Volume 38 Number 44
Produced: Mon Jan 27 5:33:50 US/Eastern 2003
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Animal Orphaned at Birth
[.cp.]
Bet Din
[Moe Rosh]
Bigdei Shesh on Shoftim Available
[Yosef Bechhofer]
Black Tie
[Chaim Wasserman]
Changing Charedi world
[David Farkas]
Charitable institutions
[Carl Singer]
Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sachs Lecture Series on Web
[Shmuel Himelstein]
Correction
[Sammy Finkelman]
Improper use of G-d
[Ben Katz]
Kitov's Yom Haatzmaut
[Dr. Tzvi Briks]
Name of Months
[Danny Skaist]
Names
[Ira Bauman]
Orlah (2)
[David I. Cohen, Eli Lansey]
Rambam
[Eli Turkel]
Singles Groups
[Freda B Birnbaum]
Tzdakah at the Kotel
[Robert Tolchin]
Women Gedole Torah
[Annice Grinberg]
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From: .cp. <chips@...>
Date: Sat, 25 Jan 2003 21:21:27 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Animal Orphaned at Birth
Is anyone familiar with the experiment R. Auerbach did with beheading a
pregnant lamb and later delivering the ewe ?
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From: Moe Rosh <moerosh@...>
Date: Sat, 25 Jan 2003 17:05:47 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Bet Din
For a story I am writing I am interested in reading about the operation
of a Bet Din in practice, especially in a case of murder. Whether fact
or fiction, I'd like to read an account of a case or two to give me a
sense of practice as opposed to (or in addition to) the laws as set
forth in the Talmud. Replies may be sent to my address:
<moerosh@...>
Thank you.
Moe Rosh
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From: <sbechhof@...> (Yosef Bechhofer)
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2003 09:26:47 -0600 (CST)
Subject: Bigdei Shesh on Shoftim Available
B'ezras Hashem Yisborach the Bigdei Shesh on Sefer Shoftim is now out
and available in seforim stores both in Eretz ha'Kodesh and in Chu"l. I
have a limited number of copies on hand to sell myself as well. I would
like to give public shevach v'hodoyoh to HKB"H for being mezakkeh me to
write and publish this chibbur.
Kol Tuv, YGB
<ygb@...> or ygb@yerusalmionline.org
essays, tapes and seforim at: www.aishdas.org;
on-line Yerushalmi shiurim at www.yerushalmionline.org
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From: <Chaimwass@...> (Chaim Wasserman)
Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2003 12:13:59 EST
Subject: Re: Black Tie
Sarah Elizabeth Beck wrote about Tuxedos that
My prominent MO rabbi compadres say that they don't wear black tie
because they don't want to encourage excess. Sheker ha-chen and
all that.
To which I must opine "What nonsense!" Gedolim who were NOT in the
so-called MO camp wore English cutaways and silk top hats
regularly. Among them: Rav Eliezer Silver and Rav Yitzchak HaLevi
Herzog, zecher tzaddikim liv'rachah. And there are so many more.
Chaim Wasserman
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From: David Farkas <DavidF@...>
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2003 11:36:13 -0500
Subject: Changing Charedi world
Shmuel Himmelstein posted an article about the Independent Charedi
press, as reported by a reporter named Tamar Rotem, writing for Haaretz.
I had to laugh at the implication of the article, which is essentially
that these papers indicate the Charedi world is changing.
Newspapers like Haaretz are not, shall we say, the best source of
information about religious Jewry generally, and certainly not about
Charedi society. One of the publishers Rotem quotes from extensively is
well-known in the Charedi community as a "shyster", a rabble-rouser and
a muckraker. This individual also published a Hebrew paper in NY before
he was run out of town. Crediting his statements concerning Hamodia and
Yated is like quoting the the publisher of the World News ( a tabloid)
concerning the Wall Street Journal, or the Washington Post or
Times. They both have an axe to grind and an agenda to push. Of course,
any writer for a paper like Haretz is by definition not a member of
Charedi society, so there is no way Tamar Rotem could have known this.
While the Charedi world may indeed be experiencing gradual change,
due to any number of factors, the broadsheet publishers the article
speaks about are nothing to get excited about.
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From: <CARLSINGER@...> (Carl Singer)
Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2003 11:18:02 EST
Subject: Charitable institutions
Here's a thankfully brief (cleansed) excerpt of a situation that
recently occured.
Person A, who I know casually notifies me (and others via email) that
there is someone in town who is facing eviction and thus needs of rent
money.
Question 1 - what is my obligation at this point.
Person B, suggests we all chip in.
Person C, mentions that their is a gemach in town that lends money in
such cases -- if someone will guarantee the loan.
Question 2 - Is my guaranteeing the loan in any way meeting my tzedukah
requirement -- or is that only so if the loan defaults and I have to pay
(been there, done that.)
Question 3 - Let's say I outright give $1 to this gemach or to my local
shule Rabbi, etc., for the "tzedukah for poor people in town" fund -- I
want to preserve my anonimity and likewise don't really want to know who
the recepients are -- Then if someone comes directly to me for help, is
it sufficient to point them to this fund.
Carl Singer
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From: Shmuel Himelstein <himels@...>
Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2003 06:06:17 +0200
Subject: Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sachs Lecture Series on Web
Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sachs gave a series of six lectures on Faith to a
Jewish audience. These are a brilliant exposition of a highly original
thinker. I believe they are very much worth reading.
http://www.chiefrabbi.org/ft-index.html
Shmuel Himelstein
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From: Sammy Finkelman <finkelmanm@...>
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2003 12:59:43 -0500
Subject: Correction
In Vol 38 number 22, I wrote:
>It is NOT a good thing that Rabbonim are paid or paid so much. Many
>years ago, Rabbi Moshe Soled ZT'L who died in 1992, tried to do
>something about getting Jewish education for children for free. (Shifra
>Hiffman was working for him at the time - this was prior to 1971, when
>he was in the Bronx)
That should be Shifra Hoffman. She later became quite famous and I wamnt
to have the name here right. Maybe somebody knows more about this.
>nowadays, nobiody considers Gemorah Halachah at all, and the
>justification for learning fulltime is simply fulfilling the Mitzvah of
>"V'dartah bum" - in other words, preoccupying yourself and talking of
>Torah.
That should be, of course, V'Debartah bum."
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From: Ben Katz <bkatz@...>
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2003 13:52:37 -0600 (CST)
Subject: Re: Improper use of G-d
>From: <JFreed515@...> (Bernard Freedman)
>The Torah does not name the months of the jewish calendar. The names we
>have given our months are derived from the Babalonian, which are based
>on the Babalonian dieties or g-ds. So isn't the names we assign to our
I'm sure you will get many comments similar to this, but I am sorry to
tell you that writing "g-d" for a pagan deity is a hilul hashem because
you are showing importance to a non-entity.
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, Voicemail and Pager: 3034
e-mail: <bkatz@...>
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From: <Brikspartzuf@...> (Dr. Tzvi Briks)
Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2003 12:10:15 EST
Subject: Re: Kitov's Yom Haatzmaut
In relation ship to Kitov's Yom Haatzmaut they need to be reprinted. I
received one from my nephew in Israel. It is wonderful.
Dr. Tzvi Briks
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From: Danny Skaist <danny@...>
Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2003 13:41:42 +0200
Subject: RE: Name of Months
> From: <JFreed515@...> (Bernard Freedman)
> Has there ever been any thought to giving our months truly authentic
> Jewish names?
The Torah does name the months. The months are named to remind us of
the Geula. The months are named "first month since the geula" etc.
After the second Geula the months were given Babalonian names in
rememberence of that.
danny
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From: <Yisyis@...> (Ira Bauman)
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2003 10:07:07 EST
Subject: Re: Names
For example a study of 10000 prison inmates found that a
statistically significantly amount had strange names. Apparently,
the article suggested, this strange names placed a burden on them.
That study may be putting the cart before the horse. An equally valid
case could be made that people with less than perfect skills for living
in society have a greater tendency to name their children strangely.
Remember that a boy named Sue was so named because of anticipated
neglect by his father.
Ira Bauman
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From: <bdcohen@...> (David I. Cohen)
Subject: Orlah
> From: Joel Wiesen <Wiesen@...>
> Can anyone help me understand why orlah is calculated based on Rosh
> HaShana if Tu B'Shevat is the new year for trees?
Calling Tu B'shvat , the new year fro trees is a misnomer. As the gemara
at the beginning of Rosh hashana deliniates, there are certain dates
which are cut off dates used for the determination as to which annual
cycle an item belongs.
So, for example, as far as counting years for the Orlah prohibition
(cannot eat fruit of tree for first three years and fruit of 4th year
has sanctity and must be consumed in Yerushalayim) the year begins on
Tishri 1. If a tree is planted at laest 30 days prior to Tishri 1 (IOW
by before Elul 1) when Tishri one rolls around, the tree is considered
one year old for Orlah purposes, although it is really only 30 days old.
Similarly, the determination of produce "income" for purposes of the
various "taxes", i.e. terumot and maaserot was computed on an annual
basis. Just like in the USA, the IRS determines our annual income based
on a cut-off date of Jan.1 (for most of us), so too the halacha had a
cut-off date for determination of the fruit produce income for that
year, so that sufficient terumot and maaseort could be set aside to
permit the consumption of the remainder. (I know I am over simplifying
the process, but I am trying to concentrate on the calendrical issue.)
That cut-off date is the subject of an argument between Beit Shamai
(Shevat 1) and Beit Hillel (Shevat 15, or Tu B'shvat).
David I. Cohen
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From: Eli Lansey <elansey@...>
Date: Sat, 25 Jan 2003 20:58:47 +0200 (IST)
Subject: Re: Orlah
What makes it stranger is the fact that revai (the fourth year after
planting) is counted via Tu B'Shevat. It could be that the 1st three
years it is not halachically considered a tree, in which case it does
not follow the New Year of the trees. However, after the three years it
'becomes' a tree, and thus its years are counted from Tu b'Shevat. If
you look at R' Ovadiah m'Bartenura on the 1st mishna in Rosh haShanah
where he explains this issue, you can be medayeik (Sorry, I have no idea
how to say that in English.) from his words "shekvar na'aseh eitz" -
"since it has already been made a tree". (From the language of the
Mishnah itself you can also be medayeik this: "neti'ah" - "planting"
vs. "eitz" - "tree".) In other words, before the three years were
finished it was not yet been made a tree, and thus does not count from
Tu b'Shevat. (Also see R' Zevin's 'Hamoadim b'Halacha' page 220-221.)
Eli.
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From: Eli Turkel <turkel@...>
Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2003 18:06:15 +0200 (IST)
Subject: Rambam
Rambam has a yissachar/zevulun agreenebt with his brother. So Rambam
learned full time while his brother worked for both familires. After his
brother drowned Rambam supported both families as a physician.
Eli Turkel
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From: Freda B Birnbaum <fbb6@...>
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2003 11:53:53 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Singles Groups
In Vol. 38 #38, it was asked:
> While there are orthodox singles groups that get together for
> recreational activities they are generally coed and thus inappropriate
> for single frum men who don't socialize with women (other than in
> shiduchim).
From one point of view, wouldn't a coed frum singles group that got
together over activities they were all interested in, enhance the
shidduch process in a less "fraught" manner than the shidduch/shadchan
process sometimes involves?
Freda Birnbaum, <fbb6@...>
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From: Robert Tolchin <tolchin@...>
Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2003 12:02:31 -0500
Subject: Re: Tzdakah at the Kotel
As I understand it, to whom you give tzedaka and where and when are all
matters of your own conscience. If you don't want to give, don't. This
is particularly so if you honestly don't believe that these folks are
needy.
If it really bothers you, come prepared with a xeroxed note explaining
yourself. Hand it out to the first few, and there will likely be few
more.
> From: <REBSHAYA@...> (Rabbi Shaya Kilimnick)
> 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.
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From: Annice Grinberg <annice@...>
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2003 14:25:31 +0200
Subject: Re: Women Gedole Torah
I think a more logical explanation for the lack of women in many fields is
that they have not been encouraged , and in fact, were usually discouraged
and often forbidden, from engaging in these activities.
Annice
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End of Volume 38 Issue 44
