Volume 53 Number 06
Produced: Sun Nov 12 9:52:46 EST 2006
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Collecting Candy on Halloween: Harmless Pastime or Halachic (2)
[Chana Luntz, Michael Broyde]
Edison
[Gershon Dubin]
Feldblum / Yolles Memorial Scholar in Residence Weekend November 17/18
[Avi Feldblum]
Mis-read word in the haftara of Lech-Lecha (Isaiah 40:31) (2)
[SBA, Yehonatan & Randy Chipman]
New Book by Rav Soloveitchik zt"l - Days of Deliverance
[Joel Rich]
not holding babies while sitting shiva?
[Batya Medad]
Peeling an Orange an Shabbos
[Stuart Feldhamer]
Rabbi Chaim Rapoport to Speak at Yeshiva Chovevei Torah
[Freda B Birnbaum]
Revisionist Zionism & SSSJ
[Freda B Birnbaum]
windup LED flashlights and Rabbi Karelitz
[Aryeh Gielchinsky]
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From: Chana Luntz <chana@...>
Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 15:41:06 -0000
Subject: Collecting Candy on Halloween: Harmless Pastime or Halachic
Rabbi Broyde writes:
I think, however, it would be improper and unwise for a teacher in
> such a setting to wear a costume.
Would you say, however, that there was any problem in buying (eg at half
price after halloween) halloween costumes to be then used by one's
children on Purim? Would it make a difference if the costumes were
second hand on ebay (ie presumably used for Halloween celebrating by
somebody else before purchase)?
Regards
Chana
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From: Michael Broyde <mbroyde@...>
Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2006 10:13:41 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: Collecting Candy on Halloween: Harmless Pastime or Halachic
100% mutar.
Michael J. Broyde
Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law
<mbroyde@...>
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From: Gershon Dubin <gershon.dubin@...>
Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 18:24:26 GMT
Subject: Edison
Someone I know recently started working in Edison New Jersey (Thornall
St) and would like to know if there is a mincha gedola minyan in the
immediate area or the wherewithal and interest to start one.
Carpooling from Lakewood is also of interest; replies off list. Thank
you.
Gershon
<gershon.dubin@...>
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From: Avi Feldblum <feldblum@...>
Date: Sun, 12 Nov 2006 09:15:31 -0500
Subject: Feldblum / Yolles Memorial Scholar in Residence Weekend November 17/18
Young Israel of Elkins Park is proud to present the Second Annual
Feldblum / Yolles Memorial Lectures Scholar in Residence Weekend
November 17/18 2006
Rabbi Dr Shnayer Leiman will present a series of three lectures during
the weekend
Theme: The Jewish Confrontation with Modernity
Friday night following dinner:
The Emergence of Modern Orthodoxy in Western Europe
Dessert Oneg for all following the Talk
Shabbat Day, following Services:
The Wisdom of R. Hayyim of Volozhin
Please join us for a Kiddush Luncheon following the Talk
Saturday Evening
Please join us for a Melavah Malka at 7:00pm. Suggested charge: $5.00
The Plight of the Jewish Woman in the Nineteenth Century: A Study in
Haskalah and Halakhah
This year's lecture is dedicated in memory of Rabbi Ephraim Eliezer
Yolles zt"l, who served the Philadelphia community as Rabbi for over 60
years.
Dr. Shnayer Leiman is Professor of Jewish History and Literature in the
Department of Judaic Studies at Brooklyn College of the City University
of NY and Visiting Professor at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of YU.
He is co-author of Judaism's Encounter with Other Cultures, author of
The Canonization of the Hebrew Scriptures and editor of The Canon and
Mesorah of the Hebrew Bible. He earned his doctorate from the
Department of Oriental Studies at the U. of Penn. and his rabbinical
ordination from the Mirrer Yeshiva in NY.
For additional information, please contact Avi Feldblum,
<feldblum@...>
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From: SBA <sba@...>
Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 14:06:32 +1100
Subject: Mis-read word in the haftara of Lech-Lecha (Isaiah 40:31)
From: (Gilad J. Gevaryahu)
> I just noticed on Shabbat that most people read the pasuk (Isaiah 40:31)
> incorrectly as "ve-kovey Hashem..." when the correct reading is
> "ve-koyey Hashem". The letter Vav has no nekudot, and no ta'am, and
> therefore should not be pronounced. The problem is that many Bibles and
> shul Chumashim misprinted this word and placed the tzere under the
> letter Vav, when it should be under the letter Yod
The RY Emden siddur (nusach Sfard p. 35, sv Ato Hu), says the same re
"Kabetz (nefutozs) Koyecho"
SBA
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From: Yehonatan & Randy Chipman <yonarand@...>
Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2006 21:44:13 +0200
Subject: Re: Mis-read word in the haftara of Lech-Lecha (Isaiah 40:31)
I wanted to second Gilad's comment. Many years ago there was a bar
mitzvah at our shul on that shabbat, where the bar mitzvah boy read this
phrase in the haftarah as "ve-koyey." I asked him to explain why he read
it thus, and he explained the nikkud to me. But it went so much against
common sense that I found it hard to believe, so I phoned the biggest
expert I could think of: the (now) late Prof. Meir Medan of the Academy
of the Hebrew Language, who is listed on the title page of the Koren
Tanakh as biing anong the "magihim." He confirmed that this was indeed
the correct reading.
Yehonatan Chipman
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From: Joel Rich <JRich@...>
Date: Tue, 7 Nov 2006 21:40:01 -0500
Subject: New Book by Rav Soloveitchik zt"l - Days of Deliverance
NEW BOOK BY
RABBI JOSEPH B. SOLOVEITCHIK ZT"L
DAYS OF DELIVERANCE: ESSAYS ON PURIM AND HANUKKAH
For Rav Soloveitchik, Purim and Hanukkah stand at the nexus of faith and
history, of human effort and divine intervention, of solemnity and
joyous celebration. In the Purim essays, the Rav breathes vivid life
into the characters and events of the Megillah, and demonstrates the
story's universal and contemporary messages. In the Hanukkah essays,
too, the Rav draws universal lessons from the story of the Hasmonean
rebellion, and utilizes the spiritual core of the Hanukkah story to
explain the holiday's distinctive halakhic features.
Edited by Eli D. Clark, Joel B. Wolowelsky, and Reuven Ziegler.
SPECIAL 20% DISCOUNT FOR VBM SUBSCRIBERS
To order, go to: http://www.vbm-torah.org/ravbooks.htm.
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From: Batya Medad <ybmedad@...>
Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2006 09:00:42 +0200
Subject: not holding babies while sitting shiva?
Recently I heard a new--chumrah, custom, halacha? Nobody seemed to
know. But some grandparents who were sitting shiva were "informed" by
somebody that they were forbidden to hold babies.
Now issue #1
If a question isn't asked of a person, then one shouldn't inform, unless
that person is the other one's Rav. Correct?
#2
It is so common to see mourners holding young children and babies. They
all say it's their greatest comfort.
What's behind it? Obviously it's not a universally accepted psak. Why
make a difficult time more so?
Batya
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/
http://me-ander.blogspot.com/
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From: Stuart Feldhamer <Stuart.Feldhamer@...>
Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 11:31:10 -0500
Subject: Peeling an Orange an Shabbos
Can someone please explain to me why peeling an orange on Shabbos is
permitted?
I understand why it does not fall under the melacha of Borer, but why
isn't it Dash (threshing)? The melacha of Dash involves separating the
wheat from the husk, and this seems to me to be exactly the same as
peeling an orange. If squeezing an orange for its juice (despite the
fact that you're planning to drink the juice right away) is prohibited
because of Sechita, which is a Tolada of Dash, shouldn't it be Kal
V'Chomer that peeling an orange to eat it is also prohibited?
Thanks,
Stuart
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From: Freda B Birnbaum <fbb6@...>
Date: Mon, 6 Nov 2006 18:44:59 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Rabbi Chaim Rapoport to Speak at Yeshiva Chovevei Torah
I received this announcement from YCT and asked their permission to pass
it on, which I received.
I have heard R. Rapoport speak on this topic, and have read his book on
the same, and he is one of the most sensible and sensitive as well as
halachic people I have heard on the subject. It is well worth anyone's
time to hear what he has to say.
(I've edited it slightly for legibility.)
From: Yeshivat Chovevei Torah <sschmulowitz@...>
Judaism and Homosexuality: An Orthodox View
with Rabbi Chaim Rapoport, Rabbi, Ilford Synagogue, Beehive Lane,
England.
When: November 15th, 2006
Time: 7:00pm
Location: 606 West 115th Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10115
This is an open lecture of YCT's Meorot University Fellowship.
For more information, visit our Upcoming Events
( http://www.yctorah.org/content/view/165/17/ ) page.
Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School
475 Riverside Drive, Suite 244, New York, NY 10115
email: <sschmulowitz@...>
web: http://www.yctorah.org
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From: Freda B Birnbaum <fbb6@...>
Date: Tue, 7 Nov 2006 23:41:41 -0500 (EST)
Subject: re: Revisionist Zionism & SSSJ
In mail-jewish Vol. 53 #05 Digest Carl Singer writes:
> From: <casinger@...> (Carl Singer)
> I (still) don't get it!
> Several people have made great efforts via postings and back-channel
> messages to regurgitate the definitions and history of "Revisionist
> Zionism" -- none have answered my original question -- and that is why a
> founder of the SSSJ (Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry) is described as
> a Revisionist Zionist.
> Was this a gratuitous description, e.g., it so happened that a leader of
> SSSJ was identified (also) a Revisionist Zionist -- or is / was there a
> link between the Revisionist Zionist movement and the SSSJ? And what
> does this imply?
WHOA!!!
The post Carl is referring to says:
> From: Medad <ybmedad@...>
> Subject: SSSJ
> [...]
> The first protest activity was in 1962, matzot brought to the Soviet UN
> Mission. The first protest open planning assembly November 1963 - in a
> midtown hotel initiated by a Revisionist Zionist businessman named Morris
> Brafman who formed the American League for Russian Jews (see the book In
> Pursuit of Freedom by Brafman, Publisher: Shengold 1991). The first mass
> protest demonstration: May 1, 1964
>
> [...]
Please note!: Morris Brafman, a Revisionist Zionist, formed a group
called the American League for Russian Jews (I seem to recall that the
name had "Repatriation of Russian Jews" in its title but I'll have to
check with my husband, Jacob Birnbaum, founder in 1964 of SSSJ). This
is/was a distinct group from SSSJ. SSSJ had no particular connection to
Revisionist Zionism. Several pieces of information have gotten
conflated and terribly confused here.
Freda Birnbaum, <fbb6@...>
"Call on God, but row away from the rocks"
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From: Aryeh Gielchinsky <agielchinsky@...>
Date: Tue, 7 Nov 2006 00:24:24 -0500
Subject: windup LED flashlights and Rabbi Karelitz
Turning an electric generator will cause a circuit to be opened and
closed. In a simple generator that happens twice per revolution.
http://www.wvic.com/how-gen-works.htm
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End of Volume 53 Issue 6
