Volume 52 Number 05
                    Produced: Sun Jun  4 22:03:05 EDT 2006


Subjects Discussed In This Issue: 

Adler Machzor
         [Nathan Lamm]
Administrivia
         [Avi Feldblum]
Beware of local missionary offensive
         [Ira L. Jacobson]
Call for Prayers
         [Yael Levine]
Chafetz Chaim Picture (3)
         [Nathan Lamm, Sammy Finkelman, Michael Goldrich]
The Chofetz Chaim did not have payehs
         [I. Balbin]
Digitized version of the 13th Century Worms Mahzor
         [Joshua Hosseinof]
Fred Dweck A"H
         [Jacob Sasson]
Hatikvah At BergenBelsen - 1945
         [Carl Singer]
Hear Rav Soloveitchick (public lecture) in English
         [Joel Rich]
New Book
         [Rabbi Shmuel Jablon]
Order of Topics in Shulkhan Aruch
         [Aliza Berger]


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From: Nathan Lamm <nelamm18@...>
Date: Thu, 4 May 2006 06:13:00 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Adler Machzor

a) The British Siddur ("Singer's) does not have Brich Shemay during the
week, and describes it as optional ("some congregations...") on
Shabbos. (It describes Mizmor Shir Chanukas the same way.) None of this
is too surprising; both are relatively recent additions, and I know of
others who omit them.

b) I can't answer, but it sort of makes sense, as we generally omit Av
Harachamim when there's no tachanun.  Again, Yizkor is Eastern European,
not Central, so there may be that influence there.

c) Perhaps saying the Shir Shel Yom before Shacharis is a carryover from
Yom Kippur? I seem to recall seeing it in other Machzorim. Again, the
Shir is a relatively recent addition ("relatively" meaning centuries),
so the order may not be set in stone.

d) I recall a discussion, likely here, a short time back about not
repeating Musaf. Of course, many minhagim say Tal and Geshem before the
silent Amidah.

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From: Avi Feldblum <feldblum@...>
Date: Sun, 4 Jun 2006 21:36:26 -0400
Subject: Administrivia

Hello All,

Sorry for the unplanned longer than expected "ben hazemanim" -
intersession on the list. I would also like to apologize for the spam
that got through while I was off air. Looks like someone has managed to
forge the mljewish account, so it was able to get past the spam filters
at Shamash and got out. Shamash has put additional restrictions that
should hopefully remove the problem in the future, while still not being
to difficult for me to manage the list.

I will be going through the messages that have come in while I was off,
and will be getting those out, and I expect that I will start hearing
new submissions from many you of you shortly!

Avi

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From: Ira L. Jacobson <laser@...>
Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 16:56:07 +0300
Subject: Beware of local missionary offensive

>From the American Hamodia:
BEWARE OF LOCAL MISSIONARY OFFENSIVE
by: Hamodia Staff

Hamodia received numerous telephone calls, e-mails and personal visits
from readers shocked to their core to have received an innocent looking
folder containing a DVD disk narrated in a rich, Yiddish that is
actually a virulent piece of missionary propaganda. We have printed an
image of this insidious object so that readers will be able to identify
and destroy it immediately.

[ Link to picture of the DVD]

So far the DVD has been received by residents of Brooklyn's 11218 zip
code, as well as those living in Monsey, New York, and we suspect that
this is just the beginning of a wider assault aimed at entrapping the
Yiddish Speaking public, particularly innocent children.

Its mailer proclaims in Yiddish "Der DVID iz mommish mai'ein olam haba -
a little bit of heaven brought down to earth for you to enjoy." The
accompanying post card asks viewers to send away for more information or
a telephone contact. Please take a few minutes to alert your friends,
relatives and neighbors about the danger of this piece.

Nothing on the disk or its envelope identifies the material as coming
from missionaries, neither is there any address or anything else that
might alert Yidden to its poison. Obviously those who produced this disk
invested much thought, time and effort to devise a sophisticated method
of spreading their missionary message garbed in a most innocent-looking,
free offering.

After consultation with Rabbanim and community leaders, Hamodia urges
those who receive this missionary mailing to swiftly and decisively to
halt this attack on our most vulnerable members: the very young, the
very old, the lonely and those to whom any thing expressed in mamma
lashon takes on a sacred cast.

IRA L. JACOBSON 
mailto:<laser@...>

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From: Yael Levine <ylevine@...>
Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 16:43:37 +0200
Subject: Call for Prayers

I am in the process of editing a volume of prayers composed by
contemporary Orthodox women. This is a dynamic current phenomena, and
new prayers are being written. Women who have not yet been in touch with
me, or people who are aware of women who have composed such prayers, are
urged to contact me.

Yael Levine
<ylevine@...>

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From: Nathan Lamm <nelamm18@...>
Date: Thu, 4 May 2006 06:05:31 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Chafetz Chaim Picture

I'm quite certain the most famous picture of the Chafetz Chaim is, in
fact, him. I once heard a shiur that told the story of the Chafetz
Chaim's daughter saying about a picture "A nice looking Yid, but not my
father"- but it was about another picture, shown at the shiur, that was
found in Israel and was, for a while, widely thought to be the Chofetz
Chaim. It shows someone with longer hair and a coat.

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From: Sammy Finkelman <finkelmanm@...>
Date: Fri, 05 May 2006 16:22:59 -0400
Subject: Chafetz Chaim Picture

The picture is shown on Wikipedia and the caption says:

"The Chofetz Chaim. There is a widely circulated claim that this picture is 
actually of a local butcher or of the Chofetz Chaim's attendant."

I can fgure out why it might have been reported that it was his
attendant. I think there is a famous story about him and his attendant
being mistaken (or maybe this was told of some other Rabbi). There is
also the story of his not being recognized, listening to praise and
saying things against himself with the Chofetz Chaim later saying that
he realized (because of what ensued later) you should not say Loshon
harah against yourself either

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From: Michael Goldrich <michaelg25@...>
Date: Thu, 4 May 2006 09:16:22 -0400
Subject: Re: Chafetz Chaim Picture

I don't know if this is beat to death yet but I had heard that that
picture was another individual's used for the Chafetz Chayim's passport
and was not a photo of the Chafetz Chayim.

Michael Goldrich

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From: I. Balbin <isaac@...>
Date: Fri, 5 May 2006 15:34:36 +1000
Subject: Re: The Chofetz Chaim did not have payehs

Rachmono Litzlan (Gd save us). Of course he had payehs.  Whether they
were Chassidish style or Brisker Style or Misnagdish is the issue, and
that, my friends, is also a matter of Psak Din.  The Chafetz Chaim Z"TL
was not only one of the Poskei HaDor he was also one the Tzadikkei
Hador. He knew how long his Payehs had to be and what style. Goodness,
almost the whole world relies on his famous hetter regarding Shok vis a
vis the minimum length of a woman's dress! Talk about a far reaching
Psak Din! Some say he was "Toeh" on that matter.  The reality is that
the Acharonim in the main say that you can "rely" on that great Posek
and Tzadik!  Pook Chazee (look and see how the world acts) He was also
one of the few genuine ones in the previous generation who could not
stomach mean and vituperative politics. Witness his refusal to continue
at an Aguda convention when some belittled Rav Kook Z"TL (with whom he
had a very close relationship) but I digress.

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From: Joshua Hosseinof <JHosseinof@...>
Date: Thu, 4 May 2006 15:50:17 -0400
Subject: Re: Digitized version of the 13th Century Worms Mahzor

> There is a more authoritative source predating the machzor by two
> centuries.  Rashi, in his commentary on the verse containing the
> k'dusha (Y'shayahu 6:3), quotes the text of the prayer as "k'dusha
> kulam k'echad onim."

To what extent are there original or contemporary manuscripts of Rashi's
commentary where the actual text that Rashi wrote can be verified?  I'm
referring of course to the problem that exists in many of the published
texts that have gone through centuries of editing at the hands overly
helpful editors who often corrected what they thought were mistakes in a
copy of a manuscript, and never left in the margin what the original
text had in it.

A famous example of this I heard in a shiur given by Dr. Shneur Leiman
regarding the Aleppo Codex, regarding the bible scholar who Umberto
Cassuto famously declared that the codex was not the sefer Ben Asher
that the Rambam relied on, based on certain discrepancies between the
printed text of the Rambam and the text in the Aleppo Codex.  A look at
a contempary manuscript of the Rambam, with an autograph of the Rambam
approving the manuscript, showed that the Rambam's text did in fact
match the Aleppo Codex in the key places that Cassuto looked at, and
that Cassuto had relied on a printed Rambam where editors had been too
"helpful" in fixing the text over the centuries.

A cursory google search finds this article
http://www.arts.mcgill.ca/jewish/30yrs/abecassis/index.html which seems
to indicate that there is indeed a significant question of accuracy of
the text in regards to Rashi's commentary.  In such a situation, it may
very well be that the 13th Century Worms machzor is the more
authoritative source than our text of Rashi.

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From: Jacob Sasson <jacobsasson@...>
Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 23:51:15 -0400
Subject: Fred Dweck A"H

It is with sadness that I announce the passing of one of our members,
Fred (Yeshua) Dweck A"H. A brief biography will follow in the coming
days.  Learning should be le'ilui nishmat Yeshua ben Julia.

Tenuhamu Min Hashamayim

His family should be comforted from Heaven

Jacob Sasson
71 West 12th St. Apt 5B
New York, NY 10011
(732) 232-2525

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From: Carl Singer <csngr@...>
Date: Thu, 04 May 2006 17:18:20 -0400
Subject: Hatikvah At BergenBelsen - 1945

Really something

very recently found.

http://www.israelreporter.com/files/radio/BergenBelsenHatikva.mp3

Carl

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From: Joel Rich <JRich@...>
Date: Sun, 7 May 2006 20:25:05 -0400 
Subject: Hear Rav Soloveitchick (public lecture) in English

For those who have never heard Rav Soloveitchik (and for those that
have) I have posted an Yarzeit shiur of the Rav at
http://www.heartherav.org along with a Word file containing a complete
transcript of the shiur.

You can download the shiur or play it off the site.
Special thanks to Lenny Moskowitz for digitizing and running noise
reduction software on this tape (may it be a zechut for your Mom Z'TL)
and to Rabbi, Dr.  Simchah Katz for financing the transcription.
The site is dedicated in memory of my mother, Bracha bas Rachel Z'TL
(Tunis) Mozeson.

Please spread the word about this website so more people can
experience hearing the Rav.

Sincerely,
Yoni Mozeson

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From: Rabbi Shmuel Jablon <rabbij@...>
Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 14:57:44 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
Subject: New Book

Shalom to all!
For any and all who may be interested.....

 I have published a short new book with articles on the summer parshiot.
It is entitled Summer (Torah) Reading.  You'll find articles previously
published (though recently edited), as well as brand new discussion
questions that can be used both by children and families.

 The book is $6.13 (Yes, that's on purpose), or under $1 if you'd just
like to download it.  Simply go to www.lulu.com/rabbij and you'll find
it there.

With all best wishes,
(Rabbi) Shmuel Jablon
www.rabbijablon.com

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From: Aliza Berger <alizadov@...>
Date: Sun, 07 May 2006 11:54:45 +0200
Subject: Order of Topics in Shulkhan Aruch

Recently we were looking for Hilchot Tzedakah, and after some searching
found it between Talmud Torah and Milah. This led to a more general
question - what determines the order of the topics in the Shulkhan
Aruch? And, for those topics for which it is not "obvious" which section
of the 4 sections they belong in, what determines where they go?

Aliza Berger-Cooper, PhD
English Editing: www.editing-proofreading.com
Statistics Consulting: www.statistics-help.com

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End of Volume 52 Issue 5