Volume 34 Number 34
Produced: Tue Mar 27 6:25:30 US/Eastern 2001
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
David Rapoport Memorial Lecture
[Freda B Birnbaum]
Drasha for Bat Mitzva
[<HP7956468@...>]
Electric Shaver
[Norman Bander]
Ending on a high for the name of G-d
[Richard Wolpoe]
Fundraising for Shuls/Schools, etc.
[Yitz Weiss]
Hametzdicke Cupboards on Pesach
[Ralph Zwier]
Kinyan chalifin
[Jonathan Baker]
Motzi'ah
[Catherine S. Perel]
Purim Challos
[Jonathan Grodzinski]
Seder Pesach on Motzei Shabbat
[Yisrael & Batya Medad]
Selling Chametz - Whiskey
[Richard Wolpoe]
Silk in Halacha
[Robert Werman]
Whiskey sale re: Pesach
[Carl Singer]
Yom Tov Sheni for a visitor to Erets Yisrael
[Eliezer Finkelman]
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From: Freda B Birnbaum <fbb6@...>
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2001 17:08:16 -0500 (EST)
Subject: David Rapoport Memorial Lecture
EXCELLENT stuff! Rachel Friedman is not to be missed...
Freda Birnbaum
You are cordially invited to the David Rapoport Memorial Lecture
MORAL AMBIGUITY IN SEFER BERESHIT
Speaker: Rachel Friedman
Tuesday, March 27, 7:30 p.m. Drisha Institute for Jewish Education, 131
West 86th Street (between Amsterdam and Columbus).
Free of charge. Open to women and men. Light refreshments served.
No reservations necessary.
for information about Drisha's summer programs contact
Judith Tenzer
Drisha Institute for Jewish Education
131 West 86th Street
New York, NY 10024
(212) 595-0307 <jtenzer@...>
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From: <HP7956468@...>
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 00:50:28 EST
Subject: Drasha for Bat Mitzva
I will be celebrating my Bat Mitzva, BE"H, during the week of Achrei
Mot/Kedoshim. I am stumped for my drasha. My name is Hava and I wanted
to bring something about that into my drasha along with the idea of the
nachash (snake) being a symbol of yetzer hara that can lead to lashon
hara. Some links to Pesach or Yom HaAtzmaut would also be nice but I
just can't figure them out. Would you be able to give me some leads or
clues? Are there any seforim that you could recommend in English? I'd
really appreciate ANY help.
Thank you so much.
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From: Norman Bander <Nbander@...>
Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2001 15:58:47 EST
Subject: Electric Shaver
Can anyone point me to a web site or article listing a set of makes and
models tha are halachically acceptable. The references in the mail-jewish
archives are too dated to be very helpful. Thanks. Norman Bander
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From: Richard Wolpoe <Richard_Wolpoe@...>
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2001 20:21:42 -0500
Subject: Ending on a high for the name of G-d
This too, is the custom of all the German-oriented shuls in Washington
Heights today- i.e. to end the aliya on a high note when the aliya ends
with the name Hashem .
I am unaware of the source.
Shalom and Regards
Rich Wolpoe
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From: Yitz Weiss <YitzW@...>
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2001 10:10:47 EST
Subject: Fundraising for Shuls/Schools, etc.
I came across a SUPER idea for organizations that run Chinese Auctions
for fundraising purposes. Rather than post a whole megilla, if there's
anyone interested in details I'd be happy to forward them on.
Yitz Weiss
<yitzw@...>
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From: Ralph Zwier <ralph@...>
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 08:40:35 +1100
Subject: Hametzdicke Cupboards on Pesach
[I'm not asking a psak] What are the issues surrounding a cupboard which
has been taped closed for Pesach? The cupboard contains perfectly clean
chametz dishes and NO food whatsoever. In a normal year the cupboard is
taped up between 10AM and 11AM (shaot zemaniyot - - Jewish hours)on erev
Yomtov.
This year I suppose I will tape up the cupboards late Friday
afternoon. But I want to return a very small number of dishes (my bread
board and some plates) after using them on Shabbat. Is the cupboard
muktze on Shabbat? Am I allowed to pull open the tape? Should I make
sure not to access the cupboard after a certain time?
Thoughts?
Ralph Zwier Voice 61 3 9521 2188
Double Z Computer Fax 61 3 9521 3945
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From: Jonathan Baker <jjbaker@...>
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2001 09:49:24 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Kinyan chalifin
From: Nosson Tuttle <TUTTLE@...>
> creation of agency for transfer of the Chometz would be done in person
> with the Rabbi.
> This is generally done through a "Kinyan Chalipin", or barter: The Rav
> has an item (e.g. picks up a handkerchief) which the Chometz-owner then
> acquires (picks the handkerchief up after the Rav puts it down). The
This raises a question. In many cases I've seen the kinyan chalifin
done with the tail of the rabbi's jacket - one picks it up & puts it
down *while the rabbi is still wearing it*. It doesn't seem that the
picker-upper could actually acquire it while the rabbi is wearing it.
Does the raising need to be done on an object that is not clearly being
held by the other party (if the rabbi is wearing it, doesn't it then
become two-parties-holding-a-garment, where neither party has a clear
claim to owning the garment, such that you have to go through the
rigmarole at the beginning of Bava Metzia to establish ownership?) Is
this proper? If not, it would cast into doubt the kashrut of everything
in my house, since my keilim would not have been sold properly on past
pesachs.
In fairness, this tail-of-the-coat thing I've mostly seen by rabbis with
Chabad connections - maybe they have a different standard.
I suppose I ought to go look in Choshen Mishpat about this.
Jonathan Baker | Don't worry, be happy, it's Adar!
<jjbaker@...> | Web page <http://www.panix.com/~jjbaker/>
Web page update: Rambam's 13 Principles, all 3 major versions
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From: Catherine S. Perel <perel@...>
Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2001 21:57:37 -0600
Subject: Motzi'ah
In Volume 34, #24, Yisrael Medad mentioned "'motzi'ah'
(to qualify someone to have fulfilled a mitzvah through an agent)." Could
I, please, have a somewhat more detailed
explaination? Thank you.
Catherine S. Perel
<perel@...>
<kswheels@...>
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From: Jonathan Grodzinski <JGrodz@...>
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2001 19:12:04 EST
Subject: Purim Challos
For over 100 years, my family have been baking for the Jewish community in
London.
On Purim, we bake regular (and in very recent years sultana) challos, and
then roll them in Hundreds and Thousands (coloured sprinkles to you in the
USA). My late uncle told me that before Hundreds and Thousands were made,
Purim Challos were rolled in sugar.
My cousin, Daniel Grodzinski, has recently opened a bakery in Toronto, and
tells me that no-one there had seen English style Purim challos until now.
My daughters in Israel confirm that they cannot obtain English style Purim
challos there either.
So my questions are
1. Are decorated Purim challos only made in England?
2. In which part of Europe did the minhag originate?
3. Why did the minhag only spread to England?
Jonathan Grodzinski (4th generation master baker - London UK)
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From: Yisrael & Batya Medad <ybmedad@...>
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 00:06:57 +0200
Subject: Seder Pesach on Motzei Shabbat
Some more points from Rav Mordechai Eliyahu's weekly
Halachic sheet, Kol Tzofayich:
a) take care do do no preparation on the Shabbat for the seder including
setting the table or saying out loud that one is taking a nap so as to
be better ready for the seder (only the normal sleep pattern permitted).
b) make sure that no chametz is left on your broom whiskers so either
have a new one ready for after the Shabbat morning sweep or have a
nylon/plastic sheet under where one eats the chametz and throw it out or
shake the broom out well if possible.
and from Rav Elchanan Bin-Nun's sheet from Shiloh:
a) if one eats the chametz at one's table then only the bread and the
wine should be on the table - nothing else, including
dishes/silverware/utensils.
b) if one expects large pieces of chametz to be leftover, one could have
prepared before Shabbat a bowl filled with economica (bleach) or
kerosene in the laundry room in which to deposit the chametz.
c) have a 48-hour candle going.
d) and for those with fruit of Maaser Ani, they must be given away by
7th of Pesach and as for the coin for Maaser Shani, one must perform
"hashchata", disfugurement, both of which are Bi'ur Ma'asarot.
Yisrael & Batya Medad
Shiloh 44830
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From: Richard Wolpoe <Richard_Wolpoe@...>
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2001 20:25:55 -0500
Subject: RE: Selling Chametz - Whiskey
From: Eli Turkel <Eli.Turkel@...>
> What about whiskey? I assume that whiskey is real chametz (chametz gamur)
> and yet almost everyone sells the liquors they have for Pesach.
Rabbi Zecharya Gelley of KAJ discussed this last year... and he
mentioned that there are three variations of a term...
According to the most likely version
Beer is PURE Chametz-
While whiskey is NOT pure Chametz because it is distilled and is
therefore an INDIRECT product of Chametz.
I hope this helps
Shalom and Regards
Rich Wolpoe
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From: Robert Werman <rwerman@...>
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2001 14:42:05 +0200
Subject: Silk in Halacha
The word "meshi" appears in Ezekial but the meaning there is not known.
Similar words appear in ancient languages in the area, like Persian,
where "mesiq" seems to mean some fine cloth.
Historically we know that silk appears rarely among the Romans, and as
an item of the very rich. The silkworm did not reach Europe and
Palestine, by extention, until the 13th century CE.
It seems unlikely that Kahati's calling Kallach, "psolet meshi" or silk
waste in the laws of shabbat lamp wicks, Shabbat ii, [TB Shabbat 23] is
correct.
We later find that kilayim derabbanan is often attributed to the
strangeness of silk and worry that it, mixed with wool, might indeed be
a form of pishtan or flax. Rashi [Horayot 11a] knows nothing of this,
and probably did not know of silk at all.
Can anyone help with knowledge of how silk -- as we now know it --
entered halacha?
Thanks.
__Bob Werman
Jerusalem
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From: Carl Singer <CARLSINGER@...>
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2001 18:03:13 EST
Subject: Whiskey sale re: Pesach
<< What about whiskey? I assume that whiskey is real chametz (chametz gamur)
and yet almost everyone sells the liquors they have for Pesach. >>
I'm never quite happy w/ "every" "all" "no-one", etc. I know people who
give away their liquor outright for Pesach They don't "sell" it with
their chumitz
Kol Tov
Carl Singer
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From: Eliezer Finkelman <Finkelmans@...>
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 09:11:05 EST
Subject: Yom Tov Sheni for a visitor to Erets Yisrael
If Mail Jewish has had a discussion of Yom Tov Sheni for a visitor to
Erets Yisrael who intends to return to Huts LaArets, could you please
direct me to that discussion. If not, I would enjoy postings from
subscribers who have dealt with the question.
The question in short:
1) People who live outside of Israel observe two days of Yom Tov because
a) Once, when we had a doubt about on which day the festival occurred,
the message from Israel would get to foreign Jews too late, so the foreign
Jews had to observe the second day to cover their bases.
b) Now, we have a calendar in advance, but we maintain the custom of our
ancestors.
c) Anyway, the situation could return . . .
d) This explains two days of every festival except Yom Kippur (too hard
to keep) and Shavuot (plenty of time to figure out when it should occur).
2) People in Israel observe one day, according to the Torah, and even when
the month was established visually by beit din, the message could get to
Israel on time for every holiday except Rosh HaShannah (which occurs on the
new moon -- so no time for messages even in Israel).
3) People who live in Israel usually, but this festival visit foreign lands,
have every reason to observe two days of festivals except 1)b) custom of
their ancestors, for their custom does not establish two days. If they are
Olim, their ancestors might have observed two days anway.
4) People who live in foreign lands usually, but this festival visit Israel,
have every reason to observe one day of festivals, except 1)b) custom. Which
rationale should win ?
Shalom,
Eliezer Finkelman
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End of Volume 34 Issue 34
