Volume 49 Number 03
Produced: Mon Jul 18 8:30:36 EDT 2005
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
All the Tosfos ...
[Andy Goldfinger]
Cellphones while driving.
[Carl A. Singer]
Contributing Heat
[Andy Goldfinger]
Do-not-call list
[Meir]
Extra Kadishes (3)
[Joseph Ginzberg, Dov Teichman, Alex Heppenheimer]
Family splitting for the summer (2)
[Yisrael Medad, Stephen Phillips]
Halacha and Business Competition
[Janice Gelb]
How High a Mechitza
[Yisrael Medad]
Prof Sperber Books
[<Shuanoach@...>]
Where is the border (2)
[Carl A. Singer, David Charlap]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Andy Goldfinger <Andy.Goldfinger@...>
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 08:53:56 -0400
Subject: All the Tosfos ...
Rabbi Y. Kamenetsky has been quoted as saying that a posek should be
fluent in all the Tosfos in Shas.
I recall a person commenting that there are a great many Rishonim who
are just as important as Tosfos, but that Tosfos has achieved greater
prominence since it has been printed on the daf. Would people care to
comment on this? That is -- is there something about Tosfos that makes
it more important than other Rishonim (excluding, of course Rashi).
-- Andy Goldfinger
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Carl A. Singer <casinger@...>
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 07:10:43 -0400
Subject: Cellphones while driving.
Someone just posted on local community list that they had been ticketed
for using their cellphone (apparently not hands free) while driving.
Their concern was whether this would add (penalty) points to their
driver's license and hence impact their insurance.
This got me to thinking about the halachic aspects; Although some may
argue -- but let me begin with a premise that (A) not wearing a seatbelt
is a sacuneh and (B) using a cellphone while driving is a sacuneh.
1 - Is it permissible to do so? If not what specific aveyreh does it
violate? (is this similar to "smoking")
2 - with B there is also a danger to others as one may cause an
accident. (Is this similar to "secondhand smoke")
Again, I am taking the scientific premise as given and don't think it
ads much to the discussion to hear about plony who didn't wear a
seatbelt and thus survived because they were thrown free of the wreck,
etc. I'm interested in the halachic aspects.
Carl Singer
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Andy Goldfinger <Andy.Goldfinger@...>
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 09:09:41 -0400
Subject: Contributing Heat
The Gemara in Tractate Shabbos gives many examples of materials that may
not be used to cover a pot of hot food for Shabbos since they are Mosif
Hevel (contribute heat). As do many families, my wife and I use a slow
cooker ("Crock Pot") to keep our chulent hot. Now -- the metal shell of
a slow cooker certainly contributes heat. Yet -- the practice is
common. Why are we permitted to do this (or are we)?
-- Andy Goldfinger
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: <meirman@...> (Meir)
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 10:49:08 -0400
Subject: Re: Do-not-call list
At 06:00 AM 7/15/05, Carl Singer wrote, Vol. 48 #99 Digest:
>I recently got a most annoying sing-song telephone call (taped) from a
>telephone service which is affiliated with a tzedukah (and / or donates
>all of its profits to this tzedukah.) At the end of the message was a
>disclaimer that THEY were exempt from the do-not-call lists because they
>were a tzedukah. Really?
Yes, I think so. I think there are some non-Jewish charities, either
very large ones or associations of smaller ones, who said they depended
on phone solicitation. Maybe some Jewish Federations were in on that,
but I'm sure they were a small part if at all.
Meir
<meirman@...> Baltimore, MD, USA
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Joseph Ginzberg <jgbiz120@...>
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 10:28:15 -0400
Subject: Extra Kadishes
>A while back we had an unusual situation at the Chabad here. There was
>a visitor from Crown Heights who insisted on having 16 Kaddishes. (The
>minyan for mincha came in after most people finished davining.) Has
>anyone heard such a thing?
See my posting of last week re the sefer Maavar Yabok, where he claims
that each kaddish saves the deceased from Gehinnom for 1.5 hours, making
16 kaddishes necessary for 24 hours.
I have had no responses to my question as to why the author says 8
kaddishes, implying a 12-hour day, or what happens if more than one
child says kaddish.
Yossi Ginzberg
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: <DTnLA@...> (Dov Teichman)
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 08:13:05 EDT
Subject: Re: Extra Kadishes
The source is from the Zohar I:62b that implies that every kadish works
for an hour and a half. Thus, 16 kaddishes per day work for 24
hours. The previous Lubavitcher Rebbes (R. Yosef Yitzchok, and R. Sholom
Dovber) included in their wills the request that 16 kaddishes be said
every day except Shabbos and Yom Tov.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe mentioned this custom in many letters, apparently
it's a well know custom in Chabad. He also mentions the Chabad custom to
learn mishnayos after every Tefila in order to increase the number of
kadishes said. Many Chabad shuls I have been to do this.
Dov Teichman
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Alex Heppenheimer <aheppenh@...>
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 07:32:19 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Extra Kadishes
This is indeed the normative Chabad minhag, based on the practice of the
Rebbe Rashab (5th Lubavitcher Rebbe), as recorded in his will (parts of
which are reproduced in Ashkavta D'Rebbi by Rabbi M.D. Rivkin,
pp. 136ff).
In turn, the Rebbe zt"l, in his notes to Sefer HaMinhagim (the official
book of Lubavitcher customs), cites in this connection the Zohar
(I:62b), which states that every time the congregation responds "Amen
yehei shemeih rabbah" in Kaddish, the soul of the deceased gets a
respite of an hour and a half; thus, 16 recitations of Kaddish cover the
entire 24 hours. (This is similar to the statement from Maavar Yabok
that Yossi Ginzberg cited in MJ 48:94, though there the assumption seems
to be, as Mr. Ginzberg observed, that there's a "12-hour working day"
for this purpose and that eight Kaddeishim are therefore sufficient.)
[Actually, today the usual Chabad practice is that there are at least
eighteen Kaddeishim during the three daily tefillos: nine at Shacharis,
four at Minchah, and five at Maariv. One of the additional ones is due
to the Rebbe Rayatz's request (in 5687/1926, seven years after his
father's passing) that his chassidim should adopt the ancient custom of
reciting the daily portion of Tehillim, followed by Kaddish, after
davening. I'm not sure where the other Kaddish came in.]
Kol tuv,
Alex
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Yisrael Medad <ybmedad@...>
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 14:21:35 +0200
Subject: Family splitting for the summer
Chaim Shapiro asks:
>I have wondered about the family split that goes on in so many frum
>homes for the summer when the wife and kids go to the country and leave
>their husbands at home. Any thoughts on how this effects Shalom Bayis,
>parenting, etc?
This is not a new phenomenon and so I presume studies have been done.
After all, -
a) One of the major mitnaged criticisms of Chassidut was the fact that
too many of the chassidim would leave their families and travel to the
Rebbes for holidays and other occasions leaving the wives to fend for
the family.
b) thousands of East European Jews left for England, the U.S. and South
America, leaving behind families for years before being able to send a
ticket for them to join.
c) and then, we have something called annual milu'im here in Israel for
up to three weeks.
Yisrael Medad
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Stephen Phillips <admin@...>
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 11:45:38 +0100
Subject: Re: Family splitting for the summer
> From: <Dagoobster@...> (Chaim Shapiro)
> I have wondered about the family split that goes on in so many frum
> homes for the summer when the wife and kids go to the country and leave
> their husbands at home. Any thoughts on how this effects Shalom Bayis,
> parenting, etc?
What about Chasidim who leave their families on Yom Tov to go and be
with their Rebbe? This has always bothered me.
Stephen Phillips
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Janice Gelb <j_gelb@...>
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 09:01:54 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Halacha and Business Competition
David Charlap <shamino@...> wrote:
> And if somebody can't compete, is it really community's obligation to
> support his business like a charity case?
This is an excellent question. We had a case here that I don't think has
been covered yet - this community has a dearth of kosher
restaurants. Someone finally tried to open a kosher sandwich shop
(similar to a Subway) and although the community flocked to the shop
when it first opened, the food really wasn't very good and was
relatively expensive. As a result, people stopped patronizing
it. Eventually, the owner closed it down, railing all the while (once
loudly at shul) about how the community says it wants kosher restaurants
but isn't willing to support a fellow Jew who opens one.
-- Janice
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Yisrael Medad <ybmedad@...>
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 14:28:08 +0200
Subject: How High a Mechitza
In responding to the idea of a pool mechitza, (btw, Jews have been known
to be even more creative in solving problems), Martin Stern writes:
>For purposes of tsniut, a rigid opaque barrier from floor to ceiling
>would be required
is this his opinion in any really serious tzni'ut situation, say a
downtown bus or train on a hot summer's day and that without it, one
cannot be there at all?
and as for his assumption about synagogue modesty, I think most of us
can testify to occasional breakdowns upon bar-miztva occasions with
non-religious relatives showing up.
Yisrael Medad
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: <Shuanoach@...>
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 11:32:31 EDT
Subject: Prof Sperber Books
Does anyone know where Prof Daniel Sperber's books in English (Nautica
Talmudica and Magic and Floklore in Rabbinic literature) are still sold
(online preferably)?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Carl A. Singer <casinger@...>
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 06:53:01 -0400
Subject: Where is the border
I believe the "border" lies NOT within scientific discussion but within
the heart and head of the individual who is praying (the mispalayl.)
This may not be the best example -- but: Just like the little boy who
prayed that London should be the capital of France (because that was
what he put on his exam.) To him it's not mevotel unless he opened up
his textbook and found out that it can't be.
If someone has emunah and believes that something is possible with
divine intervention then it's within the realm of things that they can
pray for. (I don't know how "border" came into the discussion
terminology.)
So a person of strong emunah who hears that plony has cancer (but knows
that many people recover / survive certain types of cancer) may pray for
plony's recovery.
Perhaps another person who knows more specifically about plony's
condition and believes that it is hopeless, might, instead, pray that
plony not be in too much pain.
Carl Singer
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: David Charlap <shamino@...>
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 09:53:36 -0400
Subject: Re: Where is the border
Ari Trachtenberg wrote:
> David Charlap wrote:
>> ... praying for a recently-dead person to recover may not be
>> praying for the impossible. (Although praying for the recovery of
>> someone that's been dead and buried for several years certainly
>> would be.)
> What about tchiyat hametim (resurrection of the dead with the coming
> of the moshiach). I think that one could fairly argue that, having
> not understood the laws of nature completely (something that will
> probably always be the case), we really don't know what is impossible
> and what is not.
It is my understanding (based on my understanding of Rambam) that the
messiannic resurrection will actually involve a change in the laws of
nature.
Rambam describes a two-phase messiannic era. In the initial phase,
nature remains unchanged and some of the prophesized events take place
(like rebuilding the Temple, gathering the Jews to Israel,
re-establishing the kingdom, etc.). In the second phrase, nature does
change and the remaining prophecized events take place (like
resurrecting the dead, cessation to disease and hunger, people gaining
an instinctive knowledge of God and Torah, etc.)
Which is why I did not include this in my original post. While is is
definitely correct (and according to some, aandatory) to pray for
Moshiach, that's not the same as praying for an individual to be
resurrected before the overall resurrection takes place.
-- David
----------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Volume 49 Issue 3
