Volume 6 Number 19
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Analogy with kitniyos on Pesach
[Refael Hileman]
Brachot
[Anthony Fiorino]
CD-ROM's for learning (2)
[Avi Weinstein, Alan Lustiger]
Far East Flight
[Morris Podalak]
Far East Flights Questions
[Laurent Cohen]
Gelatin
[Mechael Kanovsky]
Looking for a Story in the Gemara
[Laurent Cohen]
Sending Away the Mother Bird
[Gerald Sacks]
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From: Refael Hileman <batya@...>
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 93 01:07:20 -0500
Subject: Analogy with kitniyos on Pesach
In some earlier posts it has been assumed as a given that it is
okay on Pesach for Ashkenazim (for whom kitniyos, 'legumes,' are
forbidden) to eat off of the utensils of Sephardim (for whom kitniyos are
permitted).
It happens to be a publicized psak in our community that this is
not the case. I know of many local Sephardic families who do not have
any kitniyos so that Ashkenazim may eat in their homes.
There might be other poskim who would instead permit this, but
theirs is surely not the only view.
Refael Hileman
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From: Anthony Fiorino <fiorino@...>
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 13:49:17 -0500
Subject: Brachot
Eli Turkel wrote regarding brachot:
> 2. One makes a bracha only at the end of the mitzva
> e.g. on wearing teffilin or tzizit and not on making them
> on seating in a succah and not on making it
A birkat hamitzvah is made before the mitzvah; however, a bracha is never
said over a hechsher mitzvah [preparation for a mitzvah].
There is no chiuv to _make_ t'filin or tzitzit or a succah; to make any of
these things is not a mitzvah but rather a preparation for a mitzvah.
That is why no bracha is made over these acts.
Is there a bracha said upon the completion of writing a sefer Torah?
Eitan Fiorino
<fiorino@...>
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From: Avi Weinstein <0003396650@...>
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 93 11:10:06 -0500
Subject: CD-ROM's for learning
I'm looking for information on the availability of a CD ROM that
contains at least a Tanach, Bavli & Yerushalmi. It would be great if
Rambam, Zohar, Midrash Rabba and Tanchuma were also contained. Does
anyone know which company is marketing these items? An address, fax no.
or bulletin board number would be helpful. Thanx for letting me know.
Avi Weinstein
<aweinstein@...>
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From: Alan Lustiger <alu@...>
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 8:11:34 EST
Subject: Re: CD-ROM's for learning
[Since I knew where to go to answer this question, I asked Alan for an
answer to put out with the question. Mod.]
Kabbalah Software sells the Bar-Ilan CD-ROMs Taklit-Torah and Taklit-Shoot.
Taklit-Torah includes Tanach, Bavli with Rashi, Yerushalmi, Rambam, and many
midrashim. Taklit-Shoot includes all the above except for Yerushalmi but
it also includes 253 volumes of Responsa. These all run under Windows on
a PC; supposedly a Mac version is coming. Kabbalah can be reached at
(908) 572-0891, fax (908) 572-0869, e-mail <kabbalah@...>
Davka Software sells the Judaic Classics Library. Volume 1 includes
Tanach with Rashi, Bavli with Rashi, midrashim, Rambam and Zohar. Volume
2 adds Yerushalmi, Mishnah, Ramban and Onkelos on Torah, and some
mussar seforim. These run on PC (DOS) and on Macs. Davka may be reached
at 800-621-8227 or 312-465-4070, fax 312-262-9298.
Disclaimer: My wife and I own Kabbalah Software.
Alan Lustiger INTERNET:<lustiger@...> UUCP:att!pruxp!alu
ATTMAIL:!alustiger CIS:72657,366
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From: Morris Podalak <morris@...>
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 93 05:11:04 -0500
Subject: Re: Far East Flight
I have to object to Yosef Bechhofer's statement:
> b) In the opinion of the Chazon Ish, who represents the mainstream of psak in
> the International Dateline issue, one must keep Shabbos in Japan on Sunday
> anyway!
With all due respect to the Chazon Ish, you have to be careful. In his
own time, this opinion of the Chazon Ish was _not_ accepted as the
mainstream psak. Notable objections are those of the Israeli Chief
Rabbinate under Rav Herzog (see his collected works), and Rav Kasher,
who wrote a detailed work on the subject. Other prominent poskim had
dealt with the issue earlier, notably Rav Mohilever. A good summary
can be found in Otzar Dinim and Minhagim by Rav Eisenstad (I think I got
the name right), although the detailed responsum of Rav Mohilever is
worth reading in detail. The great majority of these poskim held
opinions different from that of the Chazon Ish. It is only recently,
due to the reverence with which he is held in Bnei Brak, that people
tend to quote the Chazon Ish as the example of mainstream halacha. He
was a very important source for normative halacha, and his opinion is very
highly respected, but that is all.
In the particular case of the dateline, I know a number of cases where
the psak was given that in each area you keep the same Shabbat as everyone
else in that area.
Morris
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From: Laurent Cohen <cohen@...>
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 14:14:43 +0100
Subject: Re: Far East Flights Questions
Tsiel Ohayon asks:
>If someone is to fly out of Houston Friday afternoon around 2:00 PM,
>well before for Shabbat, bound for Tokyo, this person will not land in
>Tokyo till 6:00 PM Tokyo time the following day. Shabbat in Tokyo, in
>the winter at least, will have ended by then. The time difference
>between Tokyo and Houston is 16 hours and the flight is 12 hours. Also
>the person in question will not see darkness during his/her flight, and
>when he/she does, Shabbat is already over in that part of the world. How
>permissible is this? How does one "make up" for the lost Shabbat, since
There is something strange in the question : if you leave at noon and
arrive when it is already night, you have to see sunset at some time
during the flight.
As was already pointed out the answer should depend on where you put the
dateline. If it is the official international dateline, it means that in
the middle of the trip even if it is during daylight you pass from
friday afternoon to saturday afternoon and spend the rest of the shabbat
in the plane. this is a different formulation of your question. What
happens then?
Now in the opinion of the Chazon Ish, the dateline is around China and
you donot cross it during the trip.The time difference is 8 hours less
in Tokyo and when you see the sunset this is shabbat coming. So in this
case this is obvious you have to avoid beginning a trip when you are not
sure to be home before shabbat, all the more so when it will be shabbat
for sure.
However, even in the opinion of the Chazon Ish the first question is
still valid if you take the same plane Erev Shabbat (which is saturday,
japanese time) at noon from Tokyo to Europe, you can arrive say in
France after Shabbat if the plane has the same speed as Houston-Tokyo.
In the french magazine Kountrass I told about some time ago, they quote
responsa on this subject from Rav Betsalel Stern's six volumes Betsel
Hachokhma. Since he spent 15 years of his life in Australia, he was
often consulted for dateline questions. One answer seems to be close to
our question: If someone travels on motsei shabbat after havdalah and
finds himself in a place where it is shabbat again (it does not say
how), he has to make kiddush again whatever the time he enters in the
shabbat place and havdalah again when this second shabbat is over. He
concludes that it is of course better to avoid such travels in time. A
second case is where you already made kiddush and entered in shabbat.
For some reason you are forced to travel shabbat and arrive in a place
where it is friday afternoon. you have to make kiddush again only if it
is more than one hour and a half before shabbat.
Laurent Cohen
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From: <KANOVSKY@...> (Mechael Kanovsky)
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 93 16:58:12 -0500
Subject: Re: Gelatin
about gelatin, why is it that no one uses agar instaid?
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From: Laurent Cohen <cohen@...>
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 15:34:11 +0100
Subject: Re: Looking for a Story in the Gemara
>I'm looking for a story in the gemara about a rabbi who hid under his
>rebbe's bed, while the latter was having sexual relations with his
>wife. When the rebbe found out and confronted his student, he claimed
>that this too is torah and he has to learn it.
That was Rav Kahanah hidden under the bed of Rav. This is quoted in the
book Darkei Taharah of Rav M. Eliyahou to be Berakhot 62a and also
yebamot 63a
Laurent Cohen
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From: Gerald Sacks <sacks@...>
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 17:31:43 -0500
Subject: Sending Away the Mother Bird
Eli Turkel writes:
> d. No blessing is said when the mitzva is a result of a sin
> e.g. returning a stolen article, returning interest on a loan
> divorce (no sin is involved but is not desirable), payment of damages,
> sending away the mother bird
I thought that sending away the mother bird is considered eminently
desirable. I've heard that people pay large amounts of money for
the opportunity to do so.
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End of Volume 6 Issue 19
