Volume 6 Number 57
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Brit Milah (3)
[Warren Burstein, Eli Turkel, David Sherman]
Men -> Women
[Seth Magot]
RABBI NEEDED!
[Manfredo Tichauer]
S.C.J Reading Lists
[Daniel Faigin]
Union for the Graduate Study of Jews
[Avi Hyman]
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From: <warren@...> (Warren Burstein)
Date: Sat, 6 Mar 93 21:39:35 -0500
Subject: Re: Brit Milah
> What is the basis/source for not "inviting" someone to a brit?
I have been told that since attending a brit is a mitzvah, were one
invited, one would be obligated to attend.
I'm sure that there must have been an number of responses by now
saying something similar, I'm writing to ask additional questions.
1) Where is the source that if one is invited to do a mitzvah, one
must attend? Or does this only apply to a brit, and if so, where is
the source for that?
2) What mitzvah is one doing by attending a brit? I know that the
father is doing a mitzvah, but what mitzvah are the guests doing?
They participate in a seudat mitzvah afterwards, but there are other
occasions of seudat mitzvah, and I have not heard that if one is
invited to a siyyum that one has to go.
3) How about weddings? People do send out invitations to those, and
"to cause the groom and bride to rejoice" is a mitzvah, too, isn't it?
4) If one does happen to get invited to a brit, does one really have
to drop everything and attend? Are there any exemptions, such as
other mitzvot to do, or great distance? I mean, if someone calls me
up from the US to tell me that he had a son and jokingly invites me to
the brit, do I have to go?
|warren@ But the cabbie
/ nysernet.org is paranoid.
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From: <turkel@...> (Eli Turkel)
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 93 16:55:14 +0200
Subject: Brit Milah
One basis for not inviting people to a brit is that they would be
obligated to attend.
<turkel@...>
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From: <dave@...> (David Sherman)
Date: Thu, 4 Mar 93 18:18:55 -0500
Subject: Re: Brit Milah
> From: <ce157@...> (Eric W. Mack)
> What is the basis/source for not "inviting" someone to a brit?
The way I understand it, Eliyahu Hanavi [the prophet Elijah] is present
at the bris (note that the chair on which the sandek sits to hold the
baby is called "kisey shel eliyahu", Elijah's chair), and if someone
wouldn't be able to make it to the bris, it wouldn't be nice for them to
have to refuse to join such a distinguished guest. Thus, you inform
them of the bris without formally inviting them.
David Sherman
Toronto
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From: <MAGOT@...> (Seth Magot)
Date: Wed, 3 Mar 93 09:15:48 -0500
Subject: Men -> Women
I have a two phase question when it comes to extrapilation of torah
from men to women, in halakha.
A) From two quotes (which I approximate here) that I remember:
'...man should not lay with a man as you would with a women...',
and '...a man should not dress like a women...'
It is very obvious that male homosexuality is forbidden, but there
are no comments (that I can remember) about women lying together.
Yet we state that this is extrapilated to all humans. My question is,
does anyone know where this extrapilation is, where is it written?
[This was discussed during the discussion on Homosexuality earlier in the
year, and I'm pretty sure that the consensus was that female
homosexuality was a rabbinic prohibition. Mod.]
B) How do we extrapilate from the torah 'rules' for a man, when
it is only for a man, and when it means all humanity? Is it strictly
via the particular words used within the torah? For example: 'adam'
and 'ben' have been translated as human and children; whereas 'esh'
and 'av' have been translated as man (male) and father.
If you feel that my question is to trivial to be answered
publically, I can be reached at <MAGOT@...>
[I don't think that B is is at all trivial, and would welcome discussion
on the group of that topic at least. Mod.]
Thank you v'shalom
Seth
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From: <tichauer@...> (Manfredo Tichauer)
Date: Thu, 4 Mar 93 19:29:24 -0500
Subject: RABBI NEEDED!
R A B B I N E E D E D !!
--------------------------
The Jewish Community of Hamburg in Germany is seeking for
a Rabbi. Hamburg's Jewish community is one of the largest
in Germany: at the moment it has 1.700 members but its
number is still increasing due to the immigration of Jews
from the former Soviet Union.
Our community is a so called "Einheitsgemeinde", which
means that the rites are orthodox although not all
members are orthodox. Also the community kitchen is
strictly kosher. The Rabbi will be also the director of
our Jewish school, and should interested to give lessons
as a teacher. It should be very helpful if the Rabbi is
also interested in Chasanut and on reading the Torah
(Baal Koreh). Knowledge of the German language would be
recommendable, or at least the candidate should be
willing to learn the language quickly in order to be
able to write and speak it fluently.
Applications with curriculum vitae and reports will be
handled with discretion and should be send to:
1. Dr.M.Dessauer
c/o Juedische Gemeinde Hamburg
Schaeferkampsallee 29
2000 Hamburg 36
GERMANY
2. FAX: (++ 49 40) 410.8430
3. Email: <tichauer@...>
Manfredo Tichauer M. EMAIL : <tichauer@...>
Opitzstrasse 14 VOICE : (++ 49 40) 27.42.27
2000 Hamburg 60 - GERMANY FAX : (++ 49 40) 270.53.09
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From: Daniel Faigin <faigin@...>
Date: Tue, 9 Mar 93 12:15:33 PST
Subject: S.C.J Reading Lists
The latest versions of the soc.culture.jewish reading lists (part of the FAQ)
have just been posted to s.c.j. You can also find them in the
mail.liberal-judaism info-files archives on nysernet.org
(~ftp/israel/lists/mail.liberal-judaism/info-files). They are organized as
follows:
o Part I: Introduction and General (general)
o Part II: Traditional Liturgy, Practice, Lifestyle, Holidays (traditional)
o Part III: The Messiah, Kaballah and Chasidism (chasidism)
o Part IV: Reform Judaism (reform)
o Part V: Conservative Judaism (conservative)
o Part VI: Reconstructionist Judaism (reconstructionist)
o Part VII: Humanistic Judaism (humanistic)
o Part VIII: Zionism (zionism)
o Part IX: Antisemitism (antisemitism)
o Part X: Intermarriage (intermarriage)
These can be requested by mail by sending a message to
<mail-server@...> with the line:
send usenet/news.answers/judaism/reading-lists/xxx
where xxx is replaced by the word in parenthesis.
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From: <AJHYMAN@...> (Avi Hyman)
Date: Tue, 9 Mar 93 17:03:43 -0500
Subject: Union for the Graduate Study of Jews
This is to inform you about a new group operating in the Greater
TORONTO, Ontario, area called the "INTERDISCIPLINARY UNION for the
GRADUATE STUDY of JEWS." In Toronto and area, we have several world
class universities, some with undergraduate Jewish Studies Programmes.
There are NO such programmes at the graduate level. Because of this,
anyone studying Jews at the graduate level finds themselves isolated in
their individual departments (i.e. History, Religion, Philosophy, Lit,
etc.). We have started the IU-GSJ so that we can connect as graduate
(and advanced undergraduate) students with a common focus. WE WANT TO
NETWORK (both in the Toronto area and abroad). During March we are
holding four WORKSHOPS to bring people together and help form the group:
MARCH 9 - Drs. R. Zeidman (QueensU) and L. Train(UofT) will talk on
"religious texts and ancient history as the basis for the study of Jews
past and present."
MARCH 17 - Dr. P. Draper (OISE) will talk on "techniques and ethics of
memory history."
MARCH 24 - Henry Abramson (Ray D. Wolfe Fellow at the University of
Toronto (dept of History)) and Dr. H. Troper(OISE) will talk on "a career
in academia - how to finance your education and publish your work."
MARCH 31 - Dr. S. Speisman (Chief Archivist, Ontario Jewish Archives)
will talk on "everything you wanted to know about research
opportunities."
Please pass the word around about the IU-GSJ (no charges). If you'd like
more in formation on times and locations, or the IU-GSJ in general,
please call me or write to me via e-mail.
Thanks <Avi Jacob Hyman, Dept. of History, Ontario Institute for Studies
in Education> <416-781-5017> <AJHYMAN@...>
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End of Volume 6 Issue 57