Volume 36 Number 21
Produced: Sun Apr 14 11:37:39 US/Eastern 2002
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Baruch Hu U'Varuch Sh'mo (2)
[Jonathan & Randy Chipman, Avi Feldblum]
Blessings on New Trees On Shabath
[Russell Jay Hendel]
Chametz on Shabbat the day after Pescah
[Jonathan Grodzinski]
Matza Ashira
[Shaya Potter]
Priorities in Giving Tzedakah
[Russell Jay Hendel]
Remembering AMALEK once a Year
[Reuben Rudman]
Resource Links
[Jeffrey Saks]
Why is it called "Sefer Shmuel" (3)
[Ben Katz, Michael Kahn, Janet Rosenbaum]
Yiddish Chad Gadya
[Susan Shapiro]
Yiddish translation of Chad Gadya
[Arieh Lebowitz]
Yiddish/Hebrew word plurals
[Solomon Spiro]
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From: Jonathan & Randy Chipman <yonarand@...>
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 08:47:10 +0300
Subject: Re: Baruch Hu U'Varuch Sh'mo
In "Ma'aseh Rav," a short treatise enumerating many of the minhagim
of the Vilna Gaon, published at the end of "Siddur Ishei Yisrael al-pi
ha-Ger"a" (Jerusalem, TShK"H [1968]), p. 505, par. 43, he writes: "To
answer Amen after each blessing [of the Reader's repetition] and not to
be particular about saying Barukh hu uvarukh shmo, because the Shatz
does not wait for people to finish saying it, and he thereby misses
[hearing a word or two] of the repetition of the Prayer."
The same volume also contains a collection of hanhagot during
tefillah of the Gaon's leading disciple, R. Hayyim of Volozhin, entitled
"Orhot Hayyim." R. Hayyim writes, on p. 527, par. 26: "Barukh hu
uvarukh shmo in the repetition of the Shatz is an interruption, because
Amen applies to the entire blessing, from beginning to end [see further
on this at the end of Sefer Ta'am by the Gaon R. Yisrael of Shklov.]"
This is likewise the practice of the "Perushim," the descendants of
the followers of the Gaon who came on aliyah nearly two hundred yaesr
ago, and are considered the founders of the normative minhag of all
Yerushalmi Ashkenazinm (the "Old Yishuv"). This is explained, for
example, by R. Bezalel Landau, in his chapter on "Minhag Ashkenaz
be-Eretz ha-Kodesh" in a book entitled "Yalkut Minhagim" (Jerusalem:
Misrad Hahinukh. Agaf hahinukh hadati, 1977), p. 47, par. 13.
Incdentally, one of the discussants mentioned the custom of Rav
Soloveitchik ztz"l to stand throughout Hazarat ha-Shatz. This practice
was not the Rav's innovation, but is based upon an explicit halakha
brought by the Rambam in Hilkhot Tefillah 9.3.
Yehonatan Chipman, Yerushalayim
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From: Avi Feldblum <mljewish@...>
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 06:45:56 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: Baruch Hu U'Varuch Sh'mo
On Thu, 11 Apr 2002, Jonathan & Randy Chipman wrote:
> Incdentally, one of the discussants mentioned the custom of Rav
> Soloveitchik ztz"l to stand throughout Hazarat ha-Shatz. This practice
> was not the Rav's innovation, but is based upon an explicit halakha
> brought by the Rambam in Hilkhot Tefillah 9.3.
As I was at least one of those members bringing up the opinion of Rav
Soloveichik, the possible innovation is in defining the Hazarat ha-Shatz
as a "Tefillat HA-Tzibur", not just a repitition of the individual
Amedah, but rather a new and different tefila that the entire tzibur was
part of and as such needed to be yotzei in. There is no question in my
mind that this is based on earlier sources, in particular the Rav's
interpretation of the Rambam, but I am unaware of other contemporary
poskim viewing the Hazarat ha-Shatz in the same manner.
Avi Feldblum
<mljewish@...>
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From: <rhendel@...> (Russell Jay Hendel)
Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2002 23:00:10 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: RE: Blessings on New Trees On Shabath
Jerry(Yaakov) Fogelman in v36n16 suggests that a possible reason for not
saying the blessing on new trees on Shabbath is because we fear that
people might pluck the flowers or fruits.
But this would be creating an inconsistent apprehension: We find NO
prohibition against admiring flowers the rest of the year. Furthermore
other blessings on sights--like blessings on meteors and lightning do
NOT require touch and handling. THus there is no basis for this fear
which then deprives people of saying the blessing (and they might forget
to say it otherwise since they are busy during the week).
Consequently if Jerry's reason is the ONLY reason I would suggest that
those people who have this custom should drop it and change
Russell Jay Hendel;http://www.rashiYomi.com/
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From: <JGrodz@...> (Jonathan Grodzinski)
Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 19:44:49 EDT
Subject: Re: Chametz on Shabbat the day after Pescah
One could obtain chometz on Shabbos by receiving it from a non
Jew. Chometz on Pesach is muksah (I assume).
Well why not make the chametz on that Shabbat?
For instance, if during Pesach one owned say oats that had been kept
dry, and on Shabbat Motzaei Pesach one added milk to it. Delicious.
Jonathan Grodzinski
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From: Shaya Potter <spotter@...>
Date: 11 Apr 2002 13:08:15 -0400
Subject: Re: Matza Ashira
I would assume its because kitniyot is not a minhag. It's a gezera (or
a takana). so the whole concept of not doing it on the last day to show
the we only did it for the first 7 days as minhag doesn't apply.
On that note, I've been wondering about people that say since the dishes
wont be used for a year, it will be ok. The jewish year is not
constant, besides for leap years, we have 2 months that can be 29 or 30
days, so there's a "short year" (both 29) a normal year (one 29, one 30)
and a "long year" (both 30). and beyond that, the start of pesach next
year will be under a year (the 8th day of pesach is the 22nd of nissan,
so if we had to wait for a full year we couldn't use the same dishes
till the next year's 8th day)
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From: <rhendel@...> (Russell Jay Hendel)
Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2002 22:59:18 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: RE: Priorities in Giving Tzedakah
Carl Singer in v36n17 asks if it
> Is it OK to allocate all of one's Yeshiva Tzedukah to
> one or 2 schools that I have ties to and tell the others no.
There are two issues here. First there is a priority sequence of giving
to charity: This is based on the explicit verse Dt15-07 A poor person
(a) Among your family (b) in your city (c) in your land (d) that God
gave you. This means that if two people ask and you have enough money
only for one of them they you use the priority.
The second issue is: Is this a voluntary donation or a response to
something asked. If eg people in Israel are asking then you should give
them a little bit even though you give most of your money to your own
institutions. If however NO ONE ASKS you are free to give to your
institutions exclusively
Russell Jay Hendel; http://www.RashiYOmi.Com/
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From: Reuben Rudman <rudman@...>
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 17:37:56 -0400
Subject: Remembering AMALEK once a Year
in mj V36n20 R Hendel writes "'Alex Pine in mj n36v3 gives a very good
defense that the commandment to remember Amalek applies once a year.
Alex however DOES NOT defend that the particular implementation of this
ONCE-A-YEAR requirement should happen on ZACHOR...."
A couple of years ago I was in London on the Shabbos they read Parshas
Ki Saitzai. In the shul in which I davened (a "yeshivishe" minyan in
Golders Green) they made the following announcement:
Since this year is an "ibur yahr" (a leap year with 13 months) and it
will be 13 months between one official Parshas Zachor and the next, be
sure to have in mind to fulfill the mitzvah of "Zachor es asher asa
l'cha Amalek" when you hear the Torah Reading of Parshas Zachor at the
end of this week's parsha.
So, at least according tho their opinion, one should not go 12 months
without intentionally hearing Parshas Zachor read in public.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Jeffrey Saks <atid@...>
Subject: Resource Links
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From: Ben Katz <bkatz@...>
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 10:49:45 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Re: Why is it called "Sefer Shmuel"
cp <chips@...> writes:
> Especially Shmuel Beis.
Perhaps because shmuel was thought to be its (major?) author (even tho
he dies halfway thru the book. [The division of shmuel [and melachim]
into aleph and bet is late.]) see baba batra 14b-15a.
Ben Z. Katz, M.D.
Children's Memorial Hospital - Division of Infectious Diseases
2300 Children's Plaza, Box # 20 - Chicago, IL 60614
Ph. 773-880-4187 - Fax 773-880-8226
e-mail: <bkatz@...>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Michael Kahn <mi_kahn@...>
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 13:56:15 -0400
Subject: Why is it called "Sefer Shmuel"
Shmuel Alef and Bais are one book and are listed as one in the first
chapter of Tractate Bava Basra. The non Jewish printers divided it into
two.
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From: Janet Rosenbaum <jerosenb@...>
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 08:39:07 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Why is it called "Sefer Shmuel"
The book starts with the story of Shmuel. (Though perhaps more
accurately it should be called after Chana.) The divisions of the books
in two is not Jewish.
Janet
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From: <SShap23859@...> (Susan Shapiro)
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 09:40:27 EDT
Subject: Re: Yiddish Chad Gadya
Y From: Sarah E Beck <sbeck@...> Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2002
Y 14:35:17 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Yiddish Chad Gadya?
Y Would someone know the lyrics of the Yiddish Chad
Y Gadya? I have looked on the web to no avail. The
Y Yiddish Haggadot I've seen have it in Aramaic, oddly.
Found this on the web. Interesting that the OP is from Princeton.edu, as
is the response!!!
Khad Gadyo
http://campuscgi.princeton.edu/~klez/zemerl/show.pl?title=Khad+Gadyo
******* Susan*******
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From: <ARIEHNYC@...> (Arieh Lebowitz)
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 17:33:11 -0500
Subject: Re: Yiddish translation of Chad Gadya
A Yiddish translation of Chad Gadya, done by I believe Y. L Peretz,
appeared in the Yiddish edition of the Forward a few years ago. My
suggestion would be to write to the editor at:
Yiddish FORWARD
45 East 33rd Street
New York, NY 10016
Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope, and a few dollars -- I'd
recommend a check made payable simply to the FORWARD -- to defray the
labor of tracking it down, photocopying, etc.
It is possible that a Yiddish translation of Chad Gadya is available in
one of the `gesameltn shriftn' of writers such as Peretz, Reizen,
Leyvik, etc. These are in single or multiple volumes, of course.
For this and other items in Yiddish, a good place to write to would be:
CYCO - Central Yiddish Culture Organization
25 East 21st Street - 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10010
Last thought:
the venerable Yiddish journal ZUKUNFT, published by the Congress for
Jewish Culture, and now in its 2nd century, might have Chad Gadya in a
back issue.
ZUKUNFT
Congress for Jewish Culture
25 East 21st Street - 1st Floor
New York, NY 10010
[Sample copies are available I believe if you send in a check to the CJC
for $2 along with a 9"x12" self- addressed envelope.]
Arieh Lebowitz
Communciations Director
Jewish Labor Committee
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From: Solomon Spiro <spiro@...>
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 20:56:39 +0300
Subject: Yiddish/Hebrew word plurals
BSD, Erev RH Iyar, Apr 11
Re Seth Mandel's puzzling over the plurals of some Hebrew derived
Yiddish words.
Perhaps we should look at linguistic solutions instead of grammatical or
esoteric reasons.
At the end of the word talis (Yiddish, or Ashkenzi pronunciation) the
tongue is at the front of the mouth and the lips are "flat,"or wide
because of the ih vowel sound. It is a lot easier to pronounce an "im"
plural, for then the tongue remains front and high, the lips remain flat
or wide. To have the "os" plural the lips would have had to close for
the rounded Oh soundmaking it hard for the tongue to remain high. So,
since Yiddish has no fast and hard grammatical rules the people
naturally chose the easier plural. But in Hebrew the word talit ends
with a "teh" sound. Though the lips have to shift from a flat wide
position to close to a rounded oh, to articulate the plural tot, Hebrew
must follow its own grammatical rules ) (plural feminine ot) and hence
the more difficult talitot. The same would apply to shabbosim and
shabbatot.
Now take shetus and shetuyos. Yiddish would not use shetusim because it
would be necessary to shift from the rounded oo to the flat ee. In
shetuyot the lips remains rounded for the yos.
Is there a linguist who can confirm all this?
Shelomo Spiro ( Rabbi)
Kefar Sava
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End of Volume 36 Issue 21
