Volume 61 Number 67
Produced: Wed, 20 Feb 13 22:59:47 -0500
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
English - Hebrew Purim Vocabulary
[Jacob Richman]
Evidence that the dust of Goshen turned to Lice
[Hillel (Sabba) Markowitz]
Ezriel Krumbein z"l
["Jonathan Baker"]
Gabbai questions (2)
[Yisrael Medad Martin Stern]
Shabbat as a social and political stabilizer
[Yisrael Medad]
Toldos implies a new era
[Hillel (Sabba) Markowitz]
Tu BShvat custom -how many fruits?
[David Ziants]
Vaeirah - The original "Green Line"
[Hillel (Sabba) Markowitz]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Jacob Richman <jrichman@...>
Date: Thu, Feb 14,2013 at 06:01 PM
Subject: English - Hebrew Purim Vocabulary
Hi Everyone!
I created a set of English Hebrew Purim vocabulary
study sheets. The address is:
http://www.english-hebrew-dictionary.com/purim-1.htm
This week, I also updated the Purim educational resources list at:
http://www.jr.co.il/hotsites/j-hdaypu.htm
Please share these educational resources. Thank you!
Shabbat Shalom,
Jacob
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Hillel (Sabba) Markowitz <sabbahillel@...>
Date: Thu, Jan 17,2013 at 04:01 PM
Subject: Evidence that the dust of Goshen turned to Lice
Evidence that the dust of Goshen turned to Lice
<http://sabbahillel.blogspot.com/2013/01/evidence-that-dust-of-goshen-
turned-to.html>
Even though the Bnai Yisrael were not subject to any of the plagues,
there is evidence that during the plague of lice, even the dust in
Goshen was affected. Rabbi Sorotzkin in Oznayim LaTorah explains this in
Vaeirah 8:13 based on Bereishis Rabbah, chapter 96. Yaakov Avinu asked
that he not be buried in Egypt and insisted on being taken to Mearas
Hamachpeilah to be buried with the other Patriarchs and with the
Matriarchs. One of the reasons given is that the dust of Egypt was going
to become infested with lice during the coming plague. It appears from
the way it is presented, that the dust was infested by the lice so that
the Egyptians could not run to Goshen for safety.
/Mishnas Rabbi Eliezer/ (chapter 9) states that as a result of this
plague, the Bnai Yisrael no longer had to make bricks, because there was
no longer any clean earth to use as the raw material. Had the lice been
kept out of Goshen, Pharoah would have just moved the brick making
factories there.
Another reason is that Pharoah was able to use this as an excuse to
refuse to believe that the Bnai Yisrael were not affected by the plague.
He was able to insist that since the lice appeared in the area, everyone
living there must have been affected.
Another point about this plague is that the Priests and Nobility were
phobic about lice. They were the first group to shave on a regular
basis. The priests, for example, shaved off all of their body hair. When
the plague occurred, they panicked immediately.
--
Sabba - ??? ??? - Hillel
Hillel (Sabba) Markowitz | Said the fox to the fish, "Join me ashore"
<SabbaHillel@...> | The fish are the Jews, Torah is our water
http://sabbahillel.blogspot.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Jonathan Baker" <jjbaker@...>
Date: Tue, Feb 19,2013 at 04:01 PM
Subject: Ezriel Krumbein z"l
Longtime listmember Ezriel Krumbein passed away this past weekend.
The funeral was on Sunday.
Shiva will be through Friday, at 2061 Batchelder St, between Aves T & U,
in Brooklyn, NY. Shacharit at 6:25 AM, mincha-maariv at the appropriate
time.
name: jon baker web: http://www.panix.com/~jjbaker
address: <jjbaker@...> blog: http://thanbook.blogspot.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Yisrael Medad <yisrael.medad@...>
Date: Mon, Jan 28,2013 at 05:01 AM
Subject: Gabbai questions
Stuart Pilichowski (MJ 61#66) wrote:
> As the gabbai in an Israeli minyan I'm always giving aliyot to a mixed
> crowd - Ashkenazim and Edot Hamizrach/Sfardim. When I ask the Sfardim for
> their name they almost always offer their mother's name as opposed to the
> Ashkenzai custom of offering the father's name. Is it ok to proceed with the
> mi shebayrach that way, or is there some reason to specifically ask for the
> father's name?
a) That is their custom - for mercy & blessings Sfaradim employ the mother's name;
b) Chassidim will do that also.
My suggestion, go with the flow.
--
Yisrael Medad
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Martin Stern <md.stern@...>
Date: Mon, Jan 28,2013 at 05:01 PM
Subject: Gabbai questions
Stuart Pilichowski wrote (MJ 61#66):
> As the gabbai in an Israeli minyan I'm always giving aliyot to a mixed
> crowd - Ashkenazim and Edot Hamizrach/Sfardim. When I ask the Sfardim for
> their name they almost always offer their mother's name as opposed to the
> Ashkenzai custom of offering the father's name.
I found this strange so I checked with our local Sefardim. The two I asked,
one whose family came from Aleppo and the other from Morocco, who was gabbai
at one of the Sefardi synagogues, both said that they used the father's name
for ordinary mi shebeirachs. They only used the mother's name for one made
on behalf of a choleh [sick person] or yoledet [a woman who has just given
birth]. This is, I believe, also the custom amongst East European
Ashkenazim. West European Ashkenazim use the father's name for a yoledet and
only use the mother's name for a choleh.
Martin Stern
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Yisrael Medad <yisrael.medad@...>
Date: Mon, Jan 28,2013 at 06:01 AM
Subject: Shabbat as a social and political stabilizer
I thought this insight would be of interest to the list:
SPECIAL SEMINAR: Thursday January 31 at 10:15am
Room 330, Sherman Building, Biology, Tel Aviv University
The stabilizing role of the Sabbath in pre-monarchic Israel: A social
science investigation based on mathematical modelling
by Joseph Livni, Omega-n Aviation, Science & Art Inc., Quebec,, Canada
An analogy between spread of infection and spread of social
transgression allows us to use well-known mathematical formulations to
investigate the social contract of pre-monarchic Israel. This period
in which "there was no king in Israel" requires an explanation about
how norms of behaviour were imposed. In particular we ask: How is it
possible for a stable functioning society to persist in the absence of
any central law enforcement system? The investigation produces a
rational explanation: the weekly Sabbath assembly was a key
institution that controlled the expansion of unruly behaviour.
--
Yisrael Medad
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Hillel (Sabba) Markowitz <sabbahillel@...>
Date: Wed, Feb 13,2013 at 09:01 PM
Subject: Toldos implies a new era
Here is a new dvar Torah that I have in my blog. I go through each usage
of the term Toldos and show how it is appropriate, as well as talking
about why it is found only in sefer Bereishis.
http://sabbahillel.blogspot.com/2013/02/toldos-implies-new-era.html
Toldos implies a new era
<http://sabbahillel.blogspot.com/2013/02/toldos-implies-new-era.html>
The use of "Eilah Toldos", which is usually translated as /"These are
the generations"/ or /"these are the products/", is found only in sefer
Breishis and only at the nodal points of an era. Each time it appears,
it marks the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. The initial
statement "Eilah Toldos" gives the name of the "person" at the cusp of
the node, points to what has triggered the new era, and is followed by a
summary of what will be the significance of that era up to its end.
--
Sabba - ??? ??? - Hillel
Hillel (Sabba) Markowitz | Said the fox to the fish, "Join me ashore"
<SabbaHillel@...> | The fish are the Jews, Torah is our water
http://sabbahillel.blogspot.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: David Ziants <dziants@...>
Date: Sun, Jan 27,2013 at 04:01 PM
Subject: Tu BShvat custom -how many fruits?
When I grew up in the UK during 60s and 70s, I was taught that the custom was
to eat 15 types of fruit - specifically, tree fruit - which
makes sense because the date in the Mishneh is Rosh HaShanna L'Ilanot
(New Year for Trees).
Nowadays, in Israel, it seems that traditional custom is to eat 30 types
of fruit. Also, people seem to be more lax in including seasonable
non-tree fruit like banana, pineapple,etc.
What is really the traditional number of fruit? Are the sources only
from kabbala books or is this documented as mainstream halacha/minhag?
Was 15 used in Europe as a compromise because it was hard to find more
than that, and 30 really is the stipulated number, or has 15 fruit also
got a well-based source?
David Ziants
Ma'aleh Adumim, Israel
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Hillel (Sabba) Markowitz <sabbahillel@...>
Date: Thu, Jan 17,2013 at 05:01 PM
Subject: Vaeirah - The original "Green Line"
Vaeirah - The original "Green Line"
<http://sabbahillel.blogspot.com/2013/01/vaeirah-original-green-line.html>
Rabbi Sorotzkin in Oznayim Latorah (Insights in the Torah) Va'eirah
(7:27) explains
27: But if you refuse to send [them] out, I will strike your entire
border with frogs.
The frogs established the borders of Egypt and did not go one step
over the border into a neigboring country (Shmos Rabbah chapter 10).
This implies that in areas where there was a border dispute, the frogs
actually established what the border should be. This forced the
Egyptians to admit where they were wrong and forced them to withdraw
from areas that they claimed improperly.
Rabbi Sorotzkin points out that the fact that the hagaddah shows each
plague as consisting of four (or five) individual components actually
explains why this is not stated in the first plague (blood). The water
turned to blood as it entered the boundary of Egypt, but was restricted
to the Nile River. Thus, the rest of the borders were not delineated by
that plague. The frogs were thus the first plague to show the borders of
Egypt.
--
Sabba - ??? ??? - Hillel
Hillel (Sabba) Markowitz | Said the fox to the fish, "Join me ashore"
<SabbaHillel@...> | The fish are the Jews, Torah is our water
http://sabbahillel.blogspot.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Volume 61 Issue 67
