
but I cannot find it.)
The book also says that Ashkenazim occasionally practiced yibum even in
the 19th century, if they were living in Sephardic communities. I can
offer some evidence to support that from my own family. According to a
story that my great aunt Gussie a"h told to her daughter, my great-
grandmother and her first husband were born in Russia; from their names
they certainly seem to have been Ashkenazim. But they went to Turkey in
the 1870s, where her husband spied on the Turks for the Russian government.
This was in the period leading up to the war between Russia and Turkey
which led to the independence of Bulgaria. The Turks found out he was
spying and poisoned his drink, and he died. They had no children, and my
great-grandmother then married her first husband's brother, who was my
great-grandfather. When I first heard this story I was not sure how
seriously to take it. When I was a child my grandmother a"h used to tell
me family stories that I realized later must have come from novels she
had read, or perhaps novels she would have liked to write. I imagined
that her sister Aunt Gussie might be the same way. But one detail in
the story makes me think it is true. Aunt Gussie did not know that
Ashkenazim did not normally practice yibum in the 19th century. She
thought that it was common practice among all Jews then. And yet, the
story takes place in a Sephardic community in Turkey, the one place
where it is plausible that they would have done yibum. If Aunt Gussie
had simply made the story up, and did not know that Ashkenazim in
Russia did not normally practice yibum, it is unlikely that she would
have said the events occurred in Turkey. So I think the story probably
is true, or is at least based on a true story that she heard.
Mike Gerver, <gerver@...>
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End of Volume 26 Issue 72
