Volume 38 Number 41
                 Produced: Sun Jan 26 10:26:51 US/Eastern 2003


Subjects Discussed In This Issue: 

Cholah or Cholanis
         [Andy Goldfinger]
Hebrew Computing Advice
         [Russell J Hendel]
KiTov's Hebrew Sefer HaTodaah
         [Chaim Wasserman]
Kosher restaurants
         [Zev Sero]
lack of killing
         [Caela Kaplowitz]
lack of killing in Plagues/ Pre-Exodus story
         [<chips@...>]
Lamaan Achay Vreay...t'hillim
         [Rabbi Kilimnick]
Making of a Gadol
         [Janet Rosenbaum]
Newspaper Delivery
         [Akiva Miller]
Shehechionu on Neros Shabbos
         [Gershon Dubin]
Two days Yom Kippur
         [Yehonatan and Randy Chipman]
Tzdakah at the Kotel
         [Rabbi Shaya Kilimnick]
What Did Mon Taste Like?
         [Bill Bernstein]
Yom Kippur - shanghai
         [<chips@...>]


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From: Andy Goldfinger <Andy.Goldfinger@...>
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 08:07:52 -0500
Subject: Cholah or Cholanis

In the Shmoneh Esrai (silent prayer), there is a place to insert a
prayer for a sick person.  If the person is a male, he is referred to as
a "choleh" (sick male).  How is a female referred to?

I have seen two different words used.  In the Sephardic Artscroll Siddur
(prayerbook), the word used is "cholah" (ches-vav-lamed-hey).  In the
Siddur Tefiloh Yesharah (Bostoner Rebbe's Siddur), the word is
"cholanis" (ches-vav-lamed-nun-yud-tav).  (Apologies the those
mail-jewish members who use Sephardic pronounciation).

In asking people about the word "cholanis," I have gotten two responses
(so far):

(1) "Cholah" is grammatically correct.  The form "cholanis" is an
adverb, and therefore not grammatically correct.

(2) The term "cholanis" is a "yiddishism."

I am confused.  Can anyone shed light on this issue?

-- Andy Goldfinger

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From: Russell J Hendel <rjhendel@...>
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 18:28:56 -0500
Subject: RE: Hebrew Computing Advice

Debbi Wagner asks for how to download Hebrew fonts. A good email group
that discusses this and many other issues is HEBREWCOMPUTING (A Yahoo
based group). If you join you will get lots of advice on this and other
things

Russell Jay Hendel; RASHI:http://www.RashiYomi.com/
WEB:   http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RashiYomi_Job/
EMAIL: <RashiYomi_Job-subscribe@...>

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From: <Chaimwass@...> (Chaim Wasserman)
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 09:50:21 EST
Subject: Re: KiTov's Hebrew Sefer HaTodaah

Further to the discussion about censorship of sorts: The reason that
Eliyahu Ki Tov did not publish his chapter on Yom haAtzmaut and Yom
Yerushalayim (but was later translated into English) was told to me by
Ki Tov's late son-in-law, Chanoch Ben Arza.

Ki Tov consulted several well respected (chassidishe) rebbes and they
advised him that from a marketing standpoint it would be best that he
NOT include that chapter.

The chapter was then printed uinto a small pamphlet which was available
gratis as a pile of them sat near the checkout register in Ben Arza's
book store in the old city.  (Ben Arza has since passed on and the
business was sold shortly thereafter to other owners who relocated to
Rechov Meah Shearim.)

Chaim Wasserman

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From: Zev Sero <Zev.Sero@...>
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 14:28:35 -0700
Subject: Re: Kosher restaurants

<mordechai@...> wrote:

> While it is one thing not to rely on a restaurant because you do not
> know who is providing the supervision, I believe we should not cast
> aspersions on people reputation out of our ignorance.  I believe the
> proper way to have this discussion would be to state their are two
> restaurants that describe themselves as kosher and the poster is unaware
> of who provides the supervsion.

and goes on to discuss two restaurants in Orlando FL.  However, I do not
recall anyone casting aspersions on any restaurants in Orlando, nor
could I find it during a casual review of the past several issues.  I
believe that mordechai is actually referring to Zale Newman's query
about the kashrut situation in St Maarten/Martin, about which he wrote

> There are two restaurants that claim to offer kosher food. Does anyone
> know of their legitimacy? I highly doubt their claims.

which I think is a fair way of putting it.  Mordechai would have Zale
say that the two restaurants "describe themselves as kosher", but as far
as I could discover from a web search, neither of them do any such thing
- they merely describe themselves as providing kosher food (presumably
in addition to the treife food that constitutes their main business).
Nor do I agree that Zale should have said that he was "unaware of who
provides the supervision", as this would have implied that he is sure
that there is some sort of supervision, and he merely doesn't know who
provides it; I don't know why he should be expected to make any such
assumption.

Zev Sero
<zsero@...>

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From: Caela Kaplowitz <caelak@...>
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 08:34:13 -0500
Subject: Re: lack of killing

The plague of the first born son is not the only plague in which people
died. The following plagues were dangerous (use the Hebrew word "etzba"
[finger] as a pneumonic device for remembering them):

alef = arbeh, locusts, people died or would die from famine

tzadde = tzefardaya, frogs, the frogs jumped down people's throats and
choked them to death (in 7:29 it says that the plague will be "in you"
meaning in Paro)

bet = barad, hail and bechorot, killing of the first born, the hail
stones fell on people and animals in the fields and killed them, the
plague of the first born killed the first born sons

ayin = arov, wild animals, the wild animals entered the houses and ate
people.

Caela Kaplowitz
Baltimore, MD

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From: <chips@...>
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 20:46:39 -0800
Subject: Re: lack of killing in Plagues/ Pre-Exodus story

> From: David Curwin <tobyndave@...>
> I noticed today that the part of Sefer Shmot which includes the Plagues
> seems relatively timid in terms of killing (or attempting to do so) -
> certainly in comparison with earlier and later parts of the Torah.

The frogs and the "wild animals" [awrov] killed.
-rp

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From: <REBSHAYA@...> (Rabbi Kilimnick)
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 01:29:02 -0500
Subject: Lamaan Achay Vreay...t'hillim

At my shule , Beth Sholom of Rochester NY...we say a new T'hillim each
day Lmaan Yisroel...followed by 'Acheinu'. So far we have concluded Sefer
T'hillim two times in mind that the merit of having concluded the
sefer, plus the strength of the T'hillim, should assist our families in
Eretz Yisroel.

I have also appreciated the many shules who recite 'Lamnitzeach' each
morning , verse by verse responsively.

Rabbi Kilimnick
Rochester NY

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From: Janet Rosenbaum <jerosenb@...>
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 20:45:22 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: Making of a Gadol

There has been some effort to put out of print sfarim up on the web.
Does anyone know whether there has been an effort to put up old sfarim
which are not out of print?

Some of the more interesting books would be R Hirsch, since views of him
vary substantially.  I've heard in particular that _Nineteen Letters_
has changed, but I haven't found any differences.  I found a 1969
Feldheim printing of the old translation at Pinter's and tried comparing
it with the new one, but it appears to be abridged.  Does anyone know
what the differences are?

The 1899 Drachman translation of _Nineteen Letters_ is probably no
longer under copyright and could be put online.

Janet

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From: <kennethgmiller@...> (Akiva Miller)
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 07:55:15 -0500
Subject: re: Newspaper Delivery

(This question was asked over a month ago. Sorry for the delay.) In MJ
37:97, Michael Kahn writes <<< I just read in rav Simcha Cohens sefer
(Artscroll) on amira lakum/prohibition to ask a gentile to perform
mlacha on Shabbos for you, that it is forbidden due to amirah laakum to
have the newspaper delivered on Shabbos. Is anyone aware of poskim who
permit this? >>>

I suspect that he is referring to "The Sanctity of Shabbos" by Rabbi
Simcha Bunim Cohen, which he published himself, not through Artscroll.

On page 83 there, he does write that a Shabbos delivery "is considered
amira l'akum and is prohibited." In the Hebrew footnote, he explains the
reason is that "he is contracting with the non-Jew to do melacha for him
on Shabbos, which is prohibited." He also cites the names of several
great poskim who agree.

In my opinion, it is unfortunate that Rabbi Cohen did not specify
exactly which melacha one would be asking the non-Jew to do. Without
that information, it is difficult to know whether one's own situation is
similar to the one that Rabbi Cohen is writing about.

In contrast, the Shmiras Shabbos K'Hilchasa 31:24 goes into considerable
detail on this question. Simply, the SSK would agree with Rabbi Cohen if
most readers of the paper are Jewish, or if the paper has been brought
for Jews from outside the eruv. But if most readers are non-Jewish, then
the printing is not a problem, and if there is an eruv, then the
delivery is not a problem.

My understanding of footnote 31:71 is that the paper may be read even if
the printing plant is outside the eruv, because when the papers come
into the eruv, individual newspapers have not yet been designated for
specific subscribers. If I am reading that correctly, having an eruv
around one's private home will not help, because when the paper is
brought from the truck into the eruv, the delivery person has done a
melacha specifically for the Jew. On the other hand, as long as there
are non-Jews in the eruv who subscribe to that paper, the SSK would
allow it.

Note: The SSK also has several important comments, such as a suggestion
to decline Shabbos deliveries if posssible, and some remarks on the
propriety of reading newspapers on Shabbos in general.

Akiva Miller

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From: Gershon Dubin <gershon.dubin@...>
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 13:47:51 GMT
Subject: Shehechionu on Neros Shabbos

From: Ariel Cohen <robin@...>

<<Does a Kallah on the first Shabbos following her wedding make
shehechionu on the candles on Friday night?>>

I can't give you sources, only a suggestion which I gave my daughters:
since a kallah usually has some new clothes <g> she should put on a new
outfit for Shabbos and have in mind the shehecheyanu for the outfit and
the mitzva.

Gershon
<gershon.dubin@...>

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From: Yehonatan and Randy Chipman <yonarand@...>
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 16:01:28 +0200
Subject: Re:  Two days Yom Kippur

In v38n32, Michael Kahn <mi_kahn@...> wrote:

<<There were some who observed two days of Yom Kippur in shanghai during
the war. This was because of the uncertainty of the fixing of the
hallachik date line.>>

Correction: Those who observed two days of Yom Kippur (mostly students
from the Mirrer Yeshivah who escaped the Nazis by travelling across
Siberia to the Far East), did so EN ROUTE to Shanghai, while still in
Japan.  There, according to the Hazon Ish, Yom Kippur (and every
Shabbat) were to be observed a day later than according to others
because he held, on the basis of Kuzari II.20, that the "halakhic date
line" was immediately to the east of the Eurasian land mass.  In
Shanghai itself, which is in mainland China, no such doubt existed.

    Yehonatan Chipman

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From: <REBSHAYA@...> (Rabbi Shaya Kilimnick)
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 01:21:36 -0500
Subject: Re: Tzdakah at the Kotel

  Having the merit to once again arrive at the Kotel to empty my heart
into the sea of Tfillah...I was disrupted by the many who persist in
asking for Tzdakkah. My tfillah was interrupted...I felt as though my
rights to doven were being denied....If I give to one there are 10 who
follow. This goes one the whole time of tfillah, regardless of
Shacharis,Mincha& Maariv or even to come and say T'hillim.

What is the acceptable response to these 'kabtzanim'? Who is responsible
at the Kotel to protect the sacred climate necessry for prayer? And are
permitted to engage in this abuse of tzdakkah, knowing that each kabtzan
collects around of $200.(if not more daily) of unreported income?

  I don't like to be viewed as a rich American tourist...I come to
Israel twice or three times a year.I also do not want to be percieved as
a crusader against tzdakah...but I am at my wits end...so many people
ask me what to do....I have not read any tshuvah that courageously deals
with this subject.

Rabbi Shaya Kilimnick
Rochester NY. 

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From: Bill Bernstein <bbernst@...>
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 09:47:53 -0600
Subject: What Did Mon Taste Like?

Having just finished with p. Beshalach I was interested in the
following.  We have all heard the statement that the mon (manna) tasted
like whatever the person was thinking about.  But the Torah itself says
that mon tasted like a cake fried in honey.  My questions are: what is
the source of the first statement on mon? and why is it necessary to
make such a statement when the Torah already gives a different answer?

kol tuv,
Bill Bernstein
Nashville TN

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From: <chips@...>
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 20:46:39 -0800
Subject: Re: Re: Yom Kippur - shanghai

> From: Michael Kahn <mi_kahn@...>

> There were some who observed two days of Yom Kippur in shanghai during
> the war. This was because of the uncertainty of the fixing of the
> hallachik date line.

I had heard this many times and it never made sense to me. So when i
finally got a chance to ask someone who was there during the war I was
pleased to get the answer that they only did the one day that Yerushalym
did since ShagChai was not even that close to the are of dispute
(Yerushalym is 35.x and ShangChai 121.x longitudes). Seoul,Korea and
Japan on the other hand ...

-rp

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End of Volume 38 Issue 41