Volume 52 Number 12
Produced: Mon Jun 12 7:12:32 EDT 2006
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Chaye Netzach - Saving Jewish Souls
[Chaye Netzach]
Kaddish, Mitzvot & Emotional Needs
[Shalom Kohn]
Missing Sridea Aish
[Aryeh Gielchinsky]
One kaddish per day
[Martin Stern]
Religious Zionism on the Fringes #2
[Shimon Lebowitz]
Staying up Shavuos night (2)
[Robert Tolchin, Jacob Gross]
Women saying kaddish
[Dov Bloom]
Women saying Kaddish - clarification
[Carl A. Singer]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Chaye Netzach <chayenetzach@...>
Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 00:56:01 +0200
Subject: Chaye Netzach - Saving Jewish Souls
BS"D
We thought you might want to share what we do with fellow Mail-Jewish
readers and contributors.
Chaye Netzach helps thousands of Jews who pass away without leaving
behind them anybody to care for the elevation of their souls (no Kaddish
and nothing like this): 30 seconds a day can save a Jewish soul! What we
ask from our more than 3000 volunteers is to do at least one Mitzvah
every day (one chapter of Tehillim, Torah study, a coin to Tzedakkah,
etc.) during 12 months for the elevation of the soul of one deceased
person who needs our help. This is a 100% free service.
To receive a name, please write to: <chayenetzach@...> or fill a
form on our website: www.shabes.net/netzach/english.htm May Hashem
bless you for your help.
Rephael
Chaye Netzach
<chayenetzach@...>
www.shabes.net/netzach
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Shalom Kohn <skohn@...>
Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 09:52:37 -0500
Subject: Kaddish, Mitzvot & Emotional Needs
The gemara tells us that "nashim somchot reshut" -- that the Rabbis
permitted women to press on the heads of their sacrifices, though not
otherwise required to do so, in order to give women a "korat ruach," or
emotional satisfaction. No one suggested that the women instead be
directed to run a soup kitchen. Thus, there is ample precedent for
sensitivity to emotional responses as long as there is not a halachic
barrier to the practice, and it is hard to make the case that there is a
halachic problem with a woman saying kaddish (particularly if there is a
male saying kaddish at the same time).
Nor is this is a slippery slope for women davening or getting aliyot --
obviously, the emotional aspects of mourning which motivate the kaddish
request are not similar to the "women's movement" origin of the other
requests, which colored that debate apart from the other halachic issues
surrounding the particular practices in question.
Shalom L. Kohn
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Aryeh Gielchinsky <agielchinsky@...>
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 00:31:33 -0400
Subject: Missing Sridea Aish
The old editions of the Sridea Aish has a Tshuva in 2:52 about (a)
Shchita vs. Dina Dimalchusa Dina and (b) having female leaders. I can't
find it in the new two volume edition (the back of the new editions has
a chart which has the old location and the new location of the Tshuvos,
and 2:52 is missing). does anyone know if it is in the new edition, or
if not why it was left out?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Martin Stern <md.stern@...>
Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2006 14:02:28 +0100
Subject: One kaddish per day
On Wed, 07 Jun 2006 17:05:57 -0400, Carl A. Singer
<casinger@...> wrote:
> clearly for those whose minhag is that only one person says kaddish --
> he is still saying it on behalf of all the aveilim present. I was not
> talking about WHO said kaddish, but that kaddish wasn't even said.
This is not at all clear to me. AFAIK the person saying kaddish is
honouring his parents, the others who have lesser priority are honouring
theirs by NOT saying kaddish.
> To put this into your context, consider that you went to shul and when
> it came to a normal point where one of the availim (possibly you)
> would normally say kaddish (again, on behalf of all the aveilim) and
> the congregation skipped kaddish and went on without.
I presume Carl is referring to a situation where there is nobody present
with an obligation to say kaddish but there is a woman who wants to do
so. There is a strong reason for someone not an aveil to say the Aleinu
kaddish in that situation so it would be best for her to say it with him
(provided there is no objection to a woman saying kaddish in that
particular congregation). The other kaddeishim are essentially optional
and someone with no obligation saying them is, to say the least,
questionable.
Martin Stern
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Shimon Lebowitz <shimonl@...>
Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2006 15:17:54 +0300
Subject: Re: Religious Zionism on the Fringes #2
Seth Kadish <skadish@...> wrote: (quoting a newspaper)
> The reward for disengagement from Israeli society is to spend an
> entire Shabbat without knowing whether or not Maccabi won the
> game. But when it comes to the big questions, the heavy cost of
> Religious Zionist convergence into homogeneous "bubbles" is a lack of
> feeling for where Am Yisrael is really at. It seems that besides
> watching Maccabi games, Shiloh's "secular, materialistic Israel," also
> votes on the future of the mountaintop settlements of Samaria.
> It is certainly possible to continue converging, to continue
> disengaging, as the "BeSheva" people urge us to do. But it is also
> important to remember that life in "bubbles" only remains warm and
> pleasant so long as the people outside the bubble aren't trying to pop
> it.
Maybe this is why I read Be'Sheva and not Nekuda.
I live in Yerushalayim, also a "bubble" I suppose, and I not only didn't
know the score on Shabbat, but until I read this m-j, I didn't even know
such a game was played.
And I couldn't possibly care less!
Yes, I know that someone made a stupid statement before the election
about the right setting up the next government. So what??? People try
to sound confident before elections in order to prevent "yi'ush"
(hopelessness) by their supporters. And particularly in this last
election, where many right-wing voters openly stated that they would
abstain, for lack of seeing any proper choice.
We know that, as the writer says,
> It seems that besides watching Maccabi games, Shiloh's "secular,
> materialistic Israel," also votes on the future of the mountaintop
> settlements of Samaria.
That's right, but if the author thinks that that is a reason for me to
join their secular, materialistic life, then I am very glad I don't have
his writings in my house.
I think any one with eyes can see that in spite of massive non-Jewish
immigration, the population of Israel is moving towards the religious
(by births and aliyah).
THAT is where 'Am Yisrael "is really at", it's just a matter of time.
To quote a famous bumper sticker: "Hang in there, Shabbos is coming!"
Shabbat shalom,
Shimon
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Robert Tolchin <RJT@...>
Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 11:50:35 -0400
Subject: Staying up Shavuos night
Tzvi Stein's posting raises disturbing issues, but not the ones he
thinks.
There's a long tradition of staying up all night on Shavuot. There's
nothing wrong with it, and it isn't a problem.
But apparently there sure are other problems:
1) What kind of a shul does Tzvi go to that has for its all night
Shavuot learning a bunch of people - schmoozing, smoking, eating cake,
drinking coffee, and occasionally dozing off over a sefer? If this is
what goes on, the problem isn't all night learning; it is an absence of
an organized program for Shavuot night. Perhaps next year Tzvi could
organize a series of lectures, beginning with one on how to behave in a
shul on yom tov!
2) Why are the older kids "unsupervised going wild outside the shul with
their friends"? I'll bet there is no learning program for the
kids. There's something else to organize.
3) Why are the wives stuck dealing with the kids? Does Tzvi mean that
Shavuot night the wives were all expected to just go to sleep while the
males were at shul being wild? Well, if they did, then it makes sense
for the wives to take care of the kids while the males who were up all
night sleep, just as a man's wife would if he stayed up all night
working the night shift at his job. But why shouldn't the women also
learn something on Shavuot? Why isn't there a women's program?
Obviously not everyone can participate in all night learning. Child care
needs and other factors mean that some people have to say on a regular
schedule. But it does seem to me that the experience can be made a whole
lot more meaningful than at Tzvi's shul.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Jacob Gross <JacobBGross@...>
Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 13:39:06 -0400
Subject: Staying up Shavuos night
Tzvi Stein's thoughts bring back a memory from Rabbi Yerucham Gorelik's
shiur at Yeshiva College. Regarding learning all night on Shavuos, he
read us a line from a post-Shavuos letter he received from his son (the
previous year?). I can quote it verbatim:
Abba, lo hishkamnu ba-layla, aval hishkamnu kol ha-yom
[We didn't stay up [learning] all night, but we stayed up all day]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Dov Bloom <dovb@...>
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 00:50:10 +0300
Subject: Re: Women saying kaddish
Martin Stern wrote in Vol 52 #07 "Surely this would constitute a tirkha
detsibbura (inconveniencing the congregation) quite apart from verging
on reciting a berakhah she'eino tserikha (an unnecessary blessing)".
Beracha she'eino Tzricha is because of a chashash of "Lo tisa" ( taking
God's name in vain) - if there is no shem hashem (mention of God's name
in Hebrew, one of the 7 holy names) there is no beracha, and no beracha
she'eino tzricha. Kaddish has nothing "verging" on reciting a berakhah
she'eino tserikha (an unnecessary blessing)
In Vol 52 #09 Mr. Stern, whose posts I usually enjoy, alluded that
"Saying any more [kadishim] might come under the problem of marbei
kaddeishim." I am not aware of such a halachic problem existing, and
the places where I daven never heard of this. Have you never heard a
kaddish after Pitun HaQtoret,a Kaddish after aleinu, a Kaddish after
An'im Zemirot (adendum of a few psukin so you can justify another
kaddish), a shir shel yom (kaddish) Barchi Nafshi on Rosh Hodesh (and
one more kaddish..) . It does seem a bit too much but is it common
practice many places I have seen, perhaps not so in Martin's UK.
( Then after maariv we have a short shiur (sometimes 5 minutes) followed
by Rabbi Chananya ben Akashya omer ..... then another kaddish. Then
after the daf yomi - another kaddish...Puk Hazei. )
Dov A Bloom
<dovb@...>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Carl A. Singer <casinger@...>
Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2006 06:36:32 -0400
Subject: Women saying Kaddish - clarification
It's clear from some of the back-channel replies that I've received that
I was unclear in my original posting.
I'm not sure what others envision by women saying kaddish. To me, it is
somewhat analagous to those shuls where only one man says kaddish (for
all aveilim) and the other stand and may recite to themselves
subvocally.
Again, my concern is that if no men are aveilim then the kaddish (either
recited by one man or many) is skipped.
Carl
----------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Volume 52 Issue 12
