Volume 56 Number 41
Produced: Thu Sep 18 6:12:11 EDT 2008
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Administrivia
[Avi Feldblum]
Fish and Meat
[Eitan Fiorino]
How Direct?
[Yisrael Medad]
Is this Judaism? Kabbalah?
[Shmuel Himelstein]
Pi
[A I Lebowitz]
A plurality of customs
[<FriedmanJ@...>]
Prayer for Country
[Batya and Yisrael Medad]
Shay'mes
[David Ziants]
Things that are new are ossur
[Mordechai Horowitz]
Torah (not) given in Hebrew?
[David Curwin]
Torah Podcasts (2)
[Eli Turkel, Art Werschulz]
Yom Kippur - Al Chait question
[Ira Bauman ]
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From: Avi Feldblum <feldblum@...>
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2008 05:59:41 -0400
Subject: Administrivia
Just a quick note that I had some IP address issues that prevented me
from getting in to the mail-jewish site, that is all resolved now and we
are back on track. I'd also like to say that I have enjoyed making
Facebook contact / friends with those of you who have joined the
mail-jewish Facebook Group. I't has been nice to put a face along with an
email address and name!
Avi Feldblum
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From: Eitan Fiorino <afiorino@...>
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2008 09:39:51 -0400
Subject: RE: Fish and Meat
> From: Dr. Josh Backon <backon@...>
> > Do you still use a separate fork for fish and meat? This is based
> > on faulty medicine.
> Not so fast :-)
> There actually **is** an adverse affect between stearic acid
> (in beef) and omega-3 in fish inducing lipid peroxidation and
> formation of free radicals.
Unfortunately I don't have time to do a literature review here, but I do
have time for a methodological critique.
You cited several desultory pieces of literature on meat lipids and fish
lipids and claimed there is some connection to psoriasis. As a
dermatologist I can tell you that psoriasis is a T cell mediated
inflammatory disease and there is no evidence that lipid abnormalities
in psoriasis patients represent anything more than an epiphenomenon -
the old "true, true, and unrelated" (though some want to make an
argument about effects on the barrier function of skin but it is purely
speculative). As a scientist I can tell you that pulling together a
couple of random literature citations hardly constitutes proof of
anything other than having access to Medline! As a physician you should
know better than to draw unwarranted conclusions form anecdotal pieces
of information - yet you claim that "there actually **is** an adverse
affect between stearic acid (in beef) and omega-3 in fish" on the basis
of a handful of unrelated citations.
In order to make the claim that "there actually **is** an adverse affect
between stearic acid (in beef) and omega-3 in fish" you need to cite
evidence, ideally in the form of a prospective randomized clinical
trial, demonstrating that consumption of meat and fish together has some
adverse clinical consequence. Until then, it remains a hypothesis, one
that does not seem to be particularly well supported by clinical data.
> So please, let's not ridicule what Chazal wrote about eating fish with
meat !
I read no ridiculing of Chazal. I read a statement that their medical
facts were wrong. Wouldn't be the first time.
-Eitan
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From: Yisrael Medad <ybmedad@...>
Date: Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:59:37 +0300
Subject: How Direct?
Writes Jeanette:
> I am a direct descendant of the Yehudi, Reb Simcha Bunim, and Menachem
> Mendel of Kotsk."
How?
As far as I know, those are three separate families.
Or do you mean spiritual descent?
Are you then a Gerer?
Or an Izibytcher?
Yisrael Medad
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From: Shmuel Himelstein <himels@...>
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2008 08:53:52 +0300
Subject: Is this Judaism? Kabbalah?
I recently read "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Kabbalah," by Rav Michael
Laitman, with Collin Canright (sounds like a pseudonym, no?)
Rav Laitman is originally from Russia, so it would seem to me that he
did not write the English manuscript.
Given the above, I found certain passages in the book to be totally at
odds with my understanding of Judaism, to the extent that they seem to
me to be totally heretical.
Specifically, consider the following:
"A religious person believes that a superior force that governs him or
her determines all the laws that an individual must follow. Kabbalah is
different, in that it adds the opportunity to feel the Creator directly.
It is indifferent to whether one keeps religious laws because its only
concern is our internal contact with the Creator." (p. 54)
"Kabbalah really is not Judaism and does not even share the same
concerns.
"In fact Kabbalah can be seen as opposed (the last word is italicized in
the original) to religious practices. The wisdom of Kabbalah naturally
directs you toward inner reflection and transformation, which alienates
you from performing rituals and following any religious
injunctions. That is why religions tend to oppose Kabbalah". (p. 55)
"There is no special time for prayer. The time to pray is when you are
ready to do so. It makes no difference what time it is because there is
no schedule of prayer in Kabbalah." (p. 181)
"From the Creator's point of view, there is no reward or punishment. He
does not possess a desire that a human would act one way or another; He
wants us only to enjoy ourselves as much as possible." (p. 191)
Shmuel Himelstein
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From: A I Lebowitz <aileb@...>
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 09:10:12 +0300 (Jerusalem Daylight Time)
Subject: Pi
<chips@...> wrote
"And the Gemara does NOT answer that "pi = 3" is itself an
approximation."
But the Rambam, in the Perush Hamishnayot on Eruvin wrote:
"In relation to the diameter of a circle to its circumference, we will
never attain this knowledge exactly, only approximately. This is not due
to any lacking in our abilities but because of the nature of this
number, and therefore they said.... [my rough translation].
The quote I gave is from a discussion of the square root of 2, in which
the Rambam uses the value of pi as another example of an irrational
number. I seem to remember that somewhere the Rambam credits the Arab
mathematicians with having proved this.
I would also like to add my voice to the chorus of those who are glad to
have MJ back.
Abraham Lebowitz
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From: <FriedmanJ@...>
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2008 10:23:09 EDT
Subject: Re: A plurality of customs
Not to make too fine a point on this: You do not need a rabbi and a
building to start a "shul," If you are Orthodox you need ten men, if you
are anything else, you need ten people. and no matter what denomination,
you need a sefer torah. That's it. You don't need a building fund, or a
building. You need a will to do it, and you can travel from private
house to private house on a weekly rotation,.. around here, they even
create a special sfard minyan in one of the school house auditoriums for
the yomim noraim. so don't talk to me about investments in buildings
for shuls--they put a community into hock and have them focus on all the
wrong things. like endless fundraising from a tapped out community. Then
the three richest guys give the money and make the rules,
Then you have a rabbi you have to pay for, but you really have no idea
who he is and what he really stands for, esp. when his family needs the
big shots to live from....so of course he will do what they want.
So let's get real here.
IT'S NOT ABOUT PHYSICAL BUILDINGS. IT'S THE BUILDING OF YOUR SOUL AND
SPIRIT THAT MATTER.
Avodah Zorah, money is your name!!!! That and the " I'm a better Jew than
you are" game.
Sigh.
Genetic Jeanette
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From: Batya and Yisrael Medad <ybmedad@...>
Date: Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:43:53 +0300
Subject: Prayer for Country
The Jewish prayer for the government/country is mentioned in passing in
this blog post regarding Gov. Palin's prayer:
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/trager/28822
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From: David Ziants <dziants@...>
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 10:41:26 +0300
Subject: Re: Shay'mes
I don't know why specifically for Shel Rosh and not for Shel Yad
according to the note in that shul.
In principle, I was not so long ago instructed by the local City Rav to
put a questionable mezzuza k'laf (parchment) in a (small plastic) bag
before putting it in the geniza box (shay'mes).
He explained that most of the geniza was from weekly parsha sheets etc.
which have a lesser status of kedusha than the k'laf. Thus we give the
more important item its own little geniza within the general geniza.
David Ziants
Ma'aleh Adumim, Israel
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From: Mordechai Horowitz <mordechai@...>
Date: Tue, 09 Sep 2008 21:20:37 -0400
Subject: Things that are new are ossur
SBA
> He writes it at least 7 times in his Teshuvos. He definitely meant it.
So he would be against
1) Penicillen
2) Laser Eye Surgery
3) Virtual all cancer treatments
4) Open Heart surgery
5) Blood Transfusions
6) ATM Machines
7) Jews learning in Kollel full time
8) Cars
9) The printing press
10) Artscroll
All of these things are new since Sinai so I guess they are all ossur.
All that is new cannot be ossur. If he really believed that we would
have to reject the idea he was a gadol. Indeed the most ironic part of
this alleged Psak as it itself would be new, as such an idea cannot be
found in Jewish history.
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From: David Curwin <tobyndave@...>
Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2008 22:28:58 +0300
Subject: Torah (not) given in Hebrew?
Hi -
I found two midrashim in Bereshit Rabba (in chapters 18 and 31), where
the midrash gives "proofs" that the Torah was given in Hebrew. (The
proofs are word play that only make sense in Hebrew.) For me it seems
obvious that the Torah was originally written in Hebrew. But the
midrashim seem to be arguing against some opposing claim. Was there
someone who was claiming at the time that the Torah was originally
written in a different language? Do you know anyone who discusses this,
or anyone that is worth consulting on this issue?
Thanks,
David Curwin
<tobyndave@...>
Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective
http://www.balashon.com
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From: Eli Turkel <eliturkel@...>
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2008 16:46:42 -0700
Subject: Torah Podcasts
> Podcast Question: While there has been some discussion of Jewish
> blogs, I would like to open a discussion on Podcasts and other audio
> available for the ipod. What sites, programs, do people like best?
> So far I have found Pardes.org has a good Parashat Hashavuah podcast
> in English and Keshet has one that I can more-or-less understand in
> Hebrew (the problem being my Hebrew not Keshet's quality). What else
> worth listening to is out there, in either English or Hebrew? And not
> just Parashat Hashavuah. Thanks.
The Gush at
http://www.haretzion.org/
has many shiurim on many topics in English and Hebrew in many formats
including podcasts .
>From Rabbi Bick:
We have prepared a special series of shiurim for zman Elul, the five
weeks leading up to Yom Kippur, starting tomorrow. So be sure to check
your podcatcher program to get the latest new shiurim.
If you are not using a podcatching program, I can only say you should
be. It makes receiving the shiurim automatic, so all you have to do is
wake up and transfer the shiur from your computer to your MP3 device.
It means that you never miss a shiur, and you also put yourselves on the
daily schedule automatically, so that you know that every day you can
participate in the Torah learning experience.
There are many programs that can do the job - We recommend either the
original basic podcatcher JUICE (download here), or the full-featured
audio file manager iTunes (here). Full instructions are found on the
website.
Eli Turkel
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From: Art Werschulz <agw@...>
Date: Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:03:24 -0400
Subject: Re: Torah Podcasts
Richard Dine writes:
> Podcast Question: While there has been some discussion of Jewish blogs,
> I would like to open a discussion on Podcasts and other audio available
> for the ipod. What sites, programs, do people like best? So far I have
> found Pardes.org has a good Parashat Hashavuah podcast in English and
> Keshet has one that I can more-or-less understand in Hebrew (the problem
> being my Hebrew not Keshet's quality). What else worth listening to is
> out there, in either English or Hebrew? And not just Parashat
> Hashavuah. Thanks.
Rabbi Yitz Etshalom has a podcast Daf Yomi shiur at
http://dafyomiyicc.org
The page has a link that allows you to subscribe to this podcast.
Art Werschulz (8-{)} "Metaphors be with you." -- bumper sticker
Internet: agw STRUDEL cs.columbia.edu
ATTnet: Columbia U. (212) 939-7050, Fordham U. (212) 636-6325
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From: <Yisyis@...> (Ira Bauman )
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2008 21:31:22 EDT
Subject: Yom Kippur - Al Chait question
Perhaps it's early enough in the season to ask this question and have
someone address my problem before erev yom kippur. I've always been
puzzled by the last al cheit of "b'simhon levav". Artscroll translates
it as "confusion of the heart". What does that mean? Are we sinners
because we have questions about our faith? Must we ignore all the
nagging doubts we have in order to call ourselves a non-sinner? Even if
we resolve not to act out our doubts and confusion, must we still do
teshuva for being bothered by the myriad of questions we may ask and
possibly never fully answer in our lifetimes?
I'm sure we covered this topic in other areas, for example the "Making
of a Gadol discussion" or other topics. In any case, in one short month
we will be saying the al chayt, and I for one wouldn't mind hearing some
possible explanations. Have I simply missed the pshat of this line
altogether?
Ira Bauman
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End of Volume 56 Issue 41
