Volume 26 Number 74
Produced: Mon Jun 30 21:14:22 1997
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Accurate Tikkunim
[Miriam Goldberg]
Ballgames and squatters
[Yehuda and Rebecca Poch]
Bike Riding on Shabbat
[Rafi Stern]
Capital Punishment
[Sheva and Tzadik Vanderhoof]
Father and Son on Bima Together
[Elie Rosenfeld]
In search of the Zalschitser Rav
[Sam Lieblich]
Kashrut Question - Chesapeake Rockfish
[the Cheshire Cat]
Ksuvim
[Gershon Dubin]
Lag Be'omer
[Joseph Geretz]
Mazal Tov ! Our Matan Torah
[S.H. Schwartz]
Pidyon HaBen
[Steve White]
Shoshana, Verd
[David Herskovic]
Tape-recording phone conversations
[Yaakov Zev]
Welfare
[Zev Kaufman]
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From: Miriam Goldberg <mgoldber@...>
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 23:03:47 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: Accurate Tikkunim
> Does anyone know of a particularly good tikkun? To me good includes
> several attributes: (i) accuracy; (ii) completeness (e.g., including the
> megillah and haftorahs); (iii) clarity (e.g., using stam typeface on the
> left side, displaying the parsha or perek in the top of the page for
> quick reference; and (iv) I think someone mentioned in an earlier
> posting about a tikkun that differentiates between kamatz katan and
> gadol (like the Rinat Yisroel siddurs) or between sh'va nachs and nas.
I wholeheartedly agree with both your frustration at the current crop of
tikkunim and your list of criteria for a good tikkun. There is a Koren
tikkun that is relatively good but the stam typeface is one that I have
seen only rarely. I end up using the tikkun we all use and then also
going through and double checking. Not really a satisfactory state of
affairs to say the very least.
In addition to your criteria, I would add: 1) a list of the unusual
kriot -- just to save having to open another text to be sure that I'm
preparing the right reading and 2) notations for unusual troph -- e.g.,
the shirat hayam troph that is used in matot/masei and in b'haalotcha
for the "travels" (Vayis'u m'____; Vayachanu b'____.) and even notations
like reading the toch'chot quickly and quietly. Perhaps a second volume
on troph itself (although there are a number of good books out already
so that's probably overkill). In short, I would want a one- or
two-vol. set that even beginner ba'ali kriah could use as a faithful and
complete guide.
My current setup is actually as follows: I have the entire tikkun
photocopied and am trying to put together for myself what I have
described above. I double check with primarily the Koren tanach. In some
cases, I double check against Koren, JPS, Torat Chayim, and whatever
else I have handy (Plaut, mikr'ot g'dolot). Part of the problem of
double checking stems from my uncertainty as to where each of those
editions got _their_ text. By the way, I end up going to such lengths
usually for things like a b versus a v (bet w/ & w/o a dagesh) or in
cases where I think the troph has got to be wrong and I want more than
one source upon which to rely.
What can I tell you? Pathetic, huh? I have actually spoken to one or two
people about putting together a new tikkun. I don't hold out _much_ hope
but one never knows.
Good luck.
Miriam Goldberg
<mgoldber@...>
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From: Yehuda and Rebecca Poch <butrfly@...>
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 12:48:39 +0300
Subject: Ballgames and squatters
>> 2) The Cubs almost always sell out, and I couldn't get any good seats.
>>However, given the teams record and the time of year, the stands were
>>almost completly empty, so I moved down. The park is certainly makpid
>>...
>>the tickets, I would be forced to move. The purchaser of those seats,
>>if indeed they were sold, chose not to atttend. It doesn't harm him if
>>I sit in his empty seat. What then is the issur?
>
>How is this different from being a squatter? If you owned a vacant
>apartment building, do you have the right to insist that squatters
>not inhabit your building?
IMHO...
There is a vast difference between these two issues. On the one hand,
we have a person who has paid a fee to watch a game. Thus, he is
entitled to attend. Once the game is underway, and sufficiently so that
it can be assumed that those seats still empty will remain so (generally
the third inning or so...) that assumption can be made, and the people
with rights to those seats, where such rights have been bought, can be
said to be mafkir those rights by not showing up. Where those tickets
have not been sold, they likely won't be. Thus, there is little
halachically wrong with moving down. Whether such a move is a moral one
is perhaps open to question.
The issue of squatting in an apartment building is totally different.
When there is an empty building, or even one empty apartment, there is
always the possibility that that apartment can be rented, or has already
been rented. Thus, there is never a time when the squatters will NOT be
depriving either the landlord or an absent tenant of his rights or
livelihood.
Squatting is theft, plain and simple, by deriving a benifit for which
money should be paid, without paying it. Moving down at a ballgame is,
at worst, gneivas da'as, and at best, nothing.
\ ^ || ^ / Yehuda and Rebecca Poch \ ^ || ^ /
>--||--< Rehovot, Israel >--||--<
/ v || v \ <butrfly@...> / v || v \
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From: Rafi Stern <rafistern@...>
Date: Sun, 29 Jun 1997 01:26:21 PDT
Subject: Bike Riding on Shabbat
Please could someone give me a convincing argument why riding a bicycle
is not permitted on Shabbat. Whilst I am pretty sure that it ought to be
forbidden and I accept that it is, I have a hard time explaining why.
The two reasons which I have been told are as follows.
1. The chain may derail and you may come to repair it. The chances of a
chain derailing on a well maintained bike (without gears) are pretty
slim. Replacing a derailed chain is also a pretty involved business -
not the kind of thing that you would do with "Hesech HaDaat"
(automatically, without thinking). Maybe using gears (derailleur / hub
?) is an Issur and this may be a reason for forbidding the use of a
bicycle altogether?
2. The pneumatic tyres may puncture and you may come to repair them. The
ammount of effort required to repair the puncture is so great that
again, the assertion that you may accidentally come to repair it is not
really relevant here.
I am of course assuming that carrying is not the issue.
Rafi Stern
Tel: (H)972-2-9919162 (W)972-3-6873312
Email: <rafistern@...>
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From: Sheva and Tzadik Vanderhoof <stvhoof@...>
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 23:32:20 +0300
Subject: Capital Punishment
Does anyone know what the correct Jewish view of capital punishment for
non-Jews by non-Jews? It would seem to me that capital punishment would
be a fulfillment of the non-Jews' obligation, under the seven
commandments of the descendents of Noah, to establish just courts and to
enforce the prohibition of murder, which applies to non-Jews and is
punishable by death (according to the 7 commandments).
As a practical matter, should Jews extend that to publicly supporting
the death penalty in their country of residence?
Tzadik
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From: <erosenfe@...> (Elie Rosenfeld)
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 1997 10:53:41 -0400
Subject: Father and Son on Bima Together
In one of the messages about a father and son getting hagba-gelila,
someone (sorry, don't have the name because I deleted the original)
stated that in his shul, a father and son were never allowed to stand on
the bima together at all, unless they were both Cohanim and were
duchening.
My question is, does this apply even if one of them is the ba'al koreh?
That would seem rather drastic in that the father or son of the shul's
regular ba'al koreh would thus never be able to get an aliyah. Worse, a
father wouldn't be allowed to get an aliyah at his own son's Bar
Mitzvah! Is this indeed the custom being observed at that particular
shul? Or am I taking the original message too literally?
Elie Rosenfeld
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From: Sam Lieblich <hillbice@...>
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 21:17:21 +1000
Subject: In search of the Zalschitser Rav
My father grew up in a small town in southern Poland, Chanzow. In that
town of 20,000 jews before the war were followers of the Gerer and the
Zalaschitser Rav, I am after any information on the latter. I have no
idea of the correct English spelling of the name, Zalaschitser is
phonetic. I understand he came from the town/village of Zalasitch, and
that he visited Krakow at the turn of the century. There are a number
of his followers here in Melbourne, however none have any official books
or documents about him.
Please, if anyone could point me at a book, reference article or
anything with some details of this Rabbi, his ideas, or life story etc.
I and my family would be very greatfull.
Sam Lieblich
HILLBICE Consulting Services
<hillbice@...>
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From: the Cheshire Cat <alanacat@...>
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 1997 14:05:44 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Kashrut Question - Chesapeake Rockfish
Does anyone know if Chesapeake Rockfish is kosher I can't imagine why not,
but best to be sure.
Thanks.
Alana
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From: <gershon.dubin@...> (Gershon Dubin)
Date: Wed, 18 Jun 1997 12:25:39 EDT
Subject: Ksuvim
Hello,
Does anyone know of an instance (since the time of the Gra who,
I understand, had a set) of a set of ksuvim written on parchment like a
sefer torah?
Second question: the Talmud discusses a custom of reading ksuvim
on Shabbos afternoon. When did this stop?
Gershon
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From: Joseph Geretz <JGeretz@...>
Date: Sun, 8 Jun 1997 23:46:12 -0400
Subject: Lag Be'omer
Yossi wrote...
> Last Shabbos I was talking to my Rov and I asked him why does
> Everybody say Lag Be'omer, even when they say Le'omer when they count?
It's interesting to note however, that the Mechaber in Siman 493 (Laws
of Pesach - Laws and Customs of the Days of the Omer) consistently
refers to the 33rd day of the Omer as Lag LaOmer and not Lag BaOmer. The
Ramah however refers to Lag BaOmer, as it is popularly called today. And
of course, there are those who are consistent with the Ramah by counting
BaOmer throughout the count of Sefirah.
Kol Tuv,
Yossi Geretz
(<JGeretz@...>)
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From: S.H. Schwartz <schwartz@...>
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 00:16:00 -0400
Subject: Mazal Tov ! Our Matan Torah
Rebecca and Shimon Schwartz joyfully announce the arrival of
Sarah Miriam Schwartz
The first day of Shavu'ot, 5757 (Wednesday, June 11, 1997), at 3:35 A.M.
8 pounds, 1 ounce -- 19.5 inches long
at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, New Hyde Park, New York
Mother and child are in excellent health, please G-d,
at home in Forest Hills, New York.
Father is back on the Internet. :-)
Steven (Shimon) Schwartz
http://www.access.digex.net/~shimmy/
With Rebecca, Forest Hills, NY: <schwartz@...>
Computer Associates, Islandia, NY: <schwartz@...>
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From: <StevenJ81@...> (Steve White)
Date: Fri, 27 Jun 1997 09:24:10 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Pidyon HaBen
In #73, my good friend Dr. David Riceman (<dr@...>) wrote
at some length about the shiur of Pidyon HaBen. Being nowhere near as
learned as he is, I have nothing to answer him, but I can add some things
that I heard:
1. I've heard that the custom in the old days was to use *seven* of the
old-style silver dollars, not five, presumably because five did not reach the
shiur of five sheqalim *b'sheqel haqodesh.*
2. For my son's Pidyon, I tracked down some of the coins minted by the
Israeli government expressly for the purpose. It is a set of five coins,
each weighing one sheqel. (They come with a certificate which I believe
explains the source of the ruling they used, but the coins are put away in
the safe-deposit box for him, so I can't get at it so easily.) I've never
heard anyone complain that these coins were inadequate to the purpose. Of
course, these coins are denominated in *lirot,* so they have no nominal face
value at all any more.
Steven White
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From: David Herskovic <david@...>
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 1997 21:48:41 +0100
Subject: Shoshana, Verd
The Ibn Ezra in Shir HaShirim, after describing the 'shoshana' as a
white flower whose 'hot' smell can cause a headache, places the root of
the word in 'shesh' (six) as the flower 'always' has six petals and
within them six long stems.
I think that only a lily matches this description.
In the same posuk (2,1), he cites some translators who describe
'chavatseles' as 'vered'.
I believe that a rose in Hungarian is verej, or something similar, which
suggests a common etymology with the Hebrew vered.
David Herskovic
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From: Yaakov Zev <yakovzev@...>
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 1997 23:32:49 -0700
Subject: Tape-recording phone conversations
Can anyone help with halachic sources for permitting or forbidding the
recording of a telephone conversation without the knowledge of the
second party. Is it in any way related to "lifnei iver..." or "gneivat
daat".
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From: Zev Kaufman <zev@...>
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 1997 10:30:09 -0400
Subject: Welfare
May one consider the portion of one's taxes used for such things as
Welfare, Hospitals, etc., as part of "Maaser" ( the 10 -20 % of one's
earnings set aside for "Tzedakkah" ) ?
Zev (Wolf)
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End of Volume 26 Issue 74
